Sweet Potato Vine Pests

Even low numbers of larvae reduce sweet potato quality and marketable yield.

Sweet potato vine pests.

The sweet potato whitefly can drain the plant of nutrients and stunt its growth. The weevil attacks all parts of the plant. When kept healthy plants are resistant to most pests and diseases. You might want to check to see if they are in your area.

The sweet potato weevil is a serious pest in the field and in storage. It s driving me mad mad. Overwatering and poor drainage can cause fungal problems such as fusarium wilt root rot or tuber rot. One of the greatest threats to sweetpotato production is the sweetpotato weevil.

I bought 4 ornamental sweet potato vines and over the last 2 weeks they have become the meal of some bugs. So i thought it was slugs sprinkled snail slug bait around them. The sweet potato weevil is one of the most destructive sweet potato vine pests notes the international potato center. Depending on where you live there are a couple other pests that feast on sweet potato vines.

But the holes kept on coming lol when i went to the local nursery i saw that their sweet potato vines had the holes. Usually less that 1 10 inch long the adult beetles infest sweet potato vines in. Long hind legs for jumping give metallic bronze or black potato flea beetles their name. Sweet potato ipomoea batatas is an herbaceous perennial in the family convolvulaceae grown for its edible storage roots.

Sweet potato weevils are most numerous close to the soil surface. In some areas sweet potato weevils may pose problems as well. Some leaves have been eaten so much that they are practically gone now. The plant has enlarged roots called tubers which act as an energy store for the plant.

Adults feed directly on vines and larvae tunnel into the roots causing extensive damage both in field and storage. So i asked them what was causing the holes and i was told it was an annoying pest call the flea beetle. The adult weevil feeds on all parts of the plant but reproduces only in the stems and roots. The sweet potato plant is a branching creeeping vine with spirally arranged lobed heart shaped leaves and white or lavender flowers.

Almost all of the leaves are full of holes and many are also missing huge chunks.