Sweet Potato Vine Pests

The sweet potato looper is a caterpillar that chews on the leaves.

Sweet potato vine pests.

The sweet potato weevil is one of the most destructive sweet potato vine pests notes the international potato center. You might want to check to see if they are in your area. The sweet potato whitefly can drain the plant of nutrients and stunt its growth. Almost all of the leaves are full of holes and many are also missing huge chunks.

So i thought it was slugs sprinkled snail slug bait around them. Sweet potato ipomoea batatas is an herbaceous perennial in the family convolvulaceae grown for its edible storage roots. The sweet potato plant is a branching creeeping vine with spirally arranged lobed heart shaped leaves and white or lavender flowers. Depending on where you live there are a couple other pests that feast on sweet potato vines.

So i asked them what was causing the holes and i was told it was an annoying pest call the flea beetle. Some leaves have been eaten so much that they are practically gone now. I bought 4 ornamental sweet potato vines and over the last 2 weeks they have become the meal of some bugs. Possible insect problems include sweet potato looper whitefly aphids thrips slugs flea beetles and weevils.

Long hind legs for jumping give metallic bronze or black potato flea beetles their name. Adults feed directly on vines and larvae tunnel into the roots causing extensive damage both in field and storage. Sweet potato weevils are most numerous close to the soil surface. When kept healthy plants are resistant to most pests and diseases.

The adult weevil feeds on all parts of the plant but reproduces only in the stems and roots. One of the greatest threats to sweetpotato production is the sweetpotato weevil. The plant has enlarged roots called tubers which act as an energy store for the plant. In some areas sweet potato weevils may pose problems as well.

Usually less that 1 10 inch long the adult beetles infest sweet potato vines in. It s driving me mad mad. The white legless larvae have brown heads and measure 1. Overwatering and poor drainage can cause fungal problems such as fusarium wilt root rot or tuber rot.

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