Pest · sunflower

European sunflower moth

Homoeosoma nebulellum (Denis & Schiffermüller)EPPO code HMOENE

Ukrainian: соняшникова вогнівка · Держпродспоживслужба, НААН, НАН
Russian: подсолнечниковая огневка · Журнал «Зерно» (zerno-ua.com), ТОВ «Видавництво «Зерно»
Kazakh: Күнбағыс қанкөбелегі · «Тіл-Қазына» centre for the Language Policy Committee
English: European sunflower moth · European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization

How to recognise it

Adult: The moth has a wingspan of 25 mm; the forewings are yellowish grey, with 3–5 black spots in the middle.
Larva: The caterpillar is 15–18 mm long, yellow-green, with brown-red stripes.
Pupa: The caterpillar pupates in a cocoon: it is elongated, tapering towards the ends, 12–17 mm long, made of tightly woven silk threads and usually coated with soil particles.
Damage: The pest damages the kernels in the heads; at increased air humidity these heads rot, which impairs seed quality.
At first the caterpillars feed only on pollen and parts of already fertilised flowers and do no harm to the plant. From the third instar they feed on the seeds and damage the head.
Third-instar caterpillars chew through the seed hull and eat out the kernel fully or partly, and they also gnaw into the heads.
Damaged heads are densely wrapped in webbing, to which droppings stick.

When to look: Mass flight of the moths falls in the sunflower flowering period. The moths are active at night and feed on various plants of the aster family.

Registered against this organism by a ministry order · 2

No rate and no spray timing here: both come from the label and the register.

Agronomy: Development and harmfulness depend on carrying out all the technological measures for growing sunflower and on using resistant varieties.
Armoured sunflower varieties, which the sunflower moth hardly damages, are grown. Their seed coat has a layer between the cork tissue and the sclerenchyma that is 76 % carbon, and the caterpillars cannot chew through it.

Yield loss: Since armoured sunflower varieties and hybrids were developed, sunflower moth damage has been reduced to a minimum.

Favourable conditions: Damage to the heads is especially dangerous in rainy years.

Every fact rests on a quote from its source, and each quote was checked against the page it is printed on.

European sunflower moth

Homoeosoma nebulellum (Denis & Schiffermüller)EPPO code HMOENE

Ukrainian

соняшникова вогнівка · Держпродспоживслужба, НААН, НАН

Russian

подсолнечниковая огневка · Журнал «Зерно» (zerno-ua.com), ТОВ «Видавництво «Зерно»

Kazakh

Күнбағыс қанкөбелегі · «Тіл-Қазына» centre for the Language Policy Committee

English

European sunflower moth · European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization

How to recognise it

Adult: The moth has a wingspan of 25 mm; the forewings are yellowish grey, with 3–5 black spots in the middle.
Larva: The caterpillar is 15–18 mm long, yellow-green, with brown-red stripes.
Pupa: The caterpillar pupates in a cocoon: it is elongated, tapering towards the ends, 12–17 mm long, made of tightly woven silk threads and usually coated with soil particles.
Damage: The pest damages the kernels in the heads; at increased air humidity these heads rot, which impairs seed quality.
At first the caterpillars feed only on pollen and parts of already fertilised flowers and do no harm to the plant. From the third instar they feed on the seeds and damage the head.
Third-instar caterpillars chew through the seed hull and eat out the kernel fully or partly, and they also gnaw into the heads.
Damaged heads are densely wrapped in webbing, to which droppings stick.

When and with what to treat

When to look: Mass flight of the moths falls in the sunflower flowering period. The moths are active at night and feed on various plants of the aster family.

Registered against this organism by a ministry order · 2

No rate and no spray timing here: both come from the label and the register.

Without chemicals, and prevention

Agronomy: Development and harmfulness depend on carrying out all the technological measures for growing sunflower and on using resistant varieties.
Armoured sunflower varieties, which the sunflower moth hardly damages, are grown. Their seed coat has a layer between the cork tissue and the sclerenchyma that is 76 % carbon, and the caterpillars cannot chew through it.