What's eating my cowpea?

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is attacked by pests at every growth stage. The black cowpea aphid (Aphis craccivora) is the worst — it spreads 30+ viruses and can devastate seedlings fast. Legume pod borers, bean leaf beetles, and thrips also cause serious losses. Yield losses can reach 100% in unmanaged plots.

Dense black colonies on stems and growing tips; leaf curl, stunted growth, and virus transmission (cowpea mosaic, blackeye cowpea mosaic) Blast off with water; apply insecticidal soap or neem oil; plant resistant varieties; encourage parasitic wasps and ladybirds

Larvae web together flowers and bore into developing pods, causing pod abortion and internal seed damage Apply Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) at early flower; use pheromone traps to monitor moth flights; remove webbed flower clusters by hand

Circular feeding holes in leaves; heavy defoliation weakens plant before podding Hand-pick adults; apply pyrethrin or neem oil if numbers are high; use row covers on seedlings

Silvery scarring and distortion of flowers and young leaves; severe infestations cause flower drop and reduced pod set Use blue sticky traps for monitoring; apply spinosad or insecticidal soap; avoid water stress which increases susceptibility