Okra has few noticeable pests. Pods curled or with wart-like protrusions commonly indicate
earlier feeding damage by stink bugs and/or leaffooted bugs. Corn earworms also infest pods
occasionally. Damage to the foliage is normally unimportant, unless Japanese beetle populations
are unusually high.
KEY TO OKRA PESTS
A. Insects that feed externally on buds, foliage, or pods
Chewing insects that leave holes in plants
Corn earworm - Early instar cream colored or yellowish-green with
few markings; later instar green, reddish, or brown with pale longitudinal stripes and scattered
black spots; moderately hairy; up to 44 mm long; three pairs of legs, five pairs of prolegs (Fig. 145); eats holes in pods
Japanese beetle - Hard-bodied, shiny, metallic green beetle with
coppery brown wing covers which meet in a straight line down the center of the back; body about
13 mm long (Fig. 146); skeletonizes leaves; may also eat pods
Pests that cause discoloration or distortion of plant
Aphids - Soft-bodied, pear-shaped insects with a pair of dark
cornicles and a cauda protruding from the abdomen; may be winged or wingless - wingless forms
most common; feed in colonies; excrete honeydew on which sooty mold grows.
Green peach aphid - Pale yellow to green wingless adult up to
2.4 mm long; winged adult with dark dorsal blotch on yellowish-green abdomen; cornicles over
twice as long as cauda and slightly swollen toward tip; yellow-green nymph with three dark lines
on abdomen (Fig. 147A to C)
Melon aphid - Yellow or green in host, dry summers; pale to
dark green in cool seasons; body up to 2 mm long; cornicles slightly longer than or twice as long
as cauda; nymph similar in color to adult (Fig. 148A to C)
Leaffooted bugs and Stink bugs - Bugs up to 19 mm long; adult green
or brown and shield-shaped (stink bug, Fig. 149A), or brown with enlarged,
flattened hind legs (leaffooted bug, Fig. 149B); stink bug nymph pale green or
green with orange and black markings (Fig. 149C); leaffooted bug nymph red (Fig. 149D); pierce buds, pods, and seeds causing pods to be deformed and seeds to
be shriveled; wart-like growths appear on pods
B. Insects that feed inside the plant, e.g., within the stalk or leaf mesophyll
European corn borer - Pale yellow or pinkish caterpillar up to 26 mm long
with several rows of tiny, darkly colored spots; three pairs of legs near the head; five pairs of
prolegs (Fig. 150); leaves entrance hole fringed with silk and frass in stalk;
weakens stem and interferes with pod development
Vegetable leafminer - Colorless to bright yellow maggot with black
mouthparts; body up to 3 mm long; pointed head; S-shaped mines in leaves, often enlarged at one
end (Fig. 151)
