Avocado > Year-Round IPM Program > Bloom > Invertebrate Pests

Avocado

Major Types of Invertebrate Pests and their Damage

On this page
  • Caterpillars
  • Mites
  • Thrips
  • Other leaf-chewing invertebrates
  • Avocado lace bug
  • Plant sap-sucking insects

When to monitor:

Grove Location   JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
coast inland  
+ + avocado thrips     o o o m m m m m m o                        
– – caterpillars           m m m m m m m m m m m m o o          
+ – greenhouse thrips           m m m m m m m m m o o o o o o o o    
+ + persea mite             m m m m m m m m m m m m m o o      
+ – sixspotted mite         m m m m m m m o o o o o                

Names link to more information on identification.

Click on photos to enlarge
Young avocado fruit damaged by omnivorous looper
Caterpillars
Identification tip: Leaf edges chewed. Foliage may be webbed or tied together with silk. Fruit injury varies from oval craters to scattered gouges in the skin. 		Leaves with necrotic spots and silky webbed patches caused by persea mites
Persea mites
Identification tip: Leaves bleached, bronzed, spotted, or stippled. There may be pale silken patches, but no black excrement, on underside of leaves.		 Avocado fruit scarred by avocado thrips
Thrips
Identification tip: Fruit with brown scars, leaves with pale stippled, bleaching, or black excrement on plants. Damage and signs vary depending on the species of tiny, slender thrips.
Chewed leaves
Other leaf-chewing invertebrates
Identification tip: Notched, chewed, or missing foliage not  caused by caterpillars. Beetles, earwigs, grasshoppers, and snails are relatively uncommon or are a concern only on young trees.

 

 Feeding damage of avocado lace bug
Avocado lace bug
Identification tip: Leaves bleached or stippled (resembling mite feeding) and brown dead leaf blotches. Black excrement on underside of leaves from sap-sucking bugs.		 Sticky honeydew from sap-sucking insects
Plant sap-sucking insects
Identification tip: Sticky honeydew, blackish sooty mold, whitish wax, or trails of pest-tending ants. Infestations of mealybugs, scale insects, and whiteflies indicate that biological control has been disrupted as these Homoptera are especially well controlled by parasites and predators.

Statewide IPM Program, Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California
All contents copyright © 2016 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

For noncommercial purposes only, any Web site may link directly to this page. FOR ALL OTHER USES or more information, read Legal Notices. Unfortunately, we cannot provide individual solutions to specific pest problems. See our Home page, or in the U.S., contact your local Cooperative Extension office for assistance.

Acknowledgements Staff-only pages Subscribe (RSS) Contact UC IPM

Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California

© 2016 Regents of the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Nondiscrimination Statement

Accessibility   /PMG/C008/m008bpinvertpests.html?srcPage=PMG%2FC008%2Fm008bpinvertpests.html revised: December 6, 2016. Contact webmaster.