Shoot fly: Formosina flavipes

Symptoms of damage:

• Larvae feed on the growing shoot of the young cardamom suckers
• Dead heart.

Identification of pest:

• Eggs: cigar shaped and white colour and is laid in between leaf sheath and pseudostem on the whorl.
• Adult: Fly

Management:

• Remove the affected shoots at ground level and destroy them.
• Spray dimethoate or quinalphos (0.05% each).