Divisi
Broomrape
Orobanche · Parasitic Weed
Photo: Hans Hillewaert · CC BY-SA 3.0
Broomrape (Orobanche) is a parasite plant — it has no roots and no green leaves of its own, and it makes no food from sunlight the way normal plants do. Instead it drives a sucker into the roots of your crop underground and lives entirely off the water and food it steals, showing above ground only as clusters of leafless, scaly spikes at the base of the crop stem. A single plant can shed tens of thousands of dust-fine seeds that lie in wait in the soil for more than ten years and wake up only when they sense the roots of a crop they can feed on.
Victor M. Vicente Selvas · Public domain 
Maarten Sepp · CC BY-SA 4.0
Why it matters
Broomrape is a parasite plant (one that lives off another plant and gives nothing back) — it has no roots or green leaves of its own, so it latches onto your crop's roots underground and drinks its water and food, and your plants starve from below while they still look like they are only growing badly. A heavy attack can take up to 80% of your crop — as much as four of every five plants' worth of harvest. The cruel part is that most of the damage is done underground before you ever see the parasite, and a single broomrape plant that is allowed to flower drops tens of thousands of dust-fine seeds that stay alive in your soil for more than ten years, waking up every time you plant a crop it can feed on. That is why you must never, ever let even one shoot flower — once the soil is seeded, that field is cursed for a decade.
When to act
Any emerged broomrape shoots must be pulled and destroyed before they flower and seed; even a few plants seed the soil for years.
This guidance is general, compiled from published agronomic references including FAO and CABI. Thresholds and timing shift with your crop, your variety and the season.
In much of the region a spray is simply called mushonga — medicine. But a chemical group you cannot name is one you cannot rotate, and a product you did not write down has no pre-harvest interval you can observe. Mushonga, and other farming words →
The full broomrape field guide
- Identify it
- Scout for it
- Control it
17 field-guide sections in the app
The full guide to broomrape — every symptom to check, how and when to walk your field looking for it, and the controls that actually work, ranked. Built into your crop plan, so you are told to look before it costs you a harvest.
Crops it affects
Frequently asked questions
How do I identify broomrape?
The first warning, before you see the parasite: a patch of crop that is stunted, yellowing and wilting in the afternoon heat even though the soil is still moist. The parasite is drinking the plant's water from below, so your crop shows a thirst it should not have. Mark these weak patches — broomrape is at work underground right there.
When should I take action against broomrape?
Any emerged broomrape shoots must be pulled and destroyed before they flower and seed; even a few plants seed the soil for years.
How do I control broomrape?
Best defence — plant a resistant variety. Where you can get it, sow a crop variety bred to resist broomrape — these exist for sunflower and faba bean. The parasite's sucker cannot grip a resistant plant well, so far fewer ever attach. Ask your seed supplier or extension officer what resistant or tolerant seed is available for your crop.
Which crops does broomrape affect?
Among the crops covered here: Common bean, Niger seed (noug), Sunflower, Tobacco, Tomato.
Catch it before it costs you a harvest
Divisi builds scouting into your crop plan — it tells you when to walk your field, what to look for at that stage, and what to do when you find it. Free for farmers, works offline.
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