Divisi
Mango seed weevil
Sternochetus mangiferae · Insect
Photo: PJeganathan · CC BY-SA 3.0
The mango seed weevil (Sternochetus mangiferae) is a small, dark, snouted beetle — a weevil is simply a beetle with a long snout — that attacks mango and nothing else. It spends most of the year hidden in bark cracks and leaf litter, then comes out when the tree fruits to feed on the tender new leaf flush and lay its eggs on the young fruit. The grub that hatches tunnels through the flesh and buries itself in the hard stone, where it feeds, grows up and shelters — sealed inside the seed — until the next season. Because it lives hidden inside the fruit, you almost never see it until you cut a fruit open.
PJeganathan · CC BY-SA 3.0
Why it matters
Left alone, this weevil can spoil up to 3 in every 10 fruit (30%) — but the harder blow is that it is a quarantine pest: the kind export inspectors ban outright, so if they find even one, they can reject your whole load and lock you out of the best-paying markets. It is so hard to beat because the grub lives sealed inside the stone, where no spray can ever reach it, and the adult can live more than a year hiding in your orchard. Once it settles in, it comes back season after season unless you break its cycle by hand.
When to act
Any weevil emergence holes or infested seeds found when cutting a sample of fallen and harvested fruit; a quarantine pest, so tolerance is near zero for export.
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 mango seed weevil field guide
- Identify it
- Scout for it
- Control it
13 field-guide sections in the app
The full guide to mango seed weevil — 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 mango seed weevil?
From the outside, an infested fruit looks almost normal — that is the trap. On young, still-green fruit you might catch only a tiny egg-laying scar or a hardened bead of dried sap where the female sealed her egg, and here and there a fruit that drops early for no clear reason. The real damage is hidden inside, so the skin alone will never tell you.
When should I take action against mango seed weevil?
Any weevil emergence holes or infested seeds found when cutting a sample of fallen and harvested fruit; a quarantine pest, so tolerance is near zero for export.
How do I control mango seed weevil?
Prevent it with ruthless orchard sanitation — your single best tool. Every week during and after fruiting, gather every fallen fruit off the ground and burn it or bury it deep. Each dropped fruit is a nursery where the grub and the long-lived adult survive inside the seed to re-infest next season. Rake up prunings too, and clear windfalls before they rot into the soil.
Which crops does mango seed weevil affect?
Among the crops covered here: Mango.
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.
Check what grows on your farm