PAPAYA PEST AND DISEASE IMAGE GALLERY (Carica papaya)

Papaya (Carica papaya) Pest and Disease Image Gallery

Online quick reference for Hawaii’s papaya growers

Dr. Scot Nelson (snelson@hawaii.edu), University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM), College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR), Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences (PEPS)

Acknowledgements: Dr. Wayne Nishijima for providing many photographs for this site.

Nearly 150 digital photos of more than 30 pests and diseases of papaya (Carica papaya) in Hawaii are provided here to help papaya growers diagnose their pest or disease problems. For most images, the resolution and size is set at 150 DPI and (500 x 375) pixels, respectively, to provide sufficient clarity and size to enable the recognition of the more subtle disease characteristics with confidence. Users of this site may request or submit high-resolution images of papaya problems by email.

How to use this site: Pests and papaya health problems are listed in brown font below in alphabetical order. Browse and click on an image associated with a particular problem. View, save or print the image. Click on your browser’s “back arrow” to return to this page. If you would like more information, please contact the University of Hawaii Cooperative Extension Service (CES).

(Giant) African snail (Achatina fulica):

- as a parasite of papaya stems 1 2 3 4 |

- early stem injury 1 | advanced stem injury 1 2 3 |

- plant death 1 2 |

- snail eggs at base of stem 1 |

- as a parasite of papaya fruit 1 |

- fruit damage associated with snails and Phytophthora palmivora infections 1 2 | text |

Anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporiodes, fungus):

- sunken lesions with pinkish spore masses on fruits 1 2 3 4 5 |

- atypical symptoms 1 | complete decay of fruit with spore masses 1 |

- Petri plates with fungal cultures (C. gloeosporiodes) 1 | text |

Black spot (Asperisporium caricae, fungus):

- spots on upper leaf surface 1 2 |

- spots on lower leaf surface 1 2 3 |

- early fruit symptoms (spots) 1 2 |

- mycoparasitism of Asperisporium lesions on fruit 1 2 |

- spores on leaf debris 1 | PDF |

Black spot (Cercospora papayae), fungus):

- fruit symptoms 1 2 | text |

Boron deficiency:

- bumpy fruit symptom 1 2 3 4 |

- fruit pitting 1 | leaf symptoms 1 | text |

Broad mites (Polyphagotarsonemus latus, arachnid):

- damage to leaves (distortion, shoestring) 1 2 |

- fruit scarring 1 | text |

Catface or Carpellody:

- fruit symptoms 1 2 3 | text |

Chocolate spot (Colletotrichum gloeosporiodes, fungus):

- early symptoms 1 |

- middle symptoms 1 |

- late symptoms 1 2 | text |

Cockroach:

- feeding injury to stem 1 2 |

Collar rot, Black rot (Calonectria crotalariae, fungus):

- wilting & yellowing young plant 1 |

- stem necrosis 1 2 | text |

Dry rot (Mycosphaerella sp), see “Stem end rot”

Freckles (non-pathogenic disorder):

- fruit symptoms 1 | text |

Fruit fly:

- on fruit 1 2 | text |

Herbicide injury:

- 2,4-D injury 1 |

Hopper burn, the Stevens leafhopper (Empoasca stevensi):

- foliar damage to papaya by Steven leafhopper 1 2 3 | PDF |

Hurricane injury:

- Hurricane Iwa destruction of papaya fields on island of Kauai 1 2 |

Lightning injury:

- wilting of plants 1 |

- internal burn of stem 1 2 3 |

- external stem burn 1 |

- external fruit symptoms 1 2 |

- internal burn of fruit pedicel 1 |

- dying plants 1 |

Phytophthora blight (Phytophthora palmivora, pseudofungus):

- on fruit 1 2 3 4 5 |

- on fruit column 1 2 3 4 |

- incipient stem cankers & latex 1 |

- basal stem rot 1 |

- stem lesions 1 2 |

- toppled plant 1 |

- destroyed field 1 |

- aerial view of destroyed field 1 |

- soft rot 1 |

- oospores in culture 1 |

- spraying fruit column for disease control 1 | text |

Powdery mildew (Oidium caricae, fungus):

- on upper leaf surface 1 2 3 4 |

- on lower leaf surface 1 2 3 |

- on fruits 1 2 3 4 | text |

Ringspot (Papaya Ringspot Virus, PRSV):

- multiple symptoms 1 |

- ringspots on fruits 1 2 3 |

- ringspots on leaf 1 |

- leaf mosaic 1 2 |

- leaf shoestring 1 2 |

- green islands on leaves 1 |

- vein clearing (leaves) 1 |

- petiole streaking & water soaking 1 2 |

- stem streaking & water soaking 1 2 3 |

- affected field 1 |

- PRSV virus particles (TEM) 1 | text |

Root-knot (Meloidogyne sp., nematode):

- galls on roots 1 2 3 | text PDF |

Slug:

- on papaya stem 1 |

Soft rots (fungal diseases of fruit):

- Rhizopus stolonifer: | fruit symptoms, infection through existing anthracnose lesion 1 | text |

- Fusarium sp: | fruit symptoms 1 | text |

- Phytophthora palmivora: | fruit symptoms 1 | text |

- Guignardia sp.: | fruit symptoms 1 | text |

- Phomopsis sp.: | fruit symptoms 1 | text |

- Lasiodiplodia theobromae: | fruit symptoms 1 | text |

Stem end rots (post-harvest fruit disease, caused by fungi):

- Botryodiplodia theobromae: | on fruit 1 | text |

- Mycosphaerella sp.: | on fruit 1 | text |

- Phomopsis sp.: | fruit symptoms 1 2 | text |

- Phoma carica-papayae: | on fruit 1 2 | text |

- Botrytis sp.: | on fruit 1 2 | text |

Variegation:

- fruit variegation 1 |

- leaf variegation 1 |

White peach scale (Pseudaulacaspis pentagona, insect):

- on fruit 1 2 |

- on stem 1 |

- sexual dimorphism (females on fruit, males on stem) 1 | text |

Last site update: 24 September 2007

Photo credits: Wayne Nishijima, Scot Nelson

Site design: Scot Nelson (2006)

Copyright Notice: These photographs may be used freely for educational purposes.