Field library

Leaf Folder

A small caterpillar that folds a rice leaf into a tube, stitches it shut with silk, and hides inside scraping the green off the leaf. The folded leaves turn white and papery. When many leaves are hit the field looks scorched from a distance and the grain fills poorly.

How to scout

Walk into the crop and look at the top three leaves of the plants; at five spots count the tube-folded or white-streaked leaves on ten plants.