| Management |
Activity |
Pre planting*
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Common cultural practices:
• Timely sowing should be done.
• Field sanitation, rogueing
• Destroy the alternate host plants
• Apply manures and fertilizers as per soil test recommendations |
| Nutrients |
Square system of planting is generally adopted with a spacing of 6m x 6m and pits of 1x1x1m size are dug during summer season and kept open for controlling soil born pests.
• Pit should be filled with mixture of top soil and FYM in the ratio of 1:1.
• 15-20kg of well rotten FYM + 1.5kg single super phosphate per pit |
| Weeds |
Plough the field before planting to destroy existing weeds in the field.
• Summer ploughing is helpful in destroying weed seeds and rhizomes in the soil.
• Adopt stale seed bed technique |
| Pest & Diseases |
Cultural control:
• Ploughing the field before digging the pits. |
Planting*
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Common cultural practices:
• Use healthy, certified and weed free seeds. |
| Nutrients |
• Application and thorough mixing of 500g SSP, and 1 kg Neem cake per pit. |
| Weeds |
Remove existing weeds in and around the pits at the time of planting.
• Mulching with organic or biodegradable material |
| Pest & Diseases |
Cultural control:
• Clean cultivation: Keep basin clean .Soil health: Maintain proper moisture and aeration in soil. Avoid water logging.
• Moderate to heavy pruning to remove disease affected, broken, crisscross branches, water sprouts, suckers and opening canopy to improve light penetration.
Mechanical control:
• Infested/infected young plants should be uprooted, burnt and replaced with healthy saplings |
| * Apply Trichoderma viride/ harzianum and Pseudomonas fluorescens for treatment of seed/seedling/planting materials in the nurseries and field application (if commercial products are used, check for label claim. However, biopesticides produced by farmers for own consumption in their fields, registration is not required). |
Vegetative stages
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Common cultural practices:
• Destroy crop debris
• Avoid water logging
• Avoid water stress
• Enhance parasitic activity by avoiding chemical spray, when 1-2 larval parasitoids are observed
Common mechanical practices:
• Use light trap @ 1/acre and operate between 6 pm and 10 pm
• Erecting of bird perches @ 20/acre for encouraging predatory birds such as King crow, common mynah etc.
Common biological practices:
• Conserve natural enemies through ecological engineering
• Augmentative release of natural enemies |
| Nutrients |
• Green manuring during rainy season.
• Grow leguminous crops or vegetables as intercrops during the first three years of planting, provided irrigation facility is available.
• Fertilizers should be applied based on soil test values and recommendation for the agro-ecological regions.
• Apply fertilizers after first pre-monsoon shower (June) for rainy season crop and in first week of September for winter season crop. For one year old plants apply 100g nitrogen, 40g phosphorus 100g potash in two splits (June and September) except phosphorus. . .
• Increase the dose by 100g nitrogen, 100g potash and 40g phosphorus every year until the plants are 5 years old and there after a dose of 500g nitrogen, 200g phosphorus and 500g potash should be applied yearly. Half of the nitrogen should be given in the form of organic manures. |
| Weeds |
• Green manuring during rainy season.
• Grow leguminous crops or vegetables as intercrops during the first three years of planting, provided irrigation facility is available.
• Fertilizers should be applied based on soil test values and recommendation for the agro-ecological regions.
• Apply fertilizers after first pre-monsoon shower (June) for rainy season crop and in first week of September for winter season crop. For one year old plants apply 100g nitrogen, 40g phosphorus 100g potash in two splits (June and September) except phosphorus. . .
• Increase the dose by 100g nitrogen, 100g potash and 40g phosphorus every year until the plants are 5 years old and there after a dose of 500g nitrogen, 200g phosphorus and 500g potash should be applied yearly. Half of the nitrogen should be given in the form of organic manures. |
| Weeds |
• Remove weeds by using tools before flowering. and Timely inter-culture should be done.
• Mulching can be done either with black polyethylene sheet or with organic materials like dry leaves, paddy straw, etc. Mulching helps in conserving moisture, controlling weeds and improving the fruit quality.
• In the initial years of planting regional recommended intercrops should be grown. |
| Mealy bugs** |
Cultural control:
• Collect and destroy the infested plant parts.
• Remove other hosts.
• Deep ploughing of the field.
• Overlapping and overcrowding branches should be pruned
Biological control:
• Conserve parasitoids such as Aenasius advena, Blepyrus suturalis,Spalgis epius etc.,
• Release Cryptolaemous montrouzieri beetles @ 10/tree. |
| Aphid** |
Cultural control:
• Collect and destroy the infested plant parts
• Maintain adequate aeration by proper training and pruning
Biological control:
• Conserve predators such as ladybird beetles i.e. Scymnus, Chilomenus sexmaculatus, preying mantids, green lacewings, etc.,
• Release first instar larva of Chrysoperla carnea @ 15 / flowering branch (four times) at 10 days interval from the time of flower initiation. |
Flowering and Fruiting
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| Nutrients |
• In the bearing orchards green manure crops like sunnhemp, green gram, cowpea etc., are raised and incorporated into the soil during the monsoon period.
• Avoid fertilizer application during flowering time.
• For bearing trees apply 500g nitrogen, 200g phosphorus and 500g potash every year. 600 g N, 300g P and 400 g K
• If required, apply micronutrients in case any deficiency is observed. Spraying of 4g Zinc Sulphate + 2g Boric acid per liter of water and urea 2% during fruit develop.. |
| Weeds |
• Remove weeds from basins around the trees by hand weeding before manure and fertilizer application followed by mulching with organic materials.
• Control weeds between rows by shallow cultivation and grow the regional recommended intercrop/cover crop.
• Inter row space should kept weed free by light cultivation and using green manuring or inter cropping with leguminous crops. |
| Fruit fly |
Cultural control:
• Collect and destroy fallen and infested fruits.
• Tillage of tree basin helps in checking the pest population as the pupae and hibernating larvae are destroyed by natural enemies.
Biological control:
• Conserve parasitoids such as Opius compensates, Spalangia philippinensis, Diachasmimorpha kraussi etc., |
| Bark- eating caterpillar |
Cultural control:
• Detect early infestation by periodic monitoring.
• Keep the orchard clean and healthy to prevent the infestation..
• Remove and destroy alternate host, silk cotton, other hosts and severely affected branches of the tree,
Mechanical control:
• Scraping the loose bark to prevent oviposition by adult beetles.
• Hook out the caterpillar from the bore hole and kill them.
• Insert cotton plug soaked in kerosene or petrol into the holes and close them with mud. |
| Castor capsule borer |
Cultural control:
• Detect early infestation by periodic monitoring.
• Keeping basin clean.
• Maintain adequate aeration by proper training and pruning
• Pomegranate should not be cultivated close to guava as this is the most preferred host of this pest.
• Collect and destroy the infested fruits regularly. Mechanical control:
• Prune the affected parts of the plant and destroy.
• Use light trap @ 1/acre and operate between 6 pm and 10 pm
Biological control:
• Conserve parasitoids such as Trichogramma chilonis (egg), Tetrastichus spp. (egg), Telenomus spp. (egg), Chelonus blackburni (egg-larval), Carcelia spp. (larval-pupal), Campoletis chlorideae (larval), Goniophthalmus halli (larval), Bracon spp. (larval) etc.
• Conserve predators such as Chrysoperlazastrowii sellimi, coccinellids, King crow, common mynah, wasp, dragonfly, spider, robber fly, reduviid bug, preying mantid, fire ants, big eyed bugs (Geocoris sp), pentatomid bug (Eocanthecona furcellata), earwigs, ground beetles, rove beetles etc. |
| Pomegranate / Guava butterfly |
Cultural control:
• Cover fruits with paper bags.
• Remove and destroy the affected fruits.
Pomegranate should not be cultivated close to guava as this is the most preferred host of this pest Collect and destroy the infested fruits regularly.
Mechanical control:
• Remove weeds of compositae family
• Prune the affected parts of the plant and destroy them.
• Detect early infestation by periodic monitoring Install light trap @ 1/ acre to monitor and mechanical collection of insects
Biological control:
• Same as castor capsule borer |
| Tea mosquito bug** |
Cultural methods:
• Maintain proper sunlight in the plant canopy by adequate pruning.
• Collect and destroy the damaged plant parts.
• Do not interplant guava with crops that are host for Helopeltis bugs, such as cotton, tea, sweet potato, cashew and mango.
Biological control:
• Conserve predators such as Mallada sp., Oxyopes sp., Reduviid bug. |
Diseases
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| Guava wilt |
Cultural control:
• Follow clean cultivation and strict sanitation in orchard
• Wilted trees should be uprooted, burnt and trench should be dug around the tree trunk.
• Roots of plants should not be damaged while transplanting.
• Maintain proper tree vigour by timely and adequately manuring, inter-culture and irrigation enable them to withstand infection.
• The pits may be treated with formalin and kept covered for about 3 days and transplanting should be done after two weeks.
• Apply organic manures, oil cakes and lime Use rootstocks resistant to wilt i.e. Cross of Psidium molle x P. guajava.
• Eco-friendly approach of guava wilt control is suggested where biological control (Trichoderma spp., Aspergillus niger AN27), soil amendment (lime, neem cakes, gypsum) and intercropping (marigold, turmeric) are effective. |
| Fruit rot/ fruit canker**/ algal leaf** and fruit spot** |
Cultural control:
• Prune and destroy the dead twigs and fruits.
• Plant spacing and fertilizer régimes should be managed to avoid unnecessarily dense plant canopy.
• Prune old and non-productive branch which may serve as potential source of infection
• For managing fruit rot disease good field sanitation (maintain field free of infected dry or semi-dry twigs and mummified fruits of previous harvest which may serve as primary inoculum. • Algal leaf spot can be reduced by maintaining tree vigour with cultural techniques such as proper fertilization and irrigation, proper pruning to enhance air circulation within the canopy and sunlight penetration, managing weeds and wider tree spacing. • Managing insect, mite and other foliar diseases increases tree vigour and lessens susceptibility to algal disease
Chemical control:
• Apply Zineb 75% WP @600 -800 g in 300-400 l of water/ acre or Mancozeb 75% WP 20g in 10 l of water/tree. |
| Dieback/ anthracnose/ Stem canker and dry fruit rot |
Cultural control:
• Maintain orchard hygienic
• Monitor disease and use of micro irrigation systems
• Follow clean cultivation and strict sanitation in orchard
• Use disease free planting material
• Implement a good weed control to reduce humidity
• Adhere to recommended plant density to reduce competition for sunlight, water and nutrient |
Post-harvest
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| Pest & diseases |
Mechanical control:
• Keeping of good quality of fruits and bagging fruits, Remove and destroy all the affected fruits to reduce, the incidence of Anar butterfly. Cover the fruit with polythene bags when the fruits are up to 5 cm. |
Note: The pesticide dosages and spray fluid volumes are based on high volume spray
**Pest of regional significance |
