Fig Crop Stage-Wise IPM

Pre-sowing/Pre-planting

Common cultural practices:

• Timely planting should be done.
• Orchard sanitation
• Destroy the alternate host plants
• Apply manures and fertilizers as per soil test recommendations

Nutrients

• Nutrient should be applied on the basis of soil test report and recommendation for the particular agro-climatic zone.
• Adopt integrated nutrient management approach for supply of nutrients.
• Prepare land by ploughing and harrowing.
• Fig is planted in square system of planting at a spacing of 5 m x 5 m accommodating about 160 plants per acre. Pits of 0.6 cubic m are dug for planting the cuttings.
• Fill the pits with top soil mixed with 25 kg FYM treated with Trichoderma.

Weeds

• Deep ploughing during summer Ploughing the field before planting to destroy existing weeds in the field.

Nematodes

Cultural control:

• Use certified resistant planting materials
• Clean planting materials by sieving or by using 2% salt water floatation to remove galls and prevent ear cockle diseases.
• Galls can be separated by coarse sieve from the healthy planting materials
• Winnowing or fanning
• Brine flotation: 2% salt solution in place of plain water removes almost 100 % galls.
• Deep ploughing of orchards during summer to control nematodes,
• Soil solarization for control of soil borne pathogens and nematodes.
• Apply well rotten farm yard manure only to discourage termite infestation.
• Avoid late plantation

Planting

Common cultural practices:

• Use healthy and certified plants
• Grow resistant/tolerant varieties.
• Irrigation should be done by ring method to reduce possibility of diseases
• Avoid growing in low-lying areas and flooding.
• Do not delay irrigation until the tree exhibits moisture stress symptoms.

Common mechanical practices:

• Remove and destroy the diseased orchard.

Nutrients

• Planting is done in pits already filled with top soil and farm yard manure. The planting is generally done during June to September.
• Apply 20 g each of Azospirillum and Mycorrhizae per plant in pits at planting

Weeds

• Use weed free planting materials for planting.
• Remove weeds from the pit, if any and then plant seedlings.

Vegetative stage

Common cultural practices:

• Intercultural and hand weeding
• Timely irrigation
• Avoid water logging
• Avoid water stress
• Enhance parasitic activity by avoiding chemical spray, when 1-2 larval parasitoids are observed

Common mechanical practices:

• Remove and destroy alternate wild hosts and weeds
• Use of pheromone traps @ 4-5/acre
• Installation of light trap @ 1/ acre
• Prune and burn all attacked shoot and branches.

Common biological practices:

• Conserve natural enemies through ecological engineering
• Augmentative release of natural enemies

Nutrients

• Apply manures and fertilizers (kg/tree/year) according to the age of plant as mentioned below;

• Manures and fertilizers should be applied in 20-30 cm deep and 30cms wide trench along the drip line of the tree.

Weeds

• Hoeing is recommended during the first year to check weed growth. Weeding should be done on regular basis especially around the plants.
• Earthing up is done before or after the onset of monsoon to avoid water-logging and also to help the plants to stand erect.
• To suppress the weeds between rows, leguminous trees and vegetables can be grown as intercrops during initial 5 years.
• Use straw or plastic Mulch to avoid weed growth and to maintain soil moisture for longer period

Stem borer

Cultural control:

• Remove and destroy dead and severely affected branches of tree.
• Remove alternative host like mango, moringa, silk cotton in the near vicinity.
• Avoid injury at the base of trunk while pruning
• Keep the orchard healthy following good agricultural practices.
• Kill the stem borer larvae by inserting a flexible wire inside the hole and plug the hole with the cotton wick soaked in petrol or chloroform or kerosene and seal it with mud.

Mechanical control:

• Prune and burn all attacked shoot and branches during winter.

Biological control:

• Exclude alternatives host trees, such as silk cotton, fig tree and remove the infested branches from the garden to prevent the spread of the pest.
• Use neem based biopesticide inside the hole.
• Lantana camera leaf extracts @5%

Fruit fly

Cultural control:

• Tree rotation, enhancement of soil quality, choice of resistant varieties, water management, monitoring/screening, orchard sanitation, mechanical barriers, post-harvest treatment.
• Prior to harvest (30-40 days) collect and disposed off infested and fallen fruits to prevent further, multiplication and carry-over of population.
• Ploughing of orchard during November-December to expose pupae to sun’s heat which kills them.
• Infestation is high, use bait splash on the trunk only once or twice at weekly interval. To prepare bait splash, mix 100 gm of jaggery in one litre of water
• Managing fruit flies also reduces anthracnose disease and prevents late fruit fall.

Mechanical control:

• Collect and destroy the adult flies

Biological control:

• Rove beetles, weaver ants, spiders and birds and bats,
• Release of parasitoids such as Opius longicaudatus, O. vandenboschi, O. oophilus and Bracon spp

Fig midge

Cultural control:

• Removal of Johnson grassy weed

Biological control:

• Neem seed kernel extract 5%
• Parasitoids: Aprostocetus sp.

Mealy bug

Cultural control:

• Prune affected shoots during winter.
• Destroy ant colonies.
• Grow attractant plants Bachelor's Buttons or cornflower (Centaure acyanus), coriander attract wasps.

Mechanical control:

• Collect and destroy the damaged leaves, twigs and stems
• Use sticky barrier (5cm length) on trunk

Biological control:

• Coccinellids like R. fumida, chrysopid like Chrysoperla zastrowii silemi and drosophilid like Cacoxenus perspicax

Scale

Cultural control:

• Collect the egg carrying female in mounds before spreading to hibernation places.

Biological control:

• Coccinellids, P. kenyae, Chilocorus sp., Hyperaspis, Scymnus, Cryptolaemus.

Leaf roller

Cultural control:

• Deep ploughing and soil solaraisation before planting.
• Collect and burn all infested leaves.

Biological control:

• Conserve parasites such as Apanteles angeleti, Trathala flavoorbitalis and Cadurcia vanderwulpi
• Conserve predators such as lacewings, assassin bugs, and minute pirate bugs.

Thrips

Cultural control:

• Monitor the tree regularly.
• Adult thrips can be monitored by mass trapping with coloured (blue, yellow or white) sticky traps or water traps in the nursery or orchard.
• Ploughing and harrowing, and solarisation can kill pupae in the soil from previously infested trees.
• Inter-cropping with tomatoes may reduce the populations of thrips

Biological control:

• Various biological control agents, including minute pirate bugs, Orius spp. (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) and entomopathogenic nematodes, Thripinema spp. (Tylenchida: Allantonematidae)

Coccid

Cultural control:

• Sanitation is also important for reducing the pest population by disposing of fallen fruit, which may serve as hosts for the overwintering females.
• Grow attractant plants for natural enemies: viz., sunflower family, carrot family plants, buckwheat.
• Control ants and dust which can give the scale a competitive advantage

Mechanical control:

• Pruning of infested branches and twigs
• Collection and destruction of pruned infested material.

Biological control:

• Olive scale is effectively controlled by two parasites Aphytis maculicornis and Coccophagoides utilis.
• Parasitoids such as Encarsia perniciosi and Aphytis diaspidis cause effective parasitization.
• Coccinellid predators such as Chilocorus infernalis, Chilocorus rubidus, Pharoscymnus flexibilis check the pest infestation to some extent.
• Spray dormant oil in late winter before spring.
• Apply mixture of manure compost tea, molasses and citrus oil.
• Garlic-pepper tea also helps.

Fig moth

Mechanical control:

• Sieving, picking out, or winnowing,
• It is important to destroy any insects found in the by-products or left-overs immediately. Larvae living inside the grain are only inadequately eliminated.

Biological control:

• Larval parasitoid, Habrobracon hebetor
• Pupal parasitoid, Antrocephalus mitys
• Spraying neem oil.

Fig jassids

Cultural control:

• Apply adequate amount of nitrogen
• Mechanical control:
• See the common mechanical practices

Biological control:

• Conserve coccinellids like Brumus suturalis, Chilochorus nigritus, Coccinella septumpunctata,Menochllus sexmaculata, Scemnus nubillus
• Predatory lygaeid Geocoris tricolor and Anthocoris sp.,
• Several mantids like Eumantissa giglio, Cariagrion coromandeliorum, Ichneura sp., Dolichopus sp. and Therevia sp.
• Release predators viz., Chrysoperla zastrowii sillemi

Chemical control:

• Spraying of dimethoate 30% EC @ 594- 792 ml/acre diluted in 600-800 l of water

Rust

Cultural control:

• Angle sprinklers and drip irrigation reduces disease incidence.

Anthracnose

Cultural control:

• Eliminate other susceptible plants such as Johnson grass.

Leaf spot

Cultural control:

• Proper irrigation with drip or micro sprinklers
• Improved tree nutrition [nitrogen], etc.) reduces the disease incidence.
• Avoid heavy tree pruning during the dormant period
• Sandy soils and in some heavy soils, control has been achieved with preplant fumigation

Leaf mosaic

Cultural control:

Clean cultivation by removing the weeds specially Parthenium, Commelina etc. both inside and neighbouring plots

Follow optimum plant population in the orchard

Remove the affected plants. · Control the mite vector

Alternaria rot

Cultural control:

• Rot can be minimized by picking fruit before it becomes overripe.
• Reducing dust in orchards may also help to reduce the incidence of rot

Aspergillus rot

Cultural control:

• Avoid stressing trees by providing adequate irrigation.
• Reducing dust in the orchard may help to reduce incidence of rots

Smut

Cultural control:

• Remove all old fruit an crop debris from orchard.
• Try to reduce dust around trees

Fig mosaic

Cultural control:

• Do not collect propagation material from any trees showing symptoms of disease.
• Controlling fig mites may help to reduce incidence of disease

Leaf Blight

Cultural control:

Sanitation

Maturity/Flowering stage

Nutrients

• Apply recommended micronutrients, if deficiency is observed.
• To correct the deficiency of Zinc and Boron micro-nutrients, apply ZnSO4 (0.5%) and H2BO3 (0.1%) as foliar spray.

Weeds

• Remove weeds around the plants.
• Use straw or plastic for mulching to avoid weed growth and to maintain soil moisture for longer period.
• Whenever intercrop not grown between the rows of trees, slashing and mowing of weed may be adopted

Stem borer, Fruit flies, Fig midge, Mealy bug, Coccid, Leaf roller, Thrips, Scale, Fig moth, Fig jassids, Rust, Antracnose, Leaf spot, Leaf mosaic, Alternaria rot, Aspergillus rot, Smut, Fig mosaic, and Leaf Blight

• Same as mentioned in the above vegetative stage

Reproduction/Fruiting stage

Stem borer, Fruit flies, Fig midge, Mealy bug, Coccid, Leaf roller, Thrips, Scale, Fig moth, Fig jassids, Rust, Antracnose, Leaf spot, Leaf mosaic, Alternaria rot, Aspergillus rot, Smut, Fig mosaic, and Leaf Blight

• Same as mentioned in the above vegetative stage