Management | Activity |
Pre-planting
|
|
Common cultural practices:
- Harrowing, levelling and application of FYM to the soil help in achieving to conserve soil moisture, and ensure excellent bearing of fruits and resist to insect invasion later
- Field sanitation, rogueing
- 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 agroclimatic zone.
- Prepare land by ploughing and harrowing.
- The pits are dug in summer about a fortnight before planting.
- Dig pits of about 1 m x 1 m x 1 m at a distance of 10 m x 10 m apart (high density planting of 5 X 5 m up to the age of 13 years may be adopted). Fill the pits with top soil mixed with 25 kg FYM treated with Trichoderma cultures
|
Weeds |
- Plough the field before planting to destroy existing weeds in the field.
- Remove existing weeds in and around the pits at the time of planting.
|
Soil borne pathogens, resting stages of insects
|
Cultural control:
- Grow resistant/tolerant varieties, if any.
- Deep summer ploughing of field to control resting stages of insect pests.
- Avoid excessive watering and provide proper drainage in the field.
|
Planting
|
Nutrients |
- Planting is done in pits already filled with top soil and farm yard manure.
- Apply 20 g each of Azospirillum and mycorrhizae per plant during planting. Weeds
- Remove weeds from the pit, if any at the time of plant
- Use fibrous biological mulch to reduce the weed problems and conserve the soil moisture.
- Adopt the intercropping of recommended crops between the rows of sapota depending upon the stage of orchard e.g. banana, papaya, pine apple, cocoa, French bean, peas, tom
|
Insect Diseases |
Mechanical Practices
- Neem cake must be incorporated @ 40kg/acre, to protect from pest attack.
- Growing of forage crops as a mixed crop, helps in "maintaining ecological balance".
|
Vegetative stage (2nd to 4th years)
|
|
Common cultural practices:
- Collect and destroy diseased and insect infected plant parts.
- Provide irrigation at critical stages of the crop
- Avoid water stagnation.
- Enhance parasitic activity by avoiding chemical spray, when 1-2 larval parasitoids are observed
Common mechanical practices:
- Collection and destruction of eggs and early stage larvae
- Handpick the older larvae during early stages
- The infested curd and seed capsules may be collected and destroyed
- Handpick the gregarious caterpillars and the pupae which are found on leaves and destroy them in kerosene mixed water.
- 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.
- Set up bonfire during evening hours at 7-8 pm
Common biological practices:
- Conserve natural enemies through ecological engineering
- Augmentative release of natural enemies
|
Nutrients |
- Apply fertilizers according to the age of plant as mentioned below;
-
Age of the tree | Nitrogen | Phosphorus | Potash |
|
(grams /tree) |
|
1-3 Years |
50 |
25 |
75 |
4-6 Years |
100 |
40 |
150 |
7-10 years |
200 |
80 |
300 |
11 years and onward |
400 |
160 |
450 |
|
Weeds |
Cultural control:
- Use black polythene mulch for suppressing the weeds growth.
- Remove the existing weeds around the pits by using hand tools as and when required.
- Inter-cultivation by suitable plough or cultivator between the rows of sapota plants immediately after onset of the monsoon and may be repeated after suitable interval.
|
Leaf webber |
Cultural control:
- Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices.
Biological control:
- Neem seed kernel extract (NSKE) 5 %
|
Scale insects and mealy bug |
- Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices.
Biological control:
- After two weeks release 20 predator beetles viz., Cryptolaemus montrouzieri beetle per tree
|
Flowering stage
|
Nutrients |
- Apply recommended micronutrients, if symptoms are observed.
- Micro-nutrients viz. ZnSO4 (0.5%) and H2BO3 (0.1%) are sprayed in order to increase growth and yield characters
|
Weeds |
- Remove weeds around the plants.
- Use straw or plastic Mulch to avoid weed growth and to maintain soil moisture for longer period
|
Bud borer |
- Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices.
|
Fruit laden phase
|
Leaf webber |
- Same as in vegetative stage.
|
Sapota caterpillar |
- Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices.
Cultural control:
- Field sanitation
- Free from weeds and debris
Mechanical control:
- Collect and destroy the egg mass
- Burning the groups of larvae found on tree trunks with torches
|
Harvesting stage |
|
- Fruits should be harvested in the month of January
|
Fruit fly |
- Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices.
Mechanical control:
- Collect fallen infested fruits and dispose them by dumping in a pit and covering with soil.
- Raking the soil around the tree to expose the pupa
- Monitor and mass trap the fruit flies with methyl eugenol traps.
- Use bait spray combining any one of the insecticides and molasses
|
Seed Borer |
- Follow common cultural, mechanical and biological practices.
Mechanical control
- Sanitation: Sanitation is to be maintained for eliminating the sources of seed borer infestation.
- Collection and destruction of the off season stray mature sapota fruits after main harvest till November will bring down the pest incidence
|