Tip of the day – Page 168

Identification of leaf miner on muskmelon crop –

Adults leaf miners look like small black and yellow flies.
Larvae exit from the leaf after completion of their development and then pupate axles on plants.
Females puncture the leaf to feed plant sap and lays eggs within the leaf tissue.
This damage restricts the plant growth and results in reduced bulb yield and loss of vigour.
Tunnels or mines can be seen in the leaves.

Collect and destroy infested fruits.
Flytraps (pheromone traps) can be set to prevent egg-laying by fruit flies.
Maize plant s grown in the field are effective as flies rest on such tall plants.
Deep ploughing should be done to expose hibernating stages of fruit flies.
spray dichlorvos 76% EC 250 to 500ml/acre or
Lambda Cyhalothrin 4.9% CS @ 200 ml/acre. or
Profenofos 40%EC + Cypermethrin 4 %EC @ 400 ml/acre

The worm bores into the fruits and sucks the sap.
Infected fruits fall after decaying.
These flies prefer tender fruits for egg-laying.
The fly bore a hole into the fruit to lay her eggs inside it. Fruit Juice can be seen coming out from these holes.
This also results in distorted and malformed.
The maggots feed on the pulp of fruits as well as on the immature seeds and cause premature dropping of fruits.

Adopt clean cultivation and crop rotation cultural practices to prevent this disease.
Spray Mancozeb 75% WP at the rate of 400 gram/acre or
Spray kitazin 48.0 w/w @ 400 ml/acre at 10-15 days intervals.
Spray chlorothalonil 75% WP @ 300 gram/acre at 10 days intervals.

Alternaria leaf blight in bottle gourd can be identified by the following symptoms-

In the initial stages of this disease, Yellow spots appear on the leaves which then turn brown and finally turn black on ageing.
They usually start from margins and then produce concentric rings.
Severely affected vines start looking like burnt charcoal.

Soil testing is very necessary for increasing production of any crop. It helps in –

Determining the exact amount of chemical fertilizers used in crops.
In identifying the correct way of improving the alkalic and acidic land and making it fertile.
To determine the compatibility of the land for cultivation.

14/03/2020

Aloe vera has many health advantages, especially in the summer season. Some of its major advantages are as follows.

The red spider mites are 1 mm. long and can be difficult to see by necked eyes.
Spider mites live in colonies on the undersurface of leaves.
Larvae, nymphs and adults of mites lacerate leaves from under surface.
They suck the cell sap resulting in the production of white patches between Vines and leaves.

Bitter gourd grows very fast and vines elongate rapidly within two weeks after planting.
Staking and trellising will increase fruit yield, size, reduce fruit’s rotting.
This makes the process of harvesting and spraying of pesticides easier.
The trellis should be 1.2-1.8 meter high constructed from stacks 1.2 -1.8 meter apart.

Pinches are made to prevent overgrowth of watermelon from the plant.
When there is enough fruit on the oxen of watermelon, then there should be a solution to pinch, which can prevent the bull from failing.
Pinching and cutting unwanted wounds results in good nutrition for the fruit and the development of the fruits is good.
If there are too many fruits on a vine, then remove the small and weak fruits so that the normal fruit gets better.
By removing unnecessary branches, watermelon gets complete nutrition and it grows very fast.