Management |
Activity |
Pre sowing*
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Common cultural practices: • Timely sowing should be done. • Field sanitation, rogueing • Destroy the alternate host plants and weeds. • Apply manures and fertilizers as per soil test recommendations. • Grow the attractant, repellent, and trap crops around the field bunds. • Growing tomato or marigold as a trap crop for the management of leaf miner. • Sow/plant tall border crops such as maize/sorghum/bajra all around watermelon field as guard crop. • Rotate crop with non-host crops. |
Nutrients |
• Nutrients should be applied based on the soil test report and recommendations for the particular agro-climatic zone. • Apply FYM @ 16 t/acre and incorporate in the soil 2 to 3 weeks before sowing. • If crop is planted in pit a mixture of soil and 4-5 Kg of FYM or compost, 30- 40 g urea, 40-50 g SSP (single super phosphate) and 80 or 100 g of MOP (muriate of potash) should be added. |
Weeds |
• Deep ploughing during summer or adopt stale bed technique. • Harrowing and ploughing before sowing. |
Soil borne pathogens,nematodes, resting stages of insects |
Biological control: • Apply neem cake/pongamia cake @ 100 Kg/acre or press mud @ 2 t /acre in soil at the time of last ploughing for reducing nematodes and soil dwelling pests. |
Sowing*
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Common cultural practices: • Use tolerant/resistant varieties. • Select healthy, certified and weed seed free seed. • Avoid overlapping sowings of susceptible crops and sequential plantings side by side to minimise virus spread from one crop to the next. |
Nutrients |
• Basal application of 10 Kg Nitrogen (N), 15 Kg Phosphorus and 8-10 Kg Potash should be done. |
Weeds |
• Adopt the recommended agronomic practices like timely sowing, method of sowing and proper spacing etc. |
Vegetative stage
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Common cultural practices: • Collect and destroy the crop debris • Provide irrigation at critical stages of the crop • Avoid water stress and water stagnation conditions. • Enhance parasitic activity by avoiding chemical spray, when 1-2 larval parasitoids are observed Common mechanical practices: • Collect and destroy disease infected and insect infested plant parts • Collect and destroy eggs and early stage larvae • Handpick the older larvae during early stages • Handpick the gregarious caterpillars and the cocoons which are found on stem and destroy them in kerosene mixed water. • Use yellow sticky traps for whitefly and aphids and blue sticky trap for thrips @ 4-5 trap/acre. • Use light trap @ 1/acre and operate between 6 pm and 10 pm • Install pheromone traps @ 4-5/acre for monitoring adult moths activity (replace the lures with fresh lures after every 2-3 weeks) • Erect 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 14 Kg of N/acre at 25 days after sowing as top dressing. • Micronutrient deficiency should be corrected by foliar spray of particular nutrient. • To maintain the sex ratio (more number of female flowers), spray borax @ 3-4 g/l at 2-4 leaf stage |
Weeds |
• Regular hoeing by power hand tillar and/ or hand tools to keep the field weed free up to 30 days crop stage. |
Serpentine leaf miner |
Biological control: • Foliar spray with neem oil @ 10-20 ml/l or NSKE 5% |
Red pumpkin beetle |
• See common cultural, mechanical and biological practices. • Spray NSKE 4% |
Aphid |
Cultural control: • High levels of nitrogen fertilizer favor aphid reproduction, so never use more nitrogen than necessary. Biological control: • Release 1st instar larvae of green lacewing (Chrysoperla zastrowi sillemi) @ 4,000 Nos/acre. • Spraying with tobacco decoction (1 Kg tobacco boiled in 10 l of water for 30 minutes and making up to 30 l + 100 g soap). |
Whitefly |
• See common cultural, mechanical and biological practices. |
Leaf eating caterpillar |
Cultural control: • Soil application of neem cake (immediately after germination and again at flowering) followed by spraying of NSKE @ 4% with sticker (0.5 ml/l of water) at 10-15 days interval. |
Thrips |
Cultural control: • Keep plants well irrigated, and avoid excessive applications of nitrogen fertilizer, which may promote higher populations of thrips. Biological control: • Soil application of neem cake (once immediately after germination and second at flowering) followed by spraying of NSKE @ 4% with sticker (0.5 ml/l of water) at 10-15 days interval. |
Red spider mite |
• See common cultural practices. Biological control: • Spray neem or pongamia soap at 1% on lower surface thoroughly. |
Powdery mildew |
Cultural control: • Bower system (maintain gapping) of cropping reduces the disease incidence. |
Downy mildew, Anthracnose |
Cultural control: • Trellising (provide support system) watermelon. • Control alternate weed hosts (wild cucumber, golden creeper and volunteer cucumbers) in neighbouring fence rows and field edges. • Bower system of cropping reduces the disease incidence. • Seed production should be preferably carried out in summer season because summer crop is often free from diseases. |
Alternaria Leaf spot |
• See common cultural and mechanical practices |
Bud necrosis |
Cultural control: • Maintaining a clean buffer zone free of weeds of at least 25 m between a virus source and a susceptible crop can considerably reduce virus levels. • Control the thrips as given above in thrips management. |
Fusarium wilt |
Cultural control: • Uproot and burn the infected plants. |
Cucumber mosaic disease |
Cultural control: • Raise 4 rows of barrier crop such as maize/sorghum/bajra. • Avoid planting tomatoes next to cucurbits, spinach, or other vegetables and flowers susceptible to these diseases. • Control of aphid vectors as given in aphid management. |
Reproductive stage
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Nutrients |
• Micronutrient deficiency should be corrected by foliar spray of particular micronutrient. |
Weeds |
• Left over weeds should be removed from the field before shedding of seeds to avoid further spread of weed seeds. |
Fruit fly |
Cultural control: • Put fly traps in the field @4-8 traps/acre. Kill the collected fruit flies. • Raking of soil during fruiting time and after the harvest to expose pupae to the predators and sunlight. Biological control: • Spray neem based products |
Other pests and diseases |
• Same as vegetative stage |
Note: The pesticide dosages and spray fluid volumes are based on high volume sprayer. *Apply Trichoderma viride/harzianum and Pseudomonas fluorescens as seeds/seedling/planting materials treatment and soil 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).
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