Pests and Diseases of Arecanut
Pests and Diseases of Arecanut
Pests of Arecanut:
1. Mites:
White and red mites are occurred on the under surface of leaves and suck the sap. Active during hot weather. In severs cases seedlings may die.
Control:
Removal and destroyed of infested dried leaves and spraying under surface of leaves with Trithioa or Chlorbenzilate (0.025%) can check infestation of red and white inites.
To control orange coloured mites, spray bunches with Dimethdate at 0.05% concentration.
2. Root or White Grub:
Particularly occurs in ill drained soils.
Control:
Drainage and loosen soil around the base of palm to a depth of 10-15 cm and drench chloradane 0,07% suspension twice, once in May just before the onset of monsoon and again in September-October towards the close of the monsoon.. Repeat application for 2-3 years consecutively to secure a complete eradication of the pest.
Root grubs can also be controlled by soil application of Aldrin, Chloradane or He/ptachlor dust @50 Kg/ha or by application of phorate 10% granules around the palm.
3. Spindle Bug:
Bug feeds on new emerging shoots.
Controls:
Spray crowns with BHC 50% WP (250 gm in 100. litres of water). The " spray should beach the leaf axils.
Diseases:
1. Kole Roga (Mahau or Fruit Rot):
It is caused by Phtopthora arecae. It affects on .fruit stem which causes a heavy fall of tender nuts, buds also rot. Control
Spray Bordeaux mixture 1% on all bunches twice an year once before the onset of monsoon and another 40 days later. Remove and burn all fallen and infected nuts.
2. Foot Rot (Anabe):
Caused by Ganoderma- lucidium which infects the root system and basal region of the palm. Occurrence is more in ill drained soils.
It can be controlled by removal of affected palms. Isolate affected palm by digging tranches 60 cm deep and 30 cm wide, around, 1 m away from the base : and drench with 0.3% captan.
Drench the soil, with 0.1 organomercurials containing 3% a.i, before planting seedlings.
3. Band Diseases:
It causes due to supply of insufficient fertilisers, irrigation, improper intercultivation and ill drainage. Leaves are malformed and shows dark green appearance.
Control
Improve soil conditions by loosening hard soil sfrate, provide good drainage. Apply powdered mixture of copper sulphate and lime in equal proportion @225 gm/palm twice a year at the base of affected palms.