Control of leaf miner menace in watermelon
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bapuj...@gmail.com
Jul 23, 2009, 10:13:16 AM7/23/09
to Plant Protection India
Control of leaf miner menace in watermelon
Watermelon crop is attacked by many insect pests, of which leaf miner,
assumes significance as it causes greater damage.
The larvae feed on the leaves by mining into them. Smaller leaves with
limited feeding space are characterised by a secondary blotch.
Damage caused by a single larva is minimal; however, when the
population is heavy they are capable of destroying more leaves and
affect the plant growth.
Larvae are easily visible. Yellow and white to brown tunnels or
blotches are noticed between the upper and lower surface of leaves.
These tunnels spread all over the leaf making loops. Severely affected
leaves curl, turn brown and die.
Pest biology
Eggs are oval in shape and creamy white in colour and are laid singly
in punctures on the epidermis of the leaf. Entire larval period lasts
for 7-9 days.
Pupae are yellowish brown in colour and distinctly segmented. Pupae
are oval shaped with narrow ends. Adults are small grey coloured flies
with black and yellow markings and live for about 10-20 days depending
on the environmental conditions.
Management
— Collect and destroy damaged leaves along with larvae.
— Maintain the field and bunds free from weeds.
— Install yellow sticky traps to attract and kill the adults. These
should be placed in and around the field at about 10 cm above the
foliage. Replace the trap at least once a week.
— Avoid water stress in irrigated crop. Set up light traps to monitor
and attract the leaf miner moths.
— Dusting leaves with phosalone 4D at 25 kg/ha or Carbaryl 10D at 25
kg/ha will be effective.
V. Radhakrishnan
& K. Ramaraju
Department of Agricultural Entomology
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
Watermelon crop is attacked by many insect pests, of which leaf miner,
assumes significance as it causes greater damage.
The larvae feed on the leaves by mining into them. Smaller leaves with
limited feeding space are characterised by a secondary blotch.
Damage caused by a single larva is minimal; however, when the
population is heavy they are capable of destroying more leaves and
affect the plant growth.
Larvae are easily visible. Yellow and white to brown tunnels or
blotches are noticed between the upper and lower surface of leaves.
These tunnels spread all over the leaf making loops. Severely affected
leaves curl, turn brown and die.
Pest biology
Eggs are oval in shape and creamy white in colour and are laid singly
in punctures on the epidermis of the leaf. Entire larval period lasts
for 7-9 days.
Pupae are yellowish brown in colour and distinctly segmented. Pupae
are oval shaped with narrow ends. Adults are small grey coloured flies
with black and yellow markings and live for about 10-20 days depending
on the environmental conditions.
Management
— Collect and destroy damaged leaves along with larvae.
— Maintain the field and bunds free from weeds.
— Install yellow sticky traps to attract and kill the adults. These
should be placed in and around the field at about 10 cm above the
foliage. Replace the trap at least once a week.
— Avoid water stress in irrigated crop. Set up light traps to monitor
and attract the leaf miner moths.
— Dusting leaves with phosalone 4D at 25 kg/ha or Carbaryl 10D at 25
kg/ha will be effective.
V. Radhakrishnan
& K. Ramaraju
Department of Agricultural Entomology
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
ayyappan regupathy
Jul 24, 2009, 2:21:01 AM7/24/09
to plantprote...@googlegroups.com, entomo tnau, sv krishnamoorthy
Dear all
For leaf miners NSKE 5% or neem oil based formulations are the best. More over you can have high level of ETL as the loss due to leaf miner damage is very less when considering the compensatory effort of the fast growing melons.
Regards
AR
\Prof. A. Regupathy
Consultant ( Insecticide - Toxicology )
Formerly * Prof.& Head,Dept. of Agric. Entomology,
* Dean, Agricultural College & Research Institute, Madurai
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Coimbatore-641 003, India.
Address for correspondence
31, Azhagar Illam
Revathy Nagar
P.N.Pudur Post
Coimbatore -641 041
Phone: Res:091-422-2423284; Mobile- 94433 43633
--- On Thu, 23/7/09, bapuj...@gmail.com <bapuj...@gmail.com> wrote:
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