Organic Pest and Disease Management

in Cauliflower

BrinjalBendi

Chillies

Centre for Sustainable Agriculture

Bacterial soft rot in cauliflower

Bacterial Soft rot in cabbageCausal agent: Erwinia caratovora pv caratovoraSymptoms: Small water soaked areas appear on the head,

stem and leaves and they rapidly enlarge. The tissue becomes soft and mushy. In due course the affected plant part may collapse. Offensive odour is usually present.

Management:• Follow recommended spacing• Avoid injuries to the plant• Avoid frequent irrigation during head development• Application of 100 kg of neem cake at the time of

planting in two equal split doses one at the time of planting and the other 30 days after the first application

• Application of Pseudomonas fluorescens @ 2kg per acre along with manure while planting.

Boron Deficiency

Boron Deficiency in cauliflower

• This is a nutritional disorder. Browning is caused due to boron deficiency. Generally, the deficiency symptoms of boron are –

Symptoms: the symptoms in Cauliflower are visible on plants after the curd formation. Water soaked areas appear during early stage on the stem and curd surface. As the plants grow, the stems become hollow with water soaked tissue covering the internal walls of the cavity. In advanced stage, brown or pink coloured areas are seen on the curd surfaces. This is otherwise known as brown rot or red rot or browning of the curd. Thus the affected curds would be bitter in taste. When the deficiency is severe, the leaves are underdeveloped and smaller. The growing point may die.

Control: The deficiency of boron may be corrected by applying borax. The quantity of borax

• depends on soil type, soil pH and the extent of deficiency. In acid soil, 10- 15 kg borax/ha is sufficient while larger quantity may be required as natural and alkaline soils.

Citrus stem girdler

Causal organism: Chloridolum alcamene & Chelidonium cinctum (a grub of a beetle belonging to the family cerambycidae)

Symptoms: Presence of holes on the stem and frass accumulated near the holes. Gum exudates from the holes.

Management:• The effected branches/ shoots should be pruned and

destroy. • Don’t cause any in physical injury to the trunk or main

branches. • Orchard should be kept clean.• Treat the holes produced by borer with neem oil and

plug with cow dung + mud.

Citrus stem borer / orange borer

White flies in BrinjalCausal organism: Bemisia tabaciSymptoms: the nymphs and adults suck sap from

the leaves. Affected plants show lack of vigour and leaves turn yellow and when the infestation is severe, these insects produce lot of honey dew secretions because of which sooty moult is formed on the leaves. Thus leaves wilt and dry up and plants appear sick. Hot dry conditions favour this pest.

Management:• Remove alternate hosts• Grow seedlings under nets • Grow border crops like jowar or maize or

sorghum to prevent the insects from other fields

• Use yellow sticky traps @ 2 traps per 100 sq mt• Application of NSKE 5% or vitex decoction 5%

• Management:• Avoid monoculture and follow crop rotation as this pest is mono-phagous• Grow resistant varieties like Pusa Purple Long, Pusa Purple Cluster, Pusa Purple Round, H- 128, H-129,

Aushey, Thorn Pendy, Black Pendy, H- 165, H-407, Dorley, PPC-17-4, PVR-195, Shyamla Dhepa, Banaras Long Purple, Arka Kesav, Arka Kusmakar, Punjab Barsati, Punjab Chamkila, Kalyanpur-2 and Gote-2

• Clear the debris under the plants as the pest pupates in the debris• Use pheromone traps in mass (40 per acre) to prevent mating• Application of NSKE 5% or neem oil 3% to prevent egg laying by adult moths

Damage symptoms: During early vegetative stage, the larva feeds on the tender shoots causing wilting of the tender shoots and once the fruits are formed the young larva bores into the fruits. The larva seals the hole with excreta. The larva tunnels into the fruit feeding on the inner contents of the fruit. Damaged fruits show bore holes and when cut open, the feeding channels filled with frass could be found with the presence of the larva. nder heavy infestation, more than one larva will feed inside the same fruit.

Causal organism: Leucinodes orbonalis

Spodoptera

• Causal organism: Spodoptera litura

• Damage Symptoms: Adult moth lays eggs in masses on the leaves and the young larvae after hatching feed on the green matter of the leaf. Due to the feeding of the larvae, the leaf appears papery or transparent and later the larvae migrate to other parts of the plant or to the neighbouring plants. The larvae bore into the cabbage head / cauliflower curd and feed on the materials.

• Management:• Deep summer ploughing• Crop rotation with crops like soybean, balckgram, sesame etc• Growing border crops like jowar, maize etc• For every 16 rows of tomato growing one row of marigold with first and last

row being marigold (in case tobacco caterpillar sowing castor along the border as trap crop)

• Application of neem cake@100kg/ac at 20 days after planting• Establishing pheromone traps @ 4 per acre• Set up bird perches @ 10 per acre• Collection and destroying the grown up larva• Release of Trichogramma chilonis or T pretiosum @ 40000/ac six times at

weekly interval during flowering stage• Spray Neem Seed Kernel Extract 5% solution• Spray Ha NPV (in case of tobacco caterpillar spray Sl NPV) @ 100 LE/ac at 28

Days after planting and repeat two more times at weekly interval• Spray Bacillus thuringiensis var kurstaki @ 1g/lit

Tobacco caterpillar

Spotted Borer

• Causal organsim: Earias insulana & Earias vitella• Damage symptoms: tender shoots (terminal

shoots) wither and droop. Shedding of flowers and buds may be observed. Presence of holes on the fruits and deformed fruits indicate the incidence of the pest.• Management:

• Set up pheromone traps @ 4/ac.• Collection and destruction of affected fruits.• Release of egg parasite Trichogramma

chilonis @ 1.0 lakh/ha.• Application of NSKE 5% or brahmastra

Bhendi fruit borer

Causal organisms: Epilachna vigintioctopunctata and E. dodecastigma

Damage symptoms: The grub and adult scrape the chlorophyll from the epidermal layers of the leaves. The feeding results in a typical ladder-like marks on the leaves. The windows will dry and drop off, leaving holes in the leaves. In severe infestations, several skeletonization takes place and leaves appear papery.

Management:• Use resistant varieties like Arka Shirish, Hissar

Selection 14, and Shankar Vijay• Hand pick and destroy the eggs, grubs and adults in

case of smaller plots• Application of NSKE 5% to prevent adult laying eggs• Encourage natural enemies

Epilachna beetle in Brinjal

Sooty Mould in Bottle gourd

• Causal organism: sugary secretions of jassids / whiteflies / aphids causes these sooty moulds• Symptoms: leaf surface covered with the dark

sooty layer and photosynthesis of the leaf is affected. In case of severe infestations, growth of the plant is affected and ultimately the yield.• Management:• Management of sap sucking insects like jassids /

aphids / whiteflies (NSKE 5% spray or Vitex spray 5% or tobacco decoction spray 1%)• Starch spray 5% will pull out the sooty mould

along with it when it dries up and drops from the plant surface

Sooty mould

Root Grub in Cauliflower

• Causal organism: Holotrichia sp• Damage symptoms: Grubs live in soil

and feed on the roots of the plants. The plants wilt and dry up due to the feeding of the grubs on the root system. • Management:

• Application of pongamia cake or neem cake @ 100kg per acre in two split doses – 50 % at the time of land preparation and remaining 50%, 30 days after transplantation.

• Application of entomopathogenic nematodes like Steinernema rhabtide @ 100 million per acre

• Trapping adults during first showers – they come to light and feed on the trees neighbouring the fields.

Stem borer

Stem borers in paddy: Yellow Stem borer - Scirpophaga Incertulus, White Stem borer - Scirpophaga innotata, Striped borer - Chilo suppressalis and Pink stem borer - Sesamia inferens

Damage Symptoms: Freshly hatched larvae hang from leaves with salival threads and disperse to the neighbouring plants by wind. They first nibble inside leaf sheath and soon bore into the stem. Due to feeding on shoot tip internally, death of terminal shoot (Dead heart) in vegetative stage and white chaffy panicles with unfilled grains (white ear) in reproductive stage occurs.

Management:

• Clipping leaf tips at the time of transplantation to avoid egg masses.

• Cutting stubbles close to soil surface destroys pupal stages.

• By installing pheromone traps @ 1 per acre can be useful in monitoring pests incidence.

• When ever adult moths or egg masses are observed in the field, spray 5% Neem seed kernel suspension to ward off egg laying adults.

• Fields that are not sparyed with insecticides, egg parasites like Trichogramma will control the pest naturally. Release these egg parasites @ 20000 per acre twice or thrice depending on pest incidence.

• Cultivation of resistant varieties like- Vikas, Sasyasri, Rasi, Cauvery, Swarnamukhi, Varsha and Pothana etc.

• Deep summer ploughing exposes hidden pupae to birds and harsh sunlight.

• Intercropping cotton with short duration crops like cowpea, groundnut, greengram and soyabean to build up natural enemies like ladybird beetles, chrysopa and syrphids etc. and subsequent transfer of these natural enemies to main crop.

Paddy stem borer management

.....Management contd• Clipping the plant tips at 45 days after sowing to remove the eggs of larvae.• Clipping the damaged / drooping shoots and destroying them to destroy the hidden larvae /pupae or

eggs.• Stopping use of chemical pesticides to encourage natural control agents like Trichogramma, Chrysopa,

lady bird beetles etc.• Spraying 5% Neem seed kernel suspension as repellent against egg laying adults.• Spraying chilli-garlic suspension to kill young larvae.• Sowing trap crops like bhendi on field bunds. The eggs and larvae on the trap crops should be

destroyed manually and regularly.• Border crop / Barrier crop - Maize, sorghum around the fields. These crops are taller with lot of foliage

which obstruct the invasion of pests. They are congenial for growth and development of natural enemies.

• Putting bird perches @10 per acre to attract birds for controlling larval stages.

Casual organisms: Helminthosporium oryzae (Fungus)

Favourable conditions: High relative humidity (>90%) with temperature between 25 to 30OC and heavy and late North East Monsoon.

Damage Symptoms: The leaves how oval shaped spots with yellow halo. Severely affected field presents a reddish appearance. Grains become discolored.

Management:• Seed treatment with Beejamruth or cow dung +

urine + asafetida solution.• Correction of soil acidity by application of lime

(0.5 Kg/ Sq.m)• Use resistant varieties.

Helminthosporium leaf spot in Paddy

Brinjal Little leaf

Causal Agent: Phytoplasma

Vector: Leaf hopper (Hishimonus phycitis & Amarasca bigutulla bigutulla)

Symptoms: The disease affected plants appear short, proliferation of large number of branches, roots and leaves occur. Internodes get shortened, many buds appear at the leaf axils giving the plant a bushy appearance. Flower parts get deformed and the plants do not bear any fruit. If any fruit is formed, it becomes hard and fails to mature.

Management:

• Select seeds/seedlings from disease free plants and areas

• Grow jowar or bajra or maize as border crop

• Vector management i.e. leaf hopper management by spraying 5% vitex decoction or 1% tobacco decoction

• Uproot and destroy the affected plants as soon as been noticed.

Little leaf of brinjal

Leaf Curl Disease in Chillies

Causal agent: Chilli Leaf curl virusVector: Whiteflies (Bemesia tabaci) and mechanicalSymptoms: disease affected plants will have leaves with

shortened internodes and upward curled leaves. Severely infected plants produce clusters of reduced sized leaves with few flowers and fruits. Small sized fruits are produced with deformed seeds

Management:• Obtain seeds / seedlings from disease free source• Control the vector by growing the seedlings under net to

prevent the whiteflies attack on the seedlings.• Seed treatment with raw cow milk (1:1 ratio) for 24 hrs

shade dry them and then treat the seeds with Trichoderma viride @ 6g/kg seed

• Treat the nursery bed with Trichoderma viride @ 10g/sq.m

• Grow border crops like maize, jowar or bajra around the main field

• Treat the seedlings with raw cow milk 15% for 20 min and transplant

Leaf curl in chillies

Other causes for leaf curl

• Causal organism: Thrips, Aphids and mites• Symptoms: Thrips – Upward curling of leaves, Aphids and mites –

Downward curling of leaves. In case of mites, webbing on the lower side of leaves is observed. In severe cases, leaves turn yellow and dry up.• Management:• Grow border crops (maize, jowar etc)• Encourage natural enemies by growing mixed cropping• Spray 1% tobacco decoction or 5% vitex decoction

Cauliflower damaged due to excessive follidol dust application