Gardener must
be keen observer
The
deficiencies of plants are expressed in the form of
symptoms such as insect attacks, injuries and diseases.
The most successful gardener is the one who takes extra
care of his plants and uses fertiliser
regularly, says Satish Narula
THE deficiencies of plants are
expressed in the form of symptoms such as insect attacks,
injuries and diseases. Spots or gumming, and drying also
portray the state of your garden. The most successful
gardener is the one who takes extra care of his plants
and is a keen observer. Remember, the best fertiliser for
your garden is the dust of your feet.
Insects
are an integral part of your garden. Most of then are
seasonal visitors. To control them, medicines and
chemicals should be used. These are so designed that
there is a break in their life cycle at one or the other
stage of development. There are certain insects which are
almost permanent residents of your garden. They do not
attack fruits directly but cause tremendous loss to the
crops by severely affecting the normal lifecycle of the
tree.
The stem borer or
Inderbela species is one such insect. This insect can
attack almost all the trees. However, the ones that are
the most susceptible are litchi, guava, pear, plants of
the citrus species, figs and many ornamental trees such
as the pink cassia.
The injury caused to the
tree by this insect is multiple. It eats away at the
outer bark and skin, thus interrupting the conduction of
food. As the habitat of the insect is the main trunk or
stems, it also eats into the middle portion of the tree.
Certain secretions kill the tissues in the middle portion
of the tree, thus disrupting the food channels.
The main contributing
cause of appearance of this insect is the irregular
pruning of trees by using crude tools or simply breaking
unwanted twigs by pulling, leaving irregular cuts or
stubs. Neglecting trees is another cause.
How does one identity this
insect?
If you see the
accompanying picture, you will find a web covering which
in fact is the excreta of the insect woven as a web.
Under this covering, the insect feeds on the bark. If you
start removing the web at the farthest end, it will lead
you to a hole in the trunk that mostly ends up in the
joints.
After you have located the
hole, inject kerosene into it and plug the hole with wet
soil. Apply some disinfectant like blitox slurry on the
injured and just exposed bark. Carry out the operation in
all the trees growing in the vicinity. In case kerosene
is not available, use some insecticide like sevin.
Since this is the
flowering season for mango, take measures to protect the
plants at once or else you will further strengthen the
misplaced belief that mango is a failure in this region.
This is not the case. Powdery mildew and mango hopper are
the major contributors towards these diseases. If allowed
to appear unchecked, they can play havoc and cause almost
total loss of crop.
As hopper is very active
during March, at the time of flowering the nymphs and
adults suck the sap from young emerging leaves. How does
one identity its attack? Just shake one of the flowering
buds on your palm and you will have young nymphs crawling
on it. Another symptom of their appearance is that tree
leaves and buds become sticky and sooty as if they have
been sprayed with gum. Immediately spray one-and-a-half
mm of Thiodan 35 EC (endosulfan). Repeat after a
fortnight.
Powdery mildew also
appears on inflorescence and the axis of the flowering
buds. The affected flowers and small fruits along with
the flowering branches show die-back symptoms and drop.
Karathane can effectively control this disease. It has to
be sprayed thrice.
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