15-30 days: 2.0 kg 19-19-19/fertigation (6 fertigations)

33-51 days: 3.0 kg 19-19-19 +1.0 kg KNO₃ + 1.0 kg CaNO₃/fertigations (7 fertigations)

54-90 days: 4.0 kg 19-19-19 +1.0 kg KNO₃ + 1.0 kg CaNO₃/fertigation (13 fertigations)

(85 kg 19-all+ 20 kg KNO₃+20 kg CaNO3)

Red pumpkin beetle

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Look for red oval beetles, about 8 mm long, on the leaves and flying between them. They are often in groups on both young and old leaves. Look for the circles eaten by the beetles, and the large holes in the leaves between the veins. Often, groups of beetles will attack the same leaf, leaving only the veins, before moving to other leaves

Collection & destruction of the pest if incidence is low, Perhaps a game for children and adults in community farms.

There is little known about the natural control of these beetles. The beetles contain chemicals that visual predators do not like, and are avoided by them.

Use wood ash. Add ½ cup of wood ash and ½ cup of lime in 4 L water; leave to stand for some hours and then strain; test on a few infested plants first to make adjustment to the strength before going into large-scale spraying.

Leaf miner

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The fly inserts her eggs in feeding punctures on the upper leaf surface. Larvae (maggots) feed between the upper and lower leaf surfaces, creating meandering mines that enlarge as the larvae grow. After approximately two weeks in warm weather the larva completes development and leaves the mine, dropping to the ground to pupate.

Monitor plant leaves closely. At the first sign of tunneling, squeeze the leaf at the tunnel between two fingers to crush any larvae. Done soon enough, this killing larva can allow plants to survive minor outbreaks. Pick off and destroy badly infested leaves in small gardens. Repeat at weekly interval 3-4 times.

Use yellow or blue sticky traps to catch egg laying adults. Cover soil under infested plants with plastic mulches to prevent larvae from reaching the ground and pupating.

Apply neem cake (containing 8-10% oil) @100 kg/acre in 8-10 heaps 25 days after germination as given in the note on IPM.

Spray pulverized neem seed powder extract (PNSPE) (4%) or neem/pongamia soap (1%), if required only.

Fruit fly

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The female melon fruit fly pierces the skins of the young fruits to lay the eggs just below the surface. After hatching, the grubs begin to bore into and feed on the pulp of the fruit causing soft rot in part or all the fruit in case of serious infestation.

Remove all the infested fruits and destroy.

Bagging: Each fruit is enclosed in an appropriately sized bag tied around the fruit stem. Alternatively, newspaper of an appropriate size can be rolled to enclose the fruit, then tied both around the fruit stem and at the free end. Bagging should begin when the fruit is small, shortly after the flower parts have fallen.

Set up Cuelure (para pheromone) traps @12/acre.

Chemical control of the melon fruit fly is relatively ineffective.

Chemicals:

Crush pumpkin 1.0 kg and add 100 gm jaggery and 10 ml Malathion or 10 ml Deltamethrin and keep in the plot (4-6 per acre)

Give bait splash, 10g jaggary + Deltamethrin 1.0ml/l; 40 splashes/acre.

Red spider mite

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• Spider mites usually extract the cell contents from the leaves using their long, needle- like mouthparts. This results in reduced chlorophyll content in the leaves, leading to the formation of white or yellow speckles on the leaves. In severe infestations, leaves completely desiccate and drop off. The mites also produce webbing on the leaf surfaces in severe conditions.

Check the undersides of leaves for mites, their eggs, and webbing; you’ll need a hand lens to identify them. To observe mites more closely, shake a few off the leaf surface onto a white sheet of paper. Once disturbed, they will move around rapidly.

Prune leaves, stems and other infested parts of plants well past any webbing and discard in trash (and not in compost piles).

Spray Pulvarized Neem Seed Powder Extract (PNSPE) (4%) or Wettable Sulphur 80WP (3g/l)

Chemicals: Spray Dicofol 18.5 EC (2.5 ml/l) or Quinalphos 25 EC (1.5ml/l) or Fenazaquin 10 EC (2.5 ml/l) or Fenpropathrin 30 EC (0.3 ml/l).

Spray lower surface of the leaves where mites are generally found.

Thrips

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Melon thrips cause severe injury to infested plants. Leaves become yellow, white or brown, and then crinkle and die. As the watermelon develops, thrips hide in the youngest shoots of the plant and the insect population increases. This insect is present during the whole crop cycle, but is seen at a larger quantity during the flowering period.

Spray Pulvarized Neem Seed Powder Extract PNSPE (4%) or neem/ pongamia soap ( 8-10g/l) at 10 days interval

Chemicals: Spray Fipronil 5 SC (1.0ml/l) or Emamectin benzoate 5 SG (0.125g/l) or Dimethoate 30 EC (2.0 ml/l)

Leaf eating caterpillar

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Larva folds the leaves and scrapes the green matter. As a result the leaves get dried up. It can also feed on ovaries of flower; sometimes bore into young developing fruits.

Soil application of neem cake @ 250 kg/ha immediately after germination and at flowering followed by sprays of neem soap (1 %) or neem seed powder extract (NSPE) (4%) at 10 days interval

Powdery mildew

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Leaves will appear to have a white powdery substance on them when the infection is active, though fruits aren’t generally affected. The fungus quickly spreads to completely cover the leaf surface. Once the leaf is covered, it dies and has a crisp texture. This disease is favored by high humidity, but not free water on leaves.

Apply Wettable Sulphur (3.0g/l) three-four times at 15 days interval

Or

Chemicals: Flusilazole (0.3 ml/l) or Dinocap (1.0 ml/l) or Hexaconazole (0.5 ml/l) or Difenoconazole (0.6 ml/l) three-four times at 15 days interval.

Downy mildew

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Yellow, angular spots restricted by veins resembling mosaic mottling appear on upper surface of leaves.

The corresponding lower surface of these spots shows a purplish downy growth in moist weather.

The spots turn necrotic with age. The diseased leaves become yellow and fall down. Diseased plants get stunted and die. Fruits produced may not mature and have a poor taste.

Chemicals: Pre packed mixture of Pyroclostrobin + Metiram (2.5g/l) or Chlorothalonil (2.0g/l) or Mancozeb (2.0 g/l) or Fosetyl-Al + Propineb (2.0g/l) or Cymoxanil+ Mancozeb (2.0 g/l) at 10 days interval.

Fusarium wilt

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The first symptom appears as chlorosis of the leaves. Wilting of leaves from bottom to top occur. Brown vascular discoloration inside infected stem or root leads to the death of plants.

Follow Bio-Intensive Disease Management practices.

Chemicals: Drench Pre packed mixture of Carbendazim+ Mancozeb (2.0 g/l).

Harvesting and yield

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