Plant Protection Measures
(a) Pests Management
Management of pests is one of the most important practices in tea cultivation. For effective management of different pests that attack the tea bushes, you should give more emphasis on cultural practices rather than chemical control.
| Pest | Symptoms | Cultural practices/Chemical control | |
| Mite Pests(Red spider mite, Scarlet mite,Purple mite Pink mite) |
Red spider infests upper surface of mature leaves.Reddish or coppery spots develops on sucking sites subsequently form large brown patches, causes defoliation.
When Scarlet mite attacks, discolouration of leaves occurs, often leads to defoliation. Leaves exhibit smoky grey colour when attacked by Purple mite. Young leaves turn pale and get twisted if attacked by Pink mite. |
Cultural practices | |
| i) | Maintain good shade. | ||
| ii) | Keep the area weed free. | ||
| iii) | Improve the drainage. | ||
| iv) | Improve the health and vigour of the bushes by proper fertilisation/manuring. | ||
| v) | Improve the bush sanitation by knife cleaning. | ||
| vi) | Check cattle trespass. | ||
| vii) | Protect the road side bushes from dust, you can grow hedges of titaphool (Phlogacanthus trysiflorus). | ||
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Chemical control
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| viii) | Apply suitable acaricides as recommended by TRA. | ||
| ix) | Follow strictly the doses, time and period of application. | ||
| Tea Mosquito bug or Helopeltis | Small adult bugs and hairy orange nymphs suck the sap from fresh leaves and tender shoots; leaves curl up, dry and die. | Cultural practices | |
| i) | Keep the garden weed free. | ||
| ii) | Prune or deep skiff the areas which were heavily infested in the previous year. | ||
| iii) | If the infestation is severe, skiff the area and remove the infested leaves below the plucking table. | ||
| iv) | Improve drainage and don’t allow waterlogging in any localized depressions on the ground. | ||
| v) | Remove the lower branches of the shade tree by lopping, if the shade is dense. | ||
| vi) | Improve ventilation by removing the side branches in each row in closely planted areas. | ||
| vii) | In heavily infested areas, follow black plucking. | ||
| viii) | Remove and destroy all infested shoots | ||
| Chemical control | |||
| ix) | Apply the approved Insecticides recommended by TRA. | ||
| x) | Don’t spray the same insecticide repeatedly. | ||
| xi) | Adopt barrier spraying- before spraying the whole field in a section, first spray 8-10 rows of bushes covering the outer periphery,then spray the other part. | ||
| Spray in the early morning or late evening-bug are active in this periods. | |||
| Spray thoroughly drenching the top, middle and bottom hamper of the bush. | |||
| Looper Caterpillar | Eats out the young leaves making small holes along the margin,then bite off small pieces at the margin of the leaf.In severe attack complete strip of leaves.Young caterpillars remain in cluster on the undersurface of leaves during day and feed in night.Completely stripped of the leaves. | Cultural practices | |
| i) | Collect the caterpillar and destroy during December-February by light forking. | ||
| ii) | Kill the moths by light trapping during February-March and August-October. | ||
| iii) | Don’t grow Dalbergia assamica (Bormedelua) shade tree if your area is looper infested. | ||
| iv) | After severe attack, you can apply extra dose of nitrogen @20 kg N/ha | ||
| v) | Prune looper infested areas only after giving sufficient rest. | ||
| Chemical Control | |||
| vi) | Spray only the recommended insecticides by TRA. | ||
| vii) | Spray the neem extract like Bioneem, Fortuna or Azdirachtin during plucking season. | ||
| viii) | While spraying, spray the shade trees also to a manageable height to kill the eggs. | ||
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Bunch Caterpillar |
Cultural practices | ||
| i) | Collect the caterpillars by hand and destroy. | ||
| ii) | Light Trap the moth during October-November and March-April. | ||
| iii) | Collect and destroy the chrysalides by stirring the soil during November-December. | ||
| Chemical control | |||
| iv) | Spray recommended insecticides | ||
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Thrips |
Leaf surface becomes uneven, curly and metty, exhibiting parallel lines of feeding marks on either side of the midrib | Cultural practices | |
| i) | Pluck hard in the infested area. | ||
| ii) | Keep the area weed free. | ||
| iii) | Wash the bush frame with caustic soda. | ||
| iv) | Stir the soil and kill the pupae. | ||
| Chemical Control | |||
| v) | Spray the recommended insecticides as advised. | ||
(b)Disease Management
| Disease | Cultural practices/Chemical control | |
| Primary Root Rot Diseases (Brown root rot,Red root rot Black root rot) |
Cultural practices | |
| i) | Isolate the infested bushes/area by digging 1.0 m deep drain immediately surrounding the affected bushes. | |
| ii) | During winter, uproot the affected bushesalong with a ring of the unaffected healthy bushes. | |
| iii) | Remove all woody materials while digging. | |
| iv) | Put the areaunder rehabilitation for two years growing green crop like Crotalaria anagyroides or soil rehabilitation crop like Guatemala (Tripsacum laxum). | |
| Chemical control | ||
| v) | Fumigant the soil by Durofume. | |
| Violet root rot | Cultural practices | |
| i) | Improve drainage. | |
| ii) | Remove the dead plant. | |
| iii) | Don’t apply any chemical fertilizer in low lying areas in wet weather. | |
| iv) | Keep he collar of the bush free from piling soil. | |
| Branch Canker | Cultural practices | |
| i) | As a preventive measure, remove all the dead wood carefully at each pruning. | |
| ii) | Protect the medium pruned area from sun-scorching by growing green crop. | |
| iii) | Sooth off the cuts and wounds in medium pruned areas with sharp knife. | |
| iv) | Paint the cut ends with bitumen or Indopaste. | |
| Blister Blight | Cultural practices | |
| i) | When dease appers ,go for black plucking. | |
| ii) | Pull out theinfested leaves and destroy. | |
| iii) | Don’t allow the pluckers plucking in infested areas to enter into healthy areas without changing clothing. | |
| iv) | Thgin out the overhead shade. | |
| Chemical control | ||
| v) | Apply 4-6 rounds of copper fungicide contating 50% metallic copper at 0.125% concentration (1:800) with hand sprayer at 10 days interval. | |
| vi) | Discontinue spraying once the weather become bright and sunny. | |
