PEST AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT IN THE NURSERY

TOPIC 7
 COURSE OUTLINES
7.1 Common insect - pest and disease in nursery

7.2 Pest and disease management in nursery

• Seed treatment

• Soil treatment

• Environmental control

7.3 Weed management in nursery

• Herbicides for nurseries

• Herbicides formulation

• Dosage calculation
 LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this topic, student should be able to:

i. Define and identify the pest, disease, weeds in a nursery.

ii. Enlist the various methods of control of the diseases, pests and
weeds.

iii. Describe the integrated pest management in a horticulture

nursery.
 COMMON INSECT
PEST AND DISEASE
IN THE NURSERY
 WHAT IS PEST ?

A pest is a destructive
insect or other animal that
attacks crops, food,
livestock, etc.

The word pest is derived

from the Greek word ‘pestis ’
which means to annoy, to
disturb or to destroy.
MAJOR PEST GROUPS
 MAJOR PEST GROUPS
The major pests of agricultural importance can be broadly divided into the five (5) groups:

Plant Garden
Insect Pests: Weeds: Vertebrate
Diseases: Snails:
Insect pest and These are the pest :
mites cause heavy Fungi, bacteria They are called plants that either These are mainly
damage to crops. and viruses mollusks and compete with
Amongst the one cause diseases in become pests crop plants thus rodents, birds
million species of plants and insects. around home affecting yield and and some other
insects about 200 Nematodes are gardens, in lawns, quality, or may mammals like bats
species can be also sometimes greenhouses and interfere with the rabbits etc. that
termed as serious classified as ornamental use of land and cause damage to
pests in pathogens. plantings. water resources. crops and stored
agriculture. products.
METHODS OF PEST CONTROL
METHODS OF PEST CONTROL
• Manipulation of farm practices to check the pests.
• Some of the important cultural methods are:
1. - Crop rotations
- Tillage methods (deep ploughing )
Cultural - High seed rate
Method: - Water management
- Manipulation of date of sowing
- Trap cropping.

• Involve modification of physical factors in the environment to

minimise or prevent pest problem.
2. • Various physical methods are:
Physical - Temperature manipulation
- Moisture manipulation,
Method: - Light manipulation
- Use of sound.
METHODS OF PEST CONTROL
• The use of mechanical implements and devices for removal and
destruction of pests.
3. • Some of them are:
Mechanical - Screens, traps, nets and suction devices
- Banding with grease or polythene sheets on stem
Method: - Covering of seedling with net; and trenching and waterbarrier - ant
pans.

4. • The legal restrictions proposed by the Governments to check the

Legal or spread of pests.
• The regulations such as:
Regulatory - Inspection and quarantine.
Method: - Destructive Insect Pests Act.
 MECHANICAL METHOD
A tree trunk wrapped with aluminium flashing (left) or iron net
(below) may prevent squirrels from climbing.
 MECHANICAL CONTROL
Uses physical control such as insect traps, using screens over fans
and other openings and washing plants with soapy water.
METHODS OF PEST CONTROL

5. • Use of resistant varieties help in avoiding or tolerating or recovering

from pest attack .
Resistant • Resistant varieties have been identified against various pests in a number
Varieties: of crops.

6. • This method refers to the use of natural enemies of pests viz.

Biological parasites, predators and microbes or pathogens (bacteria, virus,
nematodes, fungi, protozoa etc.) so as to suppress the pest species.
Method:
Rove beetles eating a maggot
A lacewing larva eating an aphid
Green clover worms infected with a fungus
METHODS OF PEST CONTROL

7. • The use of chemicals for the control of pests is known as chemical

control.
Chemical • Pesticides are the chemicals used to kill or repel or attract or sterilise
Control: pests.

8. • These include the use plant products with a potential to control

Use of pests.
• Many plant products (leaf extracts, oils and cakes) have the property of
Botanical inhibiting the development of pests and diseases.
Pesticides: • Example: Neem oil, neem cake and other neem based formulations have
been found effective against pests.
Aphids on stem - control aphids with neem oil for plants
Malformations in adults Podisus nigrispinus (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) after
topical application of neem oil on its nymphs.

(A) Defective hemelytra (arrow), (B) low number of veins and membranous area of wings (arrow),
(C) asymmetric scutellum (arrow) and (D) extension and folding the legs (arrows).
COMMON INSECT-PEST AND DISEASE OF NURSERY
AND THEIR MANAGEMENT
DISEASE MAY BE CAUSED BY:

Fungi Bacteria

Pest
Viruses and
Insect
DISEASE BY INSECT-PEST
Insect-pest Management

• Single spray of rogor or

Scale metasystox (0.05%).
• Repeat 15 days interval

• Two sprays of rogor or

Thrips
metasystox (0.05%).
(kutu trip)
• Repeat 15 days interval

• Collect and destroy adults bugs

Mealy bug
• Spray dimethoate (0.05%) on the
(koya)
crawling insects.
Systemic pesticides may need to be taken up by roots or through the leaves.
 Systemic insecticide:

Common methods to
apply systemic:
• Foliar spray on the
leaves
• Drenching the soil
• Treating the seeds
• Injected into the
trunk or stem of
plants
• Applied as a paste to
the outside
 Contact insecticides

Apply directly to the insect by spraying

 Insect-pest Management

• Spray phosphamidon (0.02%) or

White flies other systematic insecticides in
the early stages of infestation.

• Spray phosphamidon (0.02%)

Mites and wettable sulphur (0.2%)
every 2 weeks.

• Hand picking and destruction

Snail and slugs • Spray of common salt (2 %)
• Use siputox
Insect-pest Management

• Spray using Neem oil (1%)

Leaf eating
• Spray sevin/carbaryl (0.1%) at
caterpillar
first appearance of caterpillar.

• Use light traps to catch the

adults.
Cut worms
• Use malathion (0.05%) before
the expected attack.

• Two spray of metasystox or rogor

Leaf miners (0.05%) at fortnight interval on
newly emerged growth flushes.
The cartoon below shows some of the insecticide dose transfer mechanisms
 DISEASE BY FUNGI
Most of diseases causes by fungi
favoured by wet condition, thus avoid using excess water
 Disease Control Symptom
• Treat seeds before sowing with
Ceresan, Thiram or Agrosan at 2g
Damping-off per kg seeds
• Spray Captan or bavistin (0.2%)
in the nursery

• Give one prophylactic spray of

Powdery mildew karathane or calixin or wettable
sulphur (0.2%).

• A single spray of Dithane Z - 78

Leaf blight
or Bavistin (0.2%).
 Disease Pathogen Symptom Control
Black spot on
leaves • Cultural practice
• A single spray of
Leaf spot Alternaria sp.
Dithane Z- 78
orbavistin (0.2%).
Leaves or fruit is covered
by fungi

• Cultural practice and

Gray mold Botrytis sp.
Fungicides

Black spot on
infected area

Cercospora leaf • Cultural practice and

Cercospora sp.
spot Fungicides
 Disease Pathogen Symptom Control

Spot turn to necrosis on leaves

Anthracnose Colletotricum sp. • Fungicide

Plant turn to wilt

Root rot Phytopthora sp. • Fungicide

Rust spot on leaves

Leaf rust Puccinia sp. • Fungicide

DISEASE BY BACTERIA
Spread through: Sprinkler/rain splash, infected seeds,
vectors, garden equipment and plant debris
 Disease Pathogen Symptom Control

Rot disease Erwinia sp. • Sanitation

• Sanitation
• Single spray of
Leaf spot Xanthomonas sp.
Dithane Z- 78 or
bavistin (0.2%)

Dry leaf spot Pseudomonas sp. • Sanitation

 DISEASE BY VIRUSES
Less infected in plant container – depend on host
cause plants to deformation, stunted and abnormal
vectors transmit by insects
CONTROL METHODS FOR VIRUS

Use seed or tissue culture

Destroy infected/diseased plants

Use resistant plant varieties

Control vectors and weeds

7.3 WEED MANAGEMENT IN HORTICULTURE NURSERY
 WEEDS
Weeds are the plants that grow without human
efforts and are not wanted.

They grow in the fields where they compete with

nursery plant for water, soil nutrients, light, and
space.
Weeds also act as alternate hosts that harbor
insects, pests and diseases and other
microorganisms.
Weeds reduce the quality of marketable nursery
produce, leading to increased expenditure on
labour, equipment and chemicals for their removal.
 WEEDING

To overcome weeds, weeding need to be done by

grower.

Weed management is done through the mechanical,

cultural, chemical means and biological control
methods.
 FOUR (4) CHARACTERISTICS OF UNWANTED
PLANT THAT WERE CONSIDERED AS WEEDS:

Most of the weed Weeds have the capacity to

especially the annuals produce withstand adverse conditions in
enormous quantity of seeds. the nursery field.

Weed seeds have a tremendous

capacity to disperse from one
Weed seeds remain viable for a
place to another through wind,
longer period.
water and animals
including man .
PRINCIPLES OF WEED
MANAGEMENT
THREE (3) PRINCIPLES OF WEED MANAGEMENT:

· Prevention involves
procedures that avoiding
Prevention : the establishment of
weeds in areas not
inhabited by them
· Control practices reduce
or suppress weeds but do
Control: not necessarily result in
the elimination of any
particular weed species

· Eradication is the total

Eradication : elimination of a weed
species from a nursery
field, area or region.
 PREVENTION
These practices restrict introduction, propagation and spread of weeds on a local or a regional level.

Preventive include cultural practices such as:

i. Clean seeds

ii. Use of weed-free seed

iii. Manure and machinery

iv. Controlling weeds on field and irrigation canals

v. Screening irrigation water

vi. Restricting movement of farm animals

 ERADICATION

It requires the complete removal of seeds and vegetative parts of a

weed species in a defined area.

It is usually attempted only in small area or areas with high value

crops because of the difficulty and high costs associated with
eradication practices.
 CONTROL
Control practices reduce or suppress weeds but do not necessarily result in the
elimination of any particular weed species.

Weed control depend on the goals of the people involved, effectiveness of the weed
control tactic used and the abundance and tenacity of the weed species present .

There are four (4 ) general methods of weed control:

Physical Cultural Biological Chemical

A - Physical Methods:
• Hand pulling or hand weeding, hoeing, tillage, mowing, burning, flooding,
smothering etc.

B - Cultural Methods:
• Good nursery practices such as using quality seed, variety, selection of quick -
growing that has an ability to compete with the weeds.
• Proper method of irrigation and manuring can also minimize the losses due to weed
infestation .

C - Biological Method:
• In this method, the natural enemy of a weed plant is used to control the weed.

D - Chemical Method:
• In this method chemical herbicides is used to control weeds in nursery.
 Herbicides are chemicals
that used by grower to
destroy unwanted
vegetation (plant).
What is herbicides?
 There are 5 types of
How many types herbicides .
herbicides available
in a markets?
 Types of
Mode of action Example
herbicides
1 Broad spectrum This herbicides work on wide variety of Oxamyl, Carbaryl,
plants Terbacil
2 Selective This herbicides work on a narrow range of Chitin
plant
3 Contact This herbicides kill only the plant tissue at Antrazine,Terbacil,
parts contacted by the chemical (they not Diuron, Fenuron, Lenacil,
spread around the plant). Chloroxuron
4 Systemic The herbicides will absorb through leaves or Dalapon, Dicamba, 2,4-D,
stem and transported it internally Glyphosate, MCPA,
throughout the plant. MCPB, 2,4,5 - T
5 Residual This herbicides can be applied to the soil in Diquat, Paraquat,
(Soil applied) order to kill weeds by root uptake. They Pentachlor
remain active in the ground for a certain
length of time and can control germination
seedling
 HERBICIDES FORMULATION
The herbicides formulation includes the active ingredient
(a.i) as well as other ingredients (adjuvant + water).

The active ingredient (a .i.) in herbicides is the chemical

that controls the target weeds.

The herbicides that normally purchase is diluted in water,

or a petroleum solvent and other chemical .

This chemical may include wetting agents, spreader,

stickers, extenders or diluents.
TYPES OF FORMULATION

Two (2) types of formulation:

Dry formulation Liquid formulation

Water- Water- Flowable or

Granule/ Wettable Soluble Emulsified
dispersible soluble aqueous
Pellet powder powder concentrate
granule concentrate suspension
 DRY FORMULATION
Water-dispersible
Wettable powders Soluble powder Granules/Pellets
granule
• Are finely ground solids, • Dry formulation but will • Dry flowable like • Ready-to-use dry mixture
typically mineral clays. form homogeneous wettable powder. of a small amount of
• Need to mixed with solution when dissolved • Mixed with water and active ingredient with
water for application. in water. applied in spray. inert carrier.
• Good agitation is needed • Apply by spraying • Constant agitation is • Never mix with water
in the spray tank. • Eg. : 2,4- D, TCA, required. • Eg. : Top-site, Arsenal
• Eg. : Antrazine, Simazine, Dalaphon • Eg. : Escort, Sahara, 0.5G, Butachlor
Diuron, Spike 80W Velpar
 LIQUID FORMULATION
Water-soluble Emulsified Flowable or
concentrate concentrate aqueous suspension
• Form a true solution • These concentrate are • A very finely ground solid
when added to water and soluble in oil and form materials that is
are applied with water. emulsion in water. suspended in a liquid.
• Eg. : Arsenal, Formula • Eg. : Garlon 4 • Eg. : Diuron 4L
40, Garlon 3A, Roundup
 Yes there is. This material is
Other than herbicides is called as an adjuvant. An adjuvant
there any materials need to is any substance in a herbicide
be added to herbicides
solution to enhance or formulation or added to the spray
modify the performance of tank to improve herbicidal
the solution activity or application
characteristics.
TOXICITY CLASS
 HERBICIDES FORMULATION
The commercial herbicides contain = herbicides + adjuvant + filling materials.

Percentage of adjuvant and other inert material used as filler depends on

formulation and the company.

Chemical in commercial product refer to active ingredient (a.i.) was express as:
percent (%) by Weight or by Volume.

Example :

Product Y (50% W/W), therefore product Y contain 50% a.i.

An example of a pesticide label: the
active ingredient and its
concentration (in this case a 200 g/l
imidacloprid SL formulation) are
often in very small writing.
Precautions are often described in
the form of pictograms (pictures at
the bottom right of this label)
 CALCULATION OF DOSES
Question:
Calculate the amount of product to be used if recommended doses is 0.5 kg/ha and
the active ingredient is 50% W/W.

Formula
The amount of product to be used = Recommended dose x 100
Active ingredient

Answer
The amount of product to be used = 0.5 x 100 = 1.0 kg of product to be used.
50
 INTEGRATED PEST
MANAGEMENT (IPM)
The concept of "Integrated Pest Management“ originated basically to have a
healthy approach to plant protection and reducing the use of hazardous and toxic
chemicals.
INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM)

What is I.P.M?

• I.P.M. is broad ecological pest control approach aiming at the best mix of all known pest
control measures to keep the pest population below economic threshold level (ETL).

Fundamental Components of IPM are:

• The use of appropriate scouting tactics

• Proper diagnosis of pest

• Action economic thresholds

• Conservation of naturally occurring bio-control agents (defenders/farmers friends).

How I.P.M works?

• In crop production technology, I.P.M. is a schedule of practices

which starts from field selection until harvest of a crop.

• The major components in this approach are cultural, mechanical,

biological and chemical methods of insect pests, diseases, weeds
and rodent control in a compatible manner.
Aims of IPM

• IPM program mainly aims to educate and encourage agricultural

producers to grow crops using pest management methods like:

1. To reduce, if not replace the use of synthetic organic pesticides that

are environmentally friendly and pose minimal risk to human health

2. To enable growers to obtain a reasonable return on their investment

3. To ensure consumers were supplied with high quality, safe and

economical foods and other agriculturally related products.
Concept (Principles) of IPM

Identification of the key pests to be managed

Defining the management unit - the Agroecosystem

Development of management strategy

Establishment of economic thresholds

Development of assessment techniques

Evolving description or predictive pest models