What are the control methods for the yellow squash beetle pest on loofah?
Loofah, in the Pearl River Delta loofah specifically refers to the eight-angled gourd, is a cucurbitaceous plant native to India, also known as vegetable gourd, and is widely cultivated in East Asia. It is a climbing herbaceous plant of the Cucurbitaceae family, and loofah has a strong root system. The stem is vining, five-ridged, green, and the main vine and side vines all grow luxuriantly, with tendrils branching at the stem nodes and tending to produce adventitious roots. It is distributed and cultivated both in China and abroad.
Variety classification of loofah
Loofah is divided into two types: ridged and non-ridged. The ridged type is called ridged loofah; the fruit is long and club-shaped, thicker at the front end, green, with a hard skin, no fuzz, and 8~10 ridges, white flesh, relatively crisp and tender. The non-ridged type is called common loofah, commonly known as "water gourd". Common varieties include: snake loofah and club loofah. Snake loofah, also called thread loofah, has slender fruits, some reaching more than 1 m, slightly thicker in the middle-lower part, green, with a slightly rough skin often bearing fine dense wrinkles, and medium quality. Club loofah, also called meat loofah, has fruits ranging from short cylindrical to long club-shaped, slightly thicker at the lower part and tapering toward the front end, about 35 cm long, 3~5 cm in transverse diameter, with the skin mainly green.
Excellent varieties of loofah:
Xialü No. 1 loofah: bred by the Guangzhou Vegetable Research Institute. Early maturing, suitable for summer and autumn planting in the Pearl River Delta region.
Lüsheng No. 1 loofah: bred by the Guangzhou Vegetable Research Center. Early to mid-maturing, planted in spring and autumn. Mainly fruiting on the main vine, with strong continuous fruiting ability. Good marketability, fruit length 57.3 cm, transverse diameter 4.6 cm.
Lüsheng No. 2 loofah: bred by the Guangzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Planted in spring and autumn. Early to mid-maturing, fruit length 55.7-59.7 cm, transverse diameter 4.2-4.6 cm. Average single fruit weight 403 g. Good quality. Resistant to anthracnose, highly resistant to phytophthora blight, resistant to fusarium wilt.
Yalü No. 1 loofah: bred by the Vegetable Research Institute of the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Planted in spring, summer and autumn. Early maturing, fruit length 55 cm, transverse diameter 5 cm.
Yalü No. 2 loofah: bred by the Vegetable Research Institute of the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Early maturing, planted in spring and autumn. Fruit length 54.5 cm, transverse diameter 4.8 cm.
Yueyou loofah: bred by the Vegetable Research Institute of the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Planted in spring and autumn. Early to mid-maturing, with strong growth vigor and branching ability. Skin color green-white with speckles, fruit about 50 cm long, transverse diameter about 5 cm.
Wanbao loofah: bred by the Horticultural Seedling Development Center of South China Agricultural University, early to mid-maturing, 60 days from sowing to first harvest, strong seedling vigor, good fruit set, uniform marketable fruits, shallow ridges, fruit length 60 cm, transverse diameter 5 cm. Suitable for summer and autumn planting.
Yameilü loofah: produced by Guangzhou Jinmiao Seed Company, good early maturity, 57 days from sowing to first harvest, medium seedling vigor, good fruit set, high yield, good heat tolerance, uniform marketable fruits, fruit length 60 cm, transverse diameter 5 cm.
Baolü No. 2 loofah: produced by Guangzhou Honghai Seedling Co., Ltd., good early maturity, fruit long club-shaped, uniform from head to tail, fruit length 60-75 cm, transverse diameter 5 cm, dense flesh, sweet taste. Suitable sowing period in the Guangzhou area is December to April and July to September.
Control of the loofah pest yellow squash beetle
What is the loofah yellow squash beetle pest?
Insects resembling fireflies appear in loofah fields; these are symptoms of damage by the yellow squash beetle. Adult yellow squash beetles bite and feed on plant leaves, stems, flowers and fruits, bite off the tender stems of seedlings, with leaf damage being predominant, and in severe cases can cause the death of the whole plant; larvae damage the roots in the soil, and after the 3rd instar bore and feed between the phloem and xylem, causing the aboveground parts to wilt and die. The yellow squash beetle likes warmth and moisture, is most active at noon, and the adults have a broad diet, damaging loofah, bottle gourd, winter melon, zucchini and other cucurbit vegetable crops.
Control methods for the loofah pest yellow squash beetle:
1) Intercropping. Planting loofah seedlings between rows of crops such as cabbage, celery and lettuce can reduce the degree of damage by the yellow squash beetle.
2) Chemical control. You can use 20% methomyl emulsifiable concentrate at 1500-2000 times dilution, or 10% cypermethrin at 1000-1500 times dilution, or 10% beta-cypermethrin at 5000 times dilution, or 80% dichlorvos emulsifiable concentrate at 1000-2000 times dilution, or 90% trichlorfon crystal at 1500-2000 times dilution, etc., spraying at noon on the soil surface and field-edge weeds and other pest resting sites for control. In addition, manual collection is also possible.