The Latest Pest and Disease Control Methods for Dragon Fruit
Dragon fruit is a fairly well-known fruit nowadays, with quite considerable market sales, and it also appears in videos large and small joking that its fruit has too many seeds, too little edible flesh, and is too troublesome to eat. Thanks to promotion through various channels, the popularity of dragon fruit has risen by several notches. Today, the editor wants to share with you some of the pests and diseases that occur during the growing period of dragon fruit and their control methods. Let's take a look together below.
1. Anthracnose
Anthracnose generally occurs during the flowering period of dragon fruit or just after fruit set. Because the temperature is relatively high, combined with excessive rainfall, and field management not being handled properly, anthracnose occurs. The prevention method is to strengthen daily field management, drain water from the field in time, prune some old branches in areas with very dense growth, and enhance field ventilation. The initial symptoms of anthracnose generally show as red spots on the stem, which then slowly turn black. In severe cases, the black spots penetrate into the fruit, and black spots of various sizes can be seen attached to the fruit skin. The treatment method is first to remove the infected plants from the field, clean up the soil in that area, spread a layer of quicklime for disinfection, and then fill it back with clean, uninfected soil. In addition, spray with 450 g/L prochloraz emulsifiable concentrate at 2000 times dilution; generally two to three applications are enough for control.
2. Scab
The cause of scab is too much moisture in the air, especially when dragon fruit seedlings are growing new shoots, that is, it occurs more commonly in spring and autumn, so in these two seasons we need to do prevention work in advance. Prune off branches and leaves that have been in the field for a relatively long time showing signs of aging as well as those damaged by pests and diseases, clean up weeds and other debris in the field, and then if a small number of plants in the field show brick-red spots, we should begin chemical control in the field. Generally, spray with Bordeaux mixture or 50% carbendazim wettable powder at 500 times dilution. If the symptoms do not improve, then it is necessary to switch to another agent, for example 72% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder at 1000 times dilution, which will be a bit more effective.
3. Red and yellow spider mites
Red and yellow spider mites prefer to feed on the tender shoots of dragon fruit, seriously affecting the metabolism of the dragon fruit orchard as well as the yield of dragon fruit. They will slowly eat away the plant, then move to the roots, causing the roots to rot and the plant to die. There are two control methods. The first is to buy some traps specifically targeting red and yellow spider mites and use them for trapping and killing. The second is to spray 73% propargite emulsifiable concentrate at 2000 times dilution or 15% pyridaben emulsifiable concentrate at 1500 times dilution, spraying once every five to six days, generally requiring two to three consecutive applications.
4. Inchworms
Inchworms are a relatively harmful pest. If you are bitten by one in the field, be sure to disinfect the wound, otherwise the bitten area will develop large patches of redness and swelling and be very painful. They mainly damage the newly grown branches and leaves of dragon fruit, and they themselves are light green, giving themselves excellent camouflage. If you do not look carefully, you really will not notice them. The control method is to spray 1.5% emamectin benzoate emulsifiable concentrate at 1500 times dilution or 15% indoxacarb suspension concentrate at 1000 times dilution two to three times, and that is enough. Of course, you can also choose trapping and killing, except that trapping and killing is not particularly effective against inchworms.
The above are several relatively common diseases and pests of dragon fruit introduced to you by Qinnong Web, along with their causes and control methods. Of course, there are some other diseases such as fusarium wilt, soft rot, and so on, but the editor has limited energy and will share just these for now. If you discover some other disease during the planting process and do not know how to handle it, you can leave us a message.