Major pests of Plum are:-
1.Peach borer: Sphenoptera lafertei
Symptoms of damage:
- Beetle feed on leaves
- Young grubs bore into and feed inside bark and make irregular galleries
- Gum globules appear at the points of entrance on bark
Management:
- Collect and destroy the damaged shoots and branches
- Swab trunk with carbaryl 50 WP at 0.2%
- Spray malathion 0.1% .
- Field release of some natural enemies like gray field ant, Formica aerata, chalcid wasps, Copidosoma (=Paralitomastix) varicornis and Hyperteles lividus,
- Spray application of Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) products have been effective if applied when larvae are first noticed and before they tunnel into twigs, buds or fruit.
- Spray application of following insecticides
| Timing | Product |
| pink (peach) | Azinphos-methyl (Guthion or Sniper 50WP) or phosmet (Imidan 50%WP) |
| petal-fall (peach and apricot) |
Thiodan, Guthion, Sniper, Imidan |
| petal-fall peach only |
or deltamethrin (Decis 5 EC) |
| husk-fall (apricot) |
Thiodan, Guthion, Sniper or Imidan |
| summer (apricot and peach) |
Thiodan, Guthion, Sniper, or Imidan |
2.Plum beetle: Anomala lineatipennis
Symptoms of damage:
- Adult beetle feed on leaves and fruits
Identification of pest:
- Dark green beetle with yellowish brown elytra
Management:
- Collect and destroy infested plant parts along with weevils and beetles
- Spray carbaryl 50 WP 0.1% on foliage as soon as adults appear
3.San jose scale: Quadraspidiotus perniciosus
Symptoms of damage:
- Infestation causes purple discolouration on fruits and make them unfit for marketing
- Infestation of shoots results in loss of vigour and death of young trees or branches
- Fruit with haloes will be culled because of its unsightly appearance.
Identification of pest:
- Female scale is yellowish orange, round, slightly convex and raised a little at the centre with a black pustule
- Males are small and more linear shape
Management:
- Select nursery stock free from scale infestation
- Spray application of systemic insecticides like phosalone 0.05% and methyl demeton 0.025%
- Field release of coccinellid predators like Chilocorus nigritus and parasitoid, Encarsia pernios
Source-
- TamilNadu Agritech Portal
