A NEW DISEASE " POWDERY MILDEW " IN MORINGA IN BANGALORE
A 24 year old MBA graduate at white field in Bangalore has taken a bold decision to pursue business of producing and selling organic moringa leaves to the residents of Bangalore city .He initiated organic moringa farming in over 5 acres and started selling fresh organic moringa leaves @ Rs.15 / kg and confidently says he can make annual income of Rs.1 crore by sale of moringa leaves alone .
Suddenly he encountered an issue that his moringa plants started showing white pustules and yellow mottles on leaves .Since it is organic meant for human consumption ,spray of fungicide is not permitted . In an appreciation of his bold step to work as master instead of working as an employee under someone else , I feel happy to help him solve the issue with his moringa plantation .
Control measures
1.Neem oil can be sprayed or
2.Mix of chopped leaves of neem , vitex nedungo , Adathoda , castor , calotropis , lantana camera etc is fermented in cow urine at 1:1 ratio for 7-10 days and one lit filtrate is mixed in 5 lit Panchagavya and sprayed @ 3 % or
3.Bacillus subtilis biopesticide is mixed in panchagavya and sprayed
4.Wettable sulphur @ 0.2 % is sprayed
5.Nitrogen fertilizer dose is minimised
Yellow mottle on leaf is due to deficiency of molybdenum trace element that usually become unavailable in red soil that is acidic . So lime can be applied to soil to increase soil PH and major nutrients like nitrogen ,phosphorus and potassium needed to be applied in moderate dose .
For others who cultivate moringa in conventional method ,any one of the following fungicides is recommended to control powdery mildew disease in moringa
- Chlorothalonil ( kavach ) a protective fungicide or
2.Propiconozole + Thiaphanate methyl or
3 . Mancozeb