Due to the high sugar content in super-sweet corn plants, they are more susceptible to a variety of pests and diseases. As a result, these crops are often planted in stages, leading to frequent alternations in pest and disease cycles. This complicates management efforts and makes it challenging to maintain crop health. To effectively manage these issues, an integrated approach that combines multiple control strategies is essential. This not only helps in reducing pest and disease outbreaks but also minimizes chemical use, lowering environmental pollution and pesticide residues in the final product.
**I. Agricultural Control**
1. **Seed Selection**: Use high-quality, uniform, and disease-free seeds to ensure strong seedlings and reduce early pest damage. Healthy seeds lay the foundation for a robust crop.
2. **Crop Rotation**: Avoid planting the same crop in consecutive seasons. Instead, rotate with crops that have a distant genetic relationship to corn, such as legumes or solanaceous plants. If rice was previously grown, extra attention must be given to controlling sheath blight.
3. **Soil Management**: In South China, where rainfall is abundant from planting time onward, proper irrigation and drainage systems should be maintained. This improves soil aeration, promotes root development, and reduces the risk of pathogen infestation.
4. **Timely Sowing**: Adjust sowing times based on local climate conditions and the life cycles of pests and diseases. By timing planting appropriately, farmers can avoid peak pest activity and reduce potential damage.
5. **Fertilization Practices**: Excessive nitrogen application during the growth phase, especially after the jointing stage, weakens plant resistance and increases susceptibility to diseases like sheath blight. Instead, focus on organic fertilizers and increase phosphorus and potassium levels to strengthen the plant and improve ear quality.
6. **Field Hygiene**: Keep the field clean by removing weeds and diseased leaves promptly. This helps prevent the spread of pests and viruses, maintaining a healthier growing environment.
**II. Chemical Control**
1. **Bait Trapping**: Mix 2.5 kg of roasted peanut bran with 50–75 grams of 90% trichlorfon crystals and spray 0.5–1 kg of the mixture. After letting it sit for half a day, distribute it in the fields at night to trap and kill pests like cutworms and wireworms.
2. **Poisoned Vegetable Leaves**: Before sowing, soak chopped cabbage leaves (30–40 kg) in a 1000–1500 times diluted solution of dipterex. Spread the treated leaves in the field in the evening to target pests such as cutworms.
**III. Manual Control**
If field tigers or green caterpillars are spotted, they can be manually removed from the base of affected plants. During the seedling stage, leaf-feeding insects can be crushed by hand. Armyworms and Spodoptera larvae, which feed on the tassels during the filling stage, can also be controlled through manual removal, helping to reduce damage effectively.
**IV. Biological Control**
1. **Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)**: Use Bt-based products such as BT emulsion or 7216 powder diluted 1000 times. These are highly effective against lepidopteran pests like cabbage caterpillars and Spodoptera litura.
2. **Viral Insecticides**: Apply cabbage larval granulosis virus to control cabbage caterpillars. Although the effect is slower, it has strong killing power when applied to younger larvae. Use 12 grams per acre for best results.
3. **Trichogramma Wasps**: These parasitic wasps lay their eggs inside those of pest insects, preventing them from hatching. Release 15,000–20,000 Trichogramma per acre during the pest's egg-laying period, repeating the process 2–3 times for significant egg suppression.
By combining these methods, farmers can achieve sustainable and effective pest and disease management in super-sweet corn production.
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