According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, mango is one of the main tropical fruits grown in Vietnam, second only to bananas. Vietnam is the 13th largest mango producer in the world with a total planting area of more than 87,000 hectares in the country; In 2020, Vietnam’s total mango production reached 893.2 thousand tons, up 6.5% over the same period last year. Mango is grown the most in the Mekong Delta, accounting for about 48% of the total mango area of the country.
Mango is a crop with high economic potential, so techniques and investment in caring for mango trees are also concerned. One of the most common pests is thrips. Thrips sting causing loss of commercial value.
Thrips are common on mango, damage by using their mouth to puncture the young stem of the tree such as young leaves, buds tree, flowers, fruits… and then suck the sap.
On the leaves, thrips sting on the underside of the leaves, causing the leaves to grow abnormally, curling, and the two edges cupped down. On the bud, the bud does not produce leaves or fruit.
- On the leaves, thrips sting on the underside of the leaves, causing the leaves to grow abnormally, curled, and both edges curved down. On the bud, the bud does not produce leaves or fruit.
- On flower, make the flowers wilted, dry and then fall off in bulk. If it occurs on the fruit, it will make the left skin near the stem dark gray (bran skin), deformed fruit.
- In addition to mango, thrips are also found harmful on many crops such as rice, oranges, tangerines, guava, cashews, watermelons, rice, vegetables of all kinds…
Dry and hot weather are favorable conditions for thrips to develop, so in the South, thrips often appear and cause harm in hot months (from December to April next year), when This coincides with the period when mangoes are focusing on flowering (December-January) or are developing buds, leaves and young fruit (January-March), affecting yield and fruit quality.
Thrips have a relatively short life cycle, about 13-20 days, and lay many eggs (25-30 eggs), so if not detected early and properly prevented, the damage will be more severe. At these times, it is necessary to regularly visit the garden, investigate, if the tree has symptoms, it should be prevented immediately. To know if the number of thrips is high or low, we can use our hands to shake flowers, buds or fruits so that the thrips fall on a white sheet of paper and then observe and count with the naked eye or with a magnifying glass.
Using a high-pressure hose, spray the plants with water to reduce the population of thrips. At the stage when mango is producing young leaves, buds, flowers, young fruit… if the thrips population is high, people use Gladius 10SC 0.75/ha with water volume of 400-500L/ha, and spray evenly on both sides of the leaves.
Note
- Spray with a lot of water.
- Spray thoroughly the underside of leaves where thrips hide.
Only use the drug when the thrips population is high over 3-5 individuals/bud, leaf, fruit. If mango is flowering, spray should be limited, if necessary, spray in the cool afternoon
