Management of leaf hoppers

Cultural and mechanical: The practice of adopting suitable crop rotations with non-host crops in pest prone areas and providing proper isolation to potato crop from susceptible hosts are most useful management components for protecting the potato crop from A. devastans. Delayed planting undertaken on 25th September for early crop and during middle of October for the main crop reduces the incidence and impact of the pest.

Chemical:  Sprays of monocrotophos @ 0.60 kg a.i./ha in 1000 liters of water is most effective.  First spray may be given immediately after the appearance of pest and if needed spray may be repeated after 10 days. However, in the crops already treated with systemic insecticides against aphids, no additional spray is required for leafhoppers.

Integrated management: In North-western plains, management components like clean cultivation, isolation of potato crop from alternate hosts, delayed planting on around 25th September in early crop and during mid October in main crop, encouragement of natural enemies and need based insecticide sprays are quite effective. 

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