Skip to main content

Manage Insects on Your Farm - Principal Insect Predators

Principal Insect Predators

Spiders. Spiders are among the most neglected and least understood of predators. They rely on a complex diet of prey and can have a strong stabilizing influence on them. Because spiders are generalists and tend to kill more prey than they actually consume, they limit their preys’ initial bursts of growth.

Many spiders live in crop canopies but most inhabit the soil surface and climb plants. Fields with either living plants or residue as soil cover tend to harbor diverse and abundant spider populations. Up to 23 spider families have been documented in cotton and 18 species have been tallied in apples. Because such diverse populations of spiders remain relatively constant, they maintain tolerable levels of their associated prey without extinguishing them.

Click here to continue reading...

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Types of weeds that attack castor crops and their remedies.

These are the types of weeds that attack castor crops and their remedies: Types of Weeds:  * Broadleaf Weeds:    * Amaranthus viridis    * Boerhaavia diffusa    * Celosia argentena    * Portulaca oleracea    * Trianthema portulacastrum    * Digera arvensis    * Corchorus olitorius    * Cyanotis cucullata    * Cleome viscosa    * Commelina bengalensis    * Croton sparsiflorus    * Parthenium hysterophorus  * Grasses:    * Chloris barbata    * Cynodon dactylon    * Dactyloctenium aegyptium    * Bracharia reptens    * Panicum flavidum  * Sedges:    * Cyperus rotundus    * Cyperus esculentus Remedies :  & Cultural Practices:    * Intercultivation: Using tractor or bullock-drawn blade harrows, especially 20 to 60 days after seeding, is effective.    * Manual Wee...
Post a Comment
Read more

Land Preparation in Castor seeds farming

Land preparation for castor seed farming involves more than just ploughing and harrowing.  Here's a breakdown of the key activities:  ðŸ‘‰ Ploughing and Harrowing:     These are fundamental steps to loosen the soil, break up clods, and create a suitable seedbed.  ðŸ‘‰Weed Removal:     It's crucial to eliminate existing weeds to prevent competition for nutrients and water.  ðŸ‘‰Soil Enrichment:    Adding organic matter, such as compost or manure, improves soil fertility and structure.  Soil testing and the application of necessary fertilizers may also be required.  ðŸ‘‰Leveling and Bedding:     Leveling the land ensures even water distribution. Forming ridges and furrows can aid in drainage and irrigation.  ðŸ‘‰Preparation for Sowing:     Creating a pulverized seed bed, that is loose, and friable.  ðŸ‘‰ Drainage considerations:     Because Castor plants do not like water logged soils, ensu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Small holder Castor seeds farmers in Africa form strategic alliance to generate market.

Clusters of small holder Castor seeds farmers in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Malawi Uganda and Kenya have recently instituted a strong front to drive traffic to their Castor seeds produce. Access to offtakers and the industrial market for their produce has posed a long time challenge to outgrowers of Castor seeds leading to poor bargains and slavish labour to exploitative contractors. Castor Business Network gathered from the leadership of this new collaboration of outgrowers and producers of Castor seeds in 5 countries, who cordinates the activities of farmers and farmers market in their locations that a synergy has been formed recently in a meeting held in Kenya, which would improve the ROI, proceeds from Castor seeds sales and welfare of small holder farmers in Africa. The group officially known as Castor Oil Processing for Export (COPEX) projects in Africa is an alliance of Castor seeds farmers, producers’ organizations, processors, and exporters to strengthen the Castor oil value chain at ...
Post a Comment
Read more