Nghia Dan watermelon faces pests and diseases

(Baonghean) - Watermelon is one of the crops that brings high economic value, helping many farmers in Nghia Dan escape poverty and get rich. However, currently, watermelon growers in Nghia Dan are facing many difficulties due to the increasingly complicated developments of pests and diseases, especially red vine cracking disease and green wilt disease...

Coming to Nghia Dan in the last days of April, everywhere on the mountain slopes, the fields are covered with a green color of watermelon. As an agricultural product with high economic value, many farmers have focused on investing in growing watermelon. On average, 1 hectare will invest about 30 to 40 million VND in seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and care. If the watermelon has a good harvest and good price, after more than 3 months of planting, after deducting expenses, you can earn more than 80 million VND. The effect is visible, but watermelon is also one of the difficult crops, sensitive to weather and pesticides, so in the past few years, due to complicated weather developments, many subjective and objective factors have led to an increase in pests and diseases on watermelon plants. One of the diseases that is making watermelon growers in Nghia Dan miserable is the red pus-filled vine cracking disease and the green wilt disease.

Mr. Nguyen Van Quang's family is one of the long-time melon growers in Nghia Hong, Nghia Dan district. This year, his family planted nearly 1 hectare of melon. Although he has experience in growing, he still has to face the red gummy vine disease on the melon plants. The phenomenon of red gummy vine disease is that the plant tissue around the diseased area rots, the vascular bundles inside turn red-brown, losing the ability to transport water and nutrients, so the melon plants die in a wilted state. Looking at his family's melon field, Mr. Quang sadly said: "This year the weather is too unfavorable, cold and prolonged rain affect the growth process of the melon plants. The family had to replant the second crop, spending so much time taking care of it, and now the melon plants have red gummy vine disease again. Seeing the melon field gradually wither and die is so heartbreaking. I don't expect to make a profit this season, just a little bit of the capital invested."

Plant Protection Department staff check for pests on watermelon in Nghia Dan.

Currently in Nghia Hong commune, gummosis has appeared in most of the cultivated area, the disease rate is from 10 - 15%, in some places it is 20 - 50%. This is a disease that has appeared for 3 years, but this year, the disease density is relatively high. Mr. Pham Van Giap - Vice Chairman of Nghia Hong Commune People's Committee said: In the face of pests and diseases on melons, the commune has issued a notice directing people to go down to the hamlets to propagate to people to promptly detect pests and diseases for timely treatment, however, when gummosis is detected with the naked eye, the disease is very serious and almost impossible to overcome. Currently, the commune is actively coordinating with the District Plant Protection Station as well as directing the Agricultural Extension Board and the Agriculture Board to closely monitor the disease situation, giving specific instructions to people to prevent and control melon fields that have not been affected by the disease, and promptly treat diseased melon fields, avoiding spreading to other melon fields".

In addition to the red gum disease, Nghia Dan watermelon farmers also have to deal with the Fusarium wilt disease, a fungus that invades and damages the base of the plant, causing the base and roots to rot black. The vines wilt and die, the tips often droop at noon and become fresh again in the afternoon or early morning. Partial wilting occurs within a few days and then spreads to the entire plant, killing the plant. Many farmers, when their melon fields are infected with the disease, have spent a lot of money on spraying pesticides, but it is not effective, so they can only pull them out. Pham Van Su's family in Hamlet 4, Nghia Minh Commune, planted 1 hectare of watermelon this year. His family has invested more than 40 million VND in growing melons, but up to this point, more than half of the family's watermelon area has been infected with the Fusarium wilt disease. Mr. Su said: "I have been growing melons for several years, but never before has my family encountered so many pests and diseases as this year. I hope this year's melon crop will yield a bumper crop, but now it has this disease. My family has determined that this year's melon crop is a total loss..."

The whole Nghia Dan district has more than 700 hectares of watermelon, however, according to the inspection and survey of the Nghia Dan district Plant Protection Station, the vine cracking disease has appeared and damaged over 55 hectares, the Fusarium wilt disease has damaged over 20 hectares. The disease is developing complicatedly. Due to the weather conditions this year, prolonged drizzle and low temperatures are favorable for pests and diseases to arise and develop. On the other hand, because farmers have not yet followed the correct technical procedures in the stages of land preparation, soil treatment, and fungi in the soil, overusing growth stimulants, and spraying at the wrong time, causing the melon plants to be poisoned by chemicals. In addition, because the terrain in Nghia Dan is mainly mountainous, farmers do not water their melon plants properly and do not collect diseased plants from the melon fields, allowing the disease to spread quickly in the country, leading to a situation where, despite growing melons on new land, the plants still develop vine cracking and wilt caused by Fusarium fungus.

According to Mr. Nguyen Viet Trung - Head of the Plant Protection Station of Nghia Dan district, "The disease of cracking and wilting caused by Fusarium fungus is one of the harmful diseases that greatly affects the productivity and output of watermelon, so farmers need to strictly follow the technical process from the stage of soil preparation, seed selection to spraying pesticides. Especially in the stage of soil preparation, farmers should use antagonistic fungi such as Trichoderma. For cracking and wilting disease, which often appears at the stage of stem and leaf development, it is necessary to spray and prevent it with specific drugs such as Revus Opti 440SC, Insurance 50WG + Carbenda supe 50SC... and for the disease of wilting caused by Fusarium fungus, there is currently no specific drug, so farmers need to follow prevention techniques such as careful soil preparation, high mounds for drainage, and use antagonistic fungi Trichoderma. In addition, farmers need to remove severely diseased plants, collect diseased vines after the crop season and burn them...".

Currently, the Nghia Dan District Plant Protection Station coordinates with the District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Agricultural Extension Station, and directs communes to regularly send technical staff to stay in the fields and work with farmers to take care of watermelon plants. According to Mr. Trinh Thach Lam - Head of Plant Protection Department - Provincial Plant Protection Department: "To avoid economic losses for watermelon farmers, people should rotate crops with other crops, limit planting for many years on one land to prevent the accumulation and development of fungal diseases, from the stage of selecting land to the stage of selecting seeds, the seeds must be disease-free, especially with steep mountainous terrain like in Nghia Dan. People need to pay attention to the watering stage, because improper watering will also make fungal diseases easily spread and develop, it is necessary to cut off diseased plants and diseased leaves. If any watermelon field is heavily infected with Fusarium wilt, it should be switched to growing other crops (because this is a fungal disease that has no specific treatment, is easily spread and will continue to develop in other watermelon crops on the same land) to ensure economic benefits for people, avoiding unfortunate losses".

Nhu Trang(Dai Nghia Dan)