Citrus decline dieback mandarin santra rootstock waterlogging gummosis prevention Nagpur Vidarbha
What is citrus dieback and decline in mandarin (santra) and how do I prevent it in Nagpur?
GGajanan Wankhede10mo ago · 342 views
4 Answers
🌾Farmer.in Krishi TeamExpert ✓10mo ago
Citrus decline is a slow dieback caused by a combination of factors rather than one disease, including poor rootstock and soil, waterlogging, gummosis and root rot from Phytophthora, nutrient deficiencies, and pest and virus load. To prevent it, plant on a suitable tolerant rootstock, avoid waterlogging with proper drainage and ridge or bund planting, keep the trunk base dry to reduce gummosis, and maintain balanced nutrition with attention to micronutrients common in Vidarbha soils. Use clean disease-free saplings and manage psylla and other vectors to limit virus and greening spread. Once a tree is in severe decline it rarely recovers, so the focus is on prevention and replacing badly affected trees. Get a soil and water check and rootstock advice from the citrus research station or your KVK.
GGajanan Wankhede10mo ago
Drainage was our biggest issue in the heavy soil patch. After we made proper ridges and stopped water sitting near the trunk, new dieback cases came down.
PPramod Deshmukh9mo ago
Micronutrient deficiency was clear on our Nagpur santra, the leaves showed zinc and iron yellowing and the trees were declining. A soil and leaf test through the citrus research station guided the exact micronutrient correction, and the trees picked up. Do not just guess the spray, test first because over-applying micronutrients also harms.
SSudhakar Raut9mo ago
We started keeping the trunk base clean and dry and pasted the collar region as advised, which cut down the gummosis oozing that was creeping up our older trees. Also we stopped letting flood water touch the trunk and moved the drip a little away from the base. Managing the psylla to keep greening out is the other thing our KVK kept stressing, because a greening-hit tree slowly declines and there is no cure.