Green Pest Management Techniques for Tea Trees
Main Targets of Control
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Tea Blight Disease
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Tea Looper
Pests: Tea Green Leafhopper, Tea Looper, Tea Caterpillar, Tea Black Worm Moth, Black Scale Psyllid, Tea Red Mite.
Diseases: Tea Blight Disease, Tea Anthracnose.
Key Control Measures
Agricultural Control
1. Timely Harvesting. Harvest young buds and leaves according to the requirements of tea production to reduce the population of pests like the tea green leafhopper, mites, and some bud diseases residing on the canopy surface of the tea tree.
2. Pruning as Needed. Prune tea trees after the spring harvest and in late autumn according to the requirements of tea garden management, reducing pest populations and creating conditions unfavorable for pests. Generally, deep pruning or heavy pruning is done after the spring harvest, and light pruning is performed in late autumn.
3. Garden Tilling. In late autumn, till the tea garden combined with the application of base fertilizer, which is detrimental to the survival of scale insects and weevils overwintering in the soil, thus reducing their occurrence in the following year.
4. Timely Garden Cleanup. Clear and bury leaves and topsoil near the roots of tea plants in late autumn, which can control leaf diseases and pests and reduce the occurrence of pests that overwinter in the soil.
5. Soil Testing and Fertilizer Application Based on Formulas. Determine the nutrient content of the tea garden soil through soil testing and apply organic and inorganic fertilizers, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, macronutrients, and medium and micronutrients in a balanced manner, enhancing the resistance of tea trees to pests and diseases.
Eco-regulation
1. Maintain a Good Ecological Environment with Biodiversity. Plant protective forests and avenue trees such as Chinese fir, Chinese pine, Chinese tallow, Sapium sebiferum, neem, and loquat around tea gardens, and intercrop leguminous crops and sesame between rows of tea bushes, providing favorable habitats and supplementary food sources for natural enemies like ladybirds, lacewings, and predatory mites. Retain weeds around the edges of tea gardens during the autumn and winter months.
2. Maintain Ecological Balance in the Tea Garden. Except for noxious weeds, retain weeds on terraces to cover the ground, conserve Water and soil, improve soil quality, provide habitats for natural enemies, and create a good ecological environment for spiders and other beneficial insects, maintaining ecological balance and biodiversity in the tea garden and enhancing its natural eco-regulatory capabilities.
Physical and Chemical Luring and Control
1. Light Trapping. The adult forms of major lepidopteran pests like the tea looper, tea black worm moth, and tea caterpillar have a strong phototactic tendency, so insecticidal lamps can be installed to trap them. Typically, one lamp is installed per 30 acres during the adult emergence period to reduce egg-laying in the field. For smaller pests like the tea green leafhopper and wax cicadas, wind-suction insecticidal lamps can be used to reduce field populations.
2. Color Board Trapping. The black scale psyllid and tea green leafhopper are small and occur in large numbers, being highly sensitive to color. They can be trapped using color boards coated with sticky glue to achieve control. Use color boards for trapping at the beginning of the adult emergence period of the black scale psyllid (late March to mid-April) and the tea green leafhopper. Insert the boards into the middle of the tea row, then secure them to the tea tree with the bottom edge no more than 5 cm above the canopy surface. Finally, remove the outer white paper. Generally, place 15-20 color boards per acre. If Pheromone lures are used in conjunction, hang them one-third of the way up from the board.
3. Pheromone Traps. For tea gardens with severe infestations of the tea looper and tea caterpillar, place 2-3 sets of pheromone traps per acre at the beginning of adult emergence to trap male adults, reducing the number of eggs laid in the next generation.
4. Manual Control. For pests with distinct centers of damage and a feigning death response, such as the tea beautiful weevil, tea looper, and tea black worm moth, use manual capture to reduce their impact.
Biological Control
1. Protect Natural Enemies. The ecological environment within tea gardens is relatively stable with abundant natural enemy resources. Minimize the use of chemical Pesticides and coordinate the protection and utilization of natural enemies with chemical control to fully leverage the role of natural enemies in controlling pests.
2. Artificial Release of Predatory Mites. In tea gardens with severe infestations of the tea red mite, release cucurbit meloid mites to control the tea red mite. The release should be done in mid-to-late May, with 45,000-50,000 mites released per acre. Since the cucurbit meloid mite is sensitive to commonly used pesticides, tea gardens where this mite is used to control the tea red mite should not use any chemical pesticides.
Scientific Use of Pesticides
When tea tree pests and diseases exceed control thresholds and other control measures are ineffective, to prevent affecting tea yields, choose pesticides registered for use in tea gardens for control, prioritizing biological pesticides and highly efficient, low-toxicity, and low-residue pesticides.
The tea green leafhopper can be controlled with thiamethoxam-chlorpyrifos microcapsule suspension, indoxacarb emulsifiable concentrate, azadirachtin liquid, tea saponin solution, sophora-amaranthine solution, chlorfenapyr suspension, zolpyramide suspension, abamectin-thiamethoxam water-dispersible granules, etc.
The tea looper can be controlled with tea seed-nucleopolyhedrovirus, sophora alkaloids, thiamethoxam-chlorpyrifos, deltamethrin, bifenthrin, etc.
Other Pests: The tea black worm moth can be controlled with thiamethoxam-chlorpyrifos, deltamethrin, bifenthrin, etc. The tea caterpillar can be controlled with tea caterpillar-nucleopolyhedrovirus, azadirachtin, deltamethrin, bifenthrin. The tea red mite and black scale psyll