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| Questions | ANSWERS |
|---|---|
| What are the pest/Disease, symptoms & control measures | Pest/Disease Red borer Symptoms Infects mainly young plants and causes drying up of plants on the stem. Control measures Spraying carbaryl 0.1% Pest/Disease Tea mosquito Symptoms Attack the pods.Circular water socked spots develop on the infested pods and cause defor-mation of fruits. Control measures -do- Pest/Disease Black pod Disease Symptoms Attacks fruits. Circular brown spot on pod surface appears and pod mixture Becomes dark brown or black. Control measures Spray 1% Bordeaux before monsoon. Pest/Disease Vascular Streak die-Back Symptoms Leaves develop into small sharply defined green spot with yellow background. Control measures Apply 1% Bordeaux mixture. Pest/Disease Striped squi-rrels and rats Symptoms Destroy the pods and extract the beans. Control measures Cover pods with punched Polybags (150 guage) smeared with bitumen-kerosene mixture. |
| How to control major pests | The control measures are indicated below |
| What are the major pests of cocoa | Among the various pests infesting cocoa, the major ones are pod borer, tea mosquito, Rats, squirrels, grey weevil, mealy bugs, Cock chaffer, citrus, aphid etc. |
| What are the methods used for fermentation cocoa beans | The different methods used for fermentation involves keeping together a mass of reasonable quantity of wet beans for a period of 4-6 days. The beans are to be mixed thoroughly on vary days. The pulp around the beans is lost and a series of biochemical changes occur in the beans which are necessary for imparting chocolate flavour. Heat is produced by keeping fresh beans compactly and the heat must be conserved so that chemical changes inside the bean is completed. The heap method, tray method and box method are the standard methods adopted for fermentation. |
| What is the harvesting period of cocoa and how it is harvested | It takes 150-170 days from pollination for attaining harvest stage. Ripening takes about 25 days and pods remain suitable for harvesting for fairly long time. Harvesting should be at regular intervals – once in 7-10 days. The peak harvesting periods are October-December and April-June.The harvested pods can be stored upto Four days, which enhances prefermentation. Activity inside the pods and helps to get good quality cured beans. |
| Whether cocoa plants require irrigation | Irrigation may be given once in 5 days. Irrigation helps in better growth of plants and precocity in bearing. |
| How and when to apply fertilizers to cocoa | Fertiliser application for rainfed cocoa is recommended in two splits, the first coinciding with the monsoonal rains in May-June and the second by the close of Monsoons by September- October. For Irrigated cocoa, fertilisers may be applied in equal split during May-June, September-October, December and February. Method of application: The best method is to rake in and mix fertilisers with soil in shallow basins of around 150 cm. radius for grown up plants. Basin size may be 25cm during the first year and the radius is gradually increased to 150cm. by the third year. |
| What is the quantity of fertilizer required for cocoa | The quantity of nutrients and fertilisers recommended for cocoa plants of different age groups are given below. Nutrient (gm/tree) I Yr. II Yr. III Yr. N 33 66 100 P2O5 13 26 40 K2O 46 92 140 |
| What are the post planting care for cocoa | Immediately after planting, basins should be mulched with organic matter. During Summer, when optimum shade is not available, mulch material like chopped banana sheath, coocnut husk, Cocoa husk etc can be used so as to conserve moisture. |
| What is the method of planting | Planting is done in pits of 50cm cube and these are filled with a mixture of surface soil and organic manures. |
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