CULTURAL CONTROL
1. The control of insects through adoption, in appropriate time, of ordinary farm practice in such a way that insects are either eliminated or reduced in a population is called the cultural control.
2. Moving bands of locust and hairy caterpillars can be controlled by digging deep trenches or raising high tin sheet barriers around the field.
3. Early planting was found to reduce gall midge and leaf folders of rice, shoot fly of sorghum. Heliothis armigera in chick pea.
4. Timely planting has been found to reduce bollworm damage in cotton.
5. Spacing: Closer spacing increases incidence of plant hoppers whereas wider spacing increases the incidence of leaf hoppers.
6. Helicoverpa armigera population was 4 times higher in closer spaced chickpea crop.
7. Increase in spacing in rice increases whorl maggot population.
8. Aphis craccivora on chick pea is more in widely spaced crop.
9. Alley formation in rice reduces BPH population.
10. Trash mulching and frequent irrigation reduces sugarcane early shoot borer, Chilo infuscatellus.
11. Water management: Crops raised in low lying water logged areas suffer to a great extent by whiteflies.
12. Alternate drying and wetting at 10 days interval starting from 35 DAT drastically reduced BPH and WBPH incidence.
13. Frequent irrigation reduces potato tuber moth, Pthorimaea operculella population.
14. Helicoverpa armigera decreased with maximum number of irrigation.
15. Trap crop : Small plantings of a susceptible or a preferred crop may be established near a major crop to act as a trap crop.
16. Mustard is used as a trap crop against diamond back moth, Plutella xylostella (2:25 ratio) in cabbage or cauliflower fields. Mustard should be sown in paired rows (one row 15 days after planting and another 30 days after planting cabbage or cauliflower).
17.Growing castor along field bunds served as a trap crop for tobacco caterpillar, Spodoptera litura in chillies.
18. Trup cropping of marigold after every 8 rows tomato attracts Heliothis armigera.
19. Trap crop to reduce Earias sp., Amrasca devastans in cotton is okra
20. Intercropping: Tomato intercropped with cabbage (1:1) reduced the egg laying of Plutella xylostella.
21. Intercropping cotton with cowpea attracted more coccinellid predators which resulted in increased natural parasitism of spotted bollworms.
22. In groundnut cropping system, cowpea is intercropped to attract red hairy caterpillar. Cow pea also serves as an indicator crop for early monitoring of red hairy caterpillar.
23. Nutrient management: High levels of nitrogen fertilizers significantly increase the incidence of most of the insect pests. Application of potash and sometimes phosphorous lowers incidence of many pests.
24. Application of excess nitrogenous fertilizers decreased the damage by shot fly and stem borer, Chilo partellus.
25. Incidence of Helicoverpa armigera on tomato decreased with the application of nitrogen.
26. Less nitrogen application increased whitefly in sugarcane.
27. Timely harvesting reduces sweet potato weevil, Xylus formicarius.
28. Early maturing varieties of tomato have reduced infestation by fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera).
29. Trimming of field bunds eliminates the eggs of grasshoppers.
