Horticultural Research Institute, Faisalabad | Ayub Agricultural Research Institute

What are the best planting distances for guava plantation?	Top
Planting distance varies depending upon the demand of grower: Conventional method: 18 to 22 feet per plant (134 to 90 plants per acre) High density plantation: 5 x 5 per plant (4356 plants per acre) Ultra high density plantation/Meadow Orcharding 3 feet per plant (4, 840 plants per acre)

How to protect plants from fruit fly attack?	Top
Use 4 to 6 pheromone traps (methyl euginol) per acre. You have to change the trap after 10 days. Also spray of pesticides can help in complete control of fruit fly.

How many commercials crop can be taken from guava plants?	Top
You can get two commercial crops from guava i.e. summer and winter crop. Summer crop needs special care and management against fruit fly. But conventionally summer crop is discouraged by farmers

Do we need to prune guava?	Top
Yes. It should be moderately pruned.

When to prune guava?	Top
Guava should be pruned from mid-April to mid-May

What are the reasons of Guava wilt and its remedies?	Top
Symptoms The development of symptom rate is varies. Firstly, there are wilting on the leaves that locate at branched tip in the upper canopy have appear. Wilt and dried of all leaves occur just within 2 until 4 weeks and cause the tree to look scorched. The fruit development be detained and become mummify on the tree. The disease is soil borne. Management If the disease is due to Phytophthara fungi then use RODOMIL at the rate of 2 gm/ft2 under the tree canopy. And if the disease is due to Fusarium fungi then use TOPSIM-M at the rate of 3 2 gm/ft2 in tree roots.

What kind of fruit fly traps is being used?	Top
There are two types of fruit fly traps; BAIT protein hydrolysate spray MAT (Male annihilation technique)

Which species of fruit fly attacks on guava?	Top
Bacterocerus dorsalis & amp; B. divests

How to prepare methyl eugenol trap?	Top
Use methyl eugenol and marathon 50 EC @ of 1:1 (for preparing one trap take 10 ml of methyl eugenol and 50 EC marathon 0.05%)

Which bio parasitoids can be used against fruit fly?	Top
Opius compensates, Spalangia philippinensis and Diachasmimorpha Krauss

How often fruit fly traps should be recharged?	Top
At 15 days interval

Pomegranate

Why do flowers and small fruit of pomegranate drop?	Top
Apply light irrigation at flowering stage to stop dropping of flowers and small fruit.

Why does not fruit size develop properly?	Top
After fruit setting, apply frequent irrigation to keep soil in wattar condition for proper development of fruit size.

Why does fruits skin become hard and arils remain small?	Top
Apply fertilizers and irrigation timely to avoid this disorder.

Why does pomegranate fruit has less sweetness?	Top
Apply potash fertilizer necessarily to get sweetness of fruit.

Why does pomegranate fruit crack?	Top
Apply timely irrigation and spray micronutrients & streptomycin.

How can we conserve soil moisture to avoid fruit cracking?	Top
Soil moisture can be conserved from evaporation by using mulch like grass scrapings can be spreaded as a natural mulch.

What spray can be used against bacterial blight?	Top
Streptomycin or flare can b used against bacterial blight

What is the best time of pruning in pomegranate?	Top
January is the best time

Varieties that can be cultivated on commercial scale in Punjab?	Top
commercially available varieties are bedana and qandhari

Date Palm

Why do immature fruit drop in date palm?	Top
Some varieties are heavy bearer, there is natural thinning or improper pollination to cause immature fruit drop.

Why do some fruit mature and other remain immature?	Top
The reason may be untimely or improper pollination.

Why some plants do not bear at all?	Top
The plants are producing more suckers, so do not bear. Uproot extra suckers.

Is pollination necessary? When and how pollination is practiced?	Top
None of the commercial varieties bears without pollination; it is practiced during mid February to end of March by dusting pollens or hanging strands of male spathes over female spathes.

Why do spots developed on date palm fruit?	Top
It is due to scales or fungi attack, spray insecticides and fungicides to save the fruit quality.

How long does it takes for date palm to bear fruits?	Top
The plants take 3 to 5 years to start fruiting when and takes almost 5 to 7 years when they give economical yields.

At what stage we harvest the dates? And do they ripen after harvesting?	Top
We can harvest dates at Dang as well as Doka stage. After harvesting, they were ripened through artificial methods usually via dehydration method.

Can we grow dates through seeds?	Top
Yes, we can grow dates through seeds but it is usually not recommended as it takes almost 100 days for it germination and its growth is very slow. Moreover it comes to bearing stage after 10 to 15 years.

How much yield we can get from a tree?	Top
From a 5 to 8 year old tree we can get almost 8 to 12 kg yield. And from 10+ plants on an average we can get from 40 to 60 kg yield annually.

Can we differentiate between male and female plants?	Top
Yes we can when the plant start flowering otherwise on the basis of vegetative growth it is very difficult to differentiate between the two.

Ber

Is pruning necessary in Ber?	Top
Ber fruit bear on current year growth, pruning provides maximum flushes and manage canopy of the plant.

When and how much pruning is practiced in Ber?	Top
During dormant period (Mid April-Mid June) pruning is practiced, It is better to remove 50% branches and limbs judiciously.

How can Ber fruit be saved from fruit fly?	Top
By spraying Dipterex (Trichlorphon), fixing Methyl Eugenol traps and burying the infected fruit deep in the soil.

When do apply farm yard manure to Ber?	Top
FYM should be applied in the month of August.

When do apply NPK fertilizers to Ber?	Top
NPK Fertilizers should be applied in the month of September.