Technical Bulletin #87: Integrated Pest Management – Management of Cucurbit Pests

IPM involves a combination of techniques to minimize the use of chemical pesticides and promote sustainable agricultural practices. The most important cucurbit pests in Cambodia include the melon worm, armyworms, thrips, spider mites, broad mites, white flies, and melon fruit flies. The melon worm is a significant pest of cucurbits, causing damage to growing tips and fruit. It is characterized by its green color and two white stripes on its back. Armyworms, on the other hand, are nocturnal moths that lay eggs in masses, and their larvae are voracious and vary in color and size depending on the species. Thrips are small, elongated insects that are commonly found inside flowers and on the underside of leaves. Spider mites are normally red in color and look like small ticks, while broad mites are whitish and smaller than spider mites. To manage these pests, farmers can use various techniques, including removing alternate hosts of pests on the surroundings of their crops, using live barriers to prevent the direct entry of virus vectors, and promoting the maintenance of ladybugs and other natural enemies. Botanical pesticides can be used whenever necessary, and farmers can rotate them with detergent and vegetable oil solutions to maintain aphid, spider mite, thrip, and whitefly populations low. Yellow sticky traps can be used to detect incoming aphids and thrips, and systemic pesticides can be applied in rotation with botanical pesticides and detergent and vegetable oil solutions in commercial crops. In addition to these techniques, farmers can also use sex pheromones to prevent mating and reproduction of melon fruit flies, and cover bitter gourd fruit with paper bags or other local material envelopes to prevent female fruit flies from ovipositing and damaging fruits. Collecting and destroying all fruit fly-infected fruit can also help prevent new adults from emerging. Overall, the IPM initiative in Cambodia aims to promote sustainable agricultural practices and minimize the use of chemical pesticides to manage cucurbit pests. The initiative is supported by the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the content of this bulletin is the sole responsibility of Fintrac Inc. The bulletin is made possible by the support of USAID, and the views expressed in the bulletin do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.