COFFEE CULTIVATION GUIDE - Coffee Board of India

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COFFEE WHITE STEM BORER
danger of again WSB attacking such cut stems and also such cut stems may dry up
and die.
During these months shade regulation or timber extraction is not a good practice. The
centring of the plants should not be taken up during this period. If the plant stems are
smoothened during September months, such stems need to be further smoothened and
while smoothening care should be taken to see that green part of the stems are not
damaged. The smoothened stems are then given 10% lime wash (10 kg spray lime +
100ml Fevicol DDL in 100 litres of water).
In order to know the untimely emergence of beetles, small number of
pheromone traps can be installed in the field in strategic places. WSB pheromone
traps (25 traps per hectare) have to be installed in highly infested areas.
7. Compost preparation
Composting is a process wherein larger particles of biodegradable materials are
broken down into smaller ones by the action of soil micro and macro organisms.In
coffee estates lot of coffee and shade tree leaf litter, plant prunings, weeded materials,
other green plants, coffee pulp, coffee skin, cherry or parchment husks and other biodegradable
waste materials are available. These materials have good plant nutrient
values and there is a large potential for exploitation of the manurial values of these
materials. They form good source for the preparation of compost in the estates. These
materials can be mixed with coir pith, cow dung and other domestic wastes for
increasing the manurial value of the compost. However, the quantity of compost
prepared in the estates depends on the quantity of the raw materials available on site.
The coffee effluent obtained during the course of pulping and washing can be used to
prepare the compost especially for moistening the compost heaps. The coffee skin
obtained during the pulping of coffee be mixed with farm yard manure and other
domestic wastes and can be converted into good vermin compost using different
strains of earth worms which are available in the Agricultural Universities.
8. Pruning
After the receipt of one or two summer showers, coffee plants start producing
new shoots. This is the right time for pruning. Pruning essentially a thinning
process to direct the vigour of the plants into those parts which produce crops.
Pruning is to remove the unproductive wood for encouraging the growth of new
branches which would become next years cropping wood. Pruning facilitates the
entry of adequate sun light and air to all parts of the bushes thereby reducing the
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