Fruits and Plantation Crops
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Vascular streak dieback of cacao
Leaves two or three behind the shoot tip turn yellow with small green spots and fall within days, and the branch dies back with brown streaks in the wood.
Crops it strikes
What you see
YellowingSpots or streaksLarge dead patches
When to act
Every two weeks in the rains, look at the second and third leaves behind each shoot tip: yellow leaves with small green spots that drop within days mean that branch is infected. Split the twig: brown streaks in the wood confirm it.
Before you spray
No spray controls it well. Cut infected branches 30 cm below the streaks and burn them, thin the shade and plant tolerant clones.
How to prevent it
- Plant tolerant clones. On susceptible trees pruning alone rarely keeps up.
- Cut infected branches about 30 cm below the last brown streak in the wood, in dry weather, and burn them.
- Raise nurseries far from older cacao or under cover. Spores from sick trees land on young seedling flushes.
- Thin heavy shade and prune regularly so the canopy dries after rain.
- Do not move budwood or seedlings from areas with the disease to clean ones.
Where this comes from
Not sure it is this one?
Many diseases look alike. Send a photo to Anee, the smart farm technician in anee.io. She reads it with your crop, its age and the weather, and tells you what it most likely is and what to do first. In Tagalog or English.