Winter is the best season for vegetables, so they need extra care at this time of year. Growers must make sure crops are not ruined by severe cold or pest attack. Here are some ways to look after vegetables in winter:

• Cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, aubergine, kohlrabi, turnip, carrot, bean, bottle gourd, pumpkin and peas all need regular care.
• The fruit borer does serious damage to tomatoes. When it attacks, a small, partly closed dark hole appears at the fruit stalk, and droppings and rot are found inside the damaged fruit.
• The tomato fruit borer can be controlled with pheromone traps. Set 15 traps per bigha of land.
• The pest can also be controlled by spraying an extract of half-crushed neem seed two or three times at 10-day intervals. To make the extract, soak 50 grams of neem seed in 1 litre of water for 12 hours, then strain the mixture well.
• If the attack is severe, the pest can be controlled by spraying a quinalphos-group insecticide (Devikin 25 EC, Kinalux 25 EC or Corolux 25 EC) mixed at 1 millilitre per litre of water.
• To store tomatoes at home, pull up the plants with half-ripe tomatoes still on them, hang them upside down in a cool place indoors and cover the tomatoes with thin cloth. They can then be used easily for four to five months.
• Soil moisture drops in winter, so vegetable fields need regular irrigation as required.
• Weeding, earthing up the base of plants, top-dressing with fertiliser and preventing disease are also essential.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.