Farmer Corner

Something is wrong in the field and you want a straight answer. This page helps you put a name to what you are seeing, tells you when to act, points you to the Shaktiwan product for it, and shows you how to spray without harming yourself or the crop.

6 cropsFree agronomy adviceHindi & English

How to use this page

Name the problem first. The product comes after.

Most calls to our office begin the same way: a leaf, a shoot or a fruit has changed, and the farmer wants to know what it is before spending money. Guessing is the expensive part. Naming the problem correctly is usually most of the solution.

Work down the field situations below and find the one that matches what you can see. Then open the crop page for your crop, which lists the Shaktiwan product recommended for that problem, the stage at which to act and the benefit to expect. If you are still unsure, send us a photograph. A photograph of the affected plant, taken close up in daylight, is worth ten minutes of description.

Identify what you are seeing

Match the symptom to a field situation below — sucking pest, borer, disease, weed, hidden hunger or flower and fruit drop.

Read your crop page

Six crops, each with the problems it actually meets, the product we recommend and the stage to act.

Call or WhatsApp us

Our agronomy team takes farmer calls on +91 70808 01647, Mon–Sat, 9:30 am to 6:30 pm.

Read the label, then spray

Dose, water volume and waiting period come from the approved label on the pack. Nothing on this website replaces it.

Common crop problems

What farmers describe on the phone

Each one starts with what you actually see in the field, then what it usually is, when to act and what to expect. Dose always comes from the approved label.

Pest

Leaves curling, sticky to touch, tiny insects underneath

Young leaves cup or curl, growth stops at the tip, and the leaf feels sticky. Turn a leaf over and you find small insects sitting still. A black sooty film may follow on the sticky patches, and ants work the plant.

What it usually is

Sucking pests — aphids, jassids, whitefly or thrips. They also carry virus from plant to plant, which is the bigger loss.

When to act

At the first curled shoots, while the colony is on a few plants. Once the whole field is curled, you are paying to save what is left.

What to expect

New growth resumes clean, the stickiness stops, and virus pressure in the field falls.

Spray the underside of the leaf, not the top — that is where the insect sits.

Tomato Chilli Vegetables Insecticide shelf

Pest

Dead heart in the young plant, bore holes in the fruit

The central shoot of a young plant pulls out easily and smells sour. In maize you see window-pane holes on the whorl leaves and moist sawdust-like frass inside. In chilli, brinjal, okra or tomato there is a small entry hole in the fruit and the inside is hollow. सूंडी is already inside the plant.

What it usually is

Stem borer, fruit and shoot borer, or fall armyworm — caterpillars that feed inside the plant.

When to act

On the fresh damage, not the old dry damage. Moist frass means the larva is feeding now. In fruiting crops, start at flowering.

What to expect

Plant stand and productive shoots protected, and a larger share of clean, marketable fruit at each pick.

Once the larva is deep inside the stem a spray reaches it poorly, so timing matters more than quantity. Remove and destroy affected shoots.

Maize Paddy Vegetables

Disease

Spots and patches spreading fast after humid or cloudy weather

Two or three overcast, humid days pass and the crop changes. Brown or grey lesions appear on the leaf, sometimes with rings, sometimes water-soaked at the edge. A white powder or a grey growth may sit on the leaf surface or underneath it. Lower leaves go first, then it climbs.

What it usually is

A fungal disease — blight, blast, sheath blight, rust, downy or powdery mildew, depending on the crop.

When to act

Before the weather turns, or at the very first lesion. Fungicides protect healthy leaf; they cannot rebuild a leaf already lost.

What to expect

Green leaf area held through grain fill or the picking rounds, which is what decides grain weight and fruit size.

Do not wait for the field to look bad; by then the crop has already paid.

Wheat Paddy Tomato Fungicide shelf

Weed

Weeds growing as fast as the crop, or faster

Three to five weeks after sowing the field is green, but not with your crop. Grasses stand level with the wheat or maize, sedges crowd the transplanted paddy, and broadleaf weeds thicken the canopy. खरपतवार is taking the moisture, the nitrogen and the light you paid for.

What it usually is

Grassy weeds, sedges or broadleaf weeds. They are not controlled by the same chemistry, so identify which dominates before buying.

When to act

Inside the critical competition window — the first few weeks. Post-emergent herbicides work on young, actively growing weeds with moisture present.

What to expect

A clean crop through the window that decides yield, and much less hand-weeding cost.

Most weed control failures are timing failures, not product failures.

Weed control windows Wheat Herbicide shelf

Nutrition

Yellowing between the veins, pale striping, stunted plants

The plant is not dying and you cannot find an insect. The leaf yellows between the veins while the veins stay green, or pale stripes run along the leaf. Middle leaves may carry rusty brown blotches. Tillering or tasselling disappoints and cob tips or grain fill badly. This is hidden hunger.

What it usually is

A micronutrient shortage — commonly zinc, boron, iron or manganese. A soil test tells you which; the symptom alone can mislead.

When to act

At the stage the crop needs the nutrient — tillering, pre-flowering, fruit set or grain fill. That window does not come back.

What to expect

A greener canopy that stays working longer, better filling and a better market grade.

Micronutrients finish a well-fed crop; they do not rescue an underfed one.

Hidden hunger Paddy Maize Micronutrient shelf

Nutrition

Healthy plants shedding flowers and small fruit

The plant looks well. Leaves are green, growth is strong, and yet flowers and pin-head fruit fall to the ground without setting. Picking is disappointing, and in a long-duration crop such as chilli or tomato the loss repeats at every flush.

What it usually is

Poor flower and fruit retention — stress at flowering, thrips or mites hiding in the flower, or a nutrient gap at fruit set.

When to act

At flower initiation and again at fruit set, and between picking rounds in a crop that is picked continuously.

What to expect

Better retention, more fruit per plant, and yield held across the full picking season instead of the first flush only.

Check the flowers for thrips before assuming it is nutrition; the two look alike from the edge of the field.

Chilli Tomato Growth regulator shelf

Start from your crop

Your crop, its problems, in order of the season

Each crop page runs from land preparation to harvest and lists the field situations that crop actually meets, the Shaktiwan product we recommend for each, the stage to apply it and the benefit to expect.

Spraying & safety

Before, during, after — and where it is stored

Before you spray: Read the whole label, including the crop, the target pest, the safety equipment and the waiting period before harvest. Confirm the product is approved for the crop in front of you — a product cleared for paddy is not automatically cleared for vegetables. Check the sprayer for leaks and blocked nozzles, and calibrate it; a leaking sprayer wets your back, not the crop. Wear what the label names: full sleeves, gloves, footwear, eye protection and a mask where required. Mix outdoors, away from drinking water, animals and children. Never mix with bare hands.
While you spray: Spray with the wind at your back so the mist travels away from you, never into your face. Avoid the hottest part of the day and avoid spraying when rain looks likely or the wind is strong. Do not eat, drink, chew or smoke while spraying, and do not blow out a blocked nozzle with your mouth. Cover the part of the plant where the problem sits — the leaf underside for sucking pests, the whorl for borers, the plant base for hoppers. Keep people and animals out of the field while you are spraying and until the spray has dried.
After you spray: Wash your hands, face and body with soap, and wash the clothes you wore separately from the household wash. Triple-rinse empty containers, add the rinse water to the spray tank, then puncture the container so it can never be reused and dispose of it as the label directs. Rinse the sprayer away from ponds, canals and streams that people or animals drink from. Respect the waiting period on the label before harvesting or grazing. Keep the leaflet and note the batch number until the container is finished and disposed of.
Storage at home: Keep every product in its original container with the label intact. Never decant into a drink bottle, a food container or an unlabelled can — this is the single most dangerous thing done with these products and the usual cause of household poisoning. Store dry, shaded and locked, away from food, seed, animal feed and drinking water, and out of reach of children. Do not keep opened containers or sprayers inside the house. Buy for the season you are spraying rather than stockpiling part-used packs.
If someone is exposed: Move the person into fresh air, remove contaminated clothing and wash the skin with soap and water. Take the person and the product container, with its label, to the nearest doctor or hospital immediately. The label carries the information a doctor needs. Do not wait to see whether symptoms improve.
Mixing two products: Do not assume two products can share a tank. Some combinations reduce control, some damage the crop, and some are simply not approved. If a tank mix is permitted, it is stated on the label. When the label is silent, ask our agronomy team before you mix.
What we will never publish: We do not put doses, concentrations, water volumes, compositions or waiting periods on this website. Those belong to the approved label and technical leaflet supplied with the pack, and the pack in your hand is the version that applies to you.
Not sure? Ask first.: A two-minute call costs nothing. Spraying the wrong product at the wrong stage costs a season. Call our agronomy team on +91 70808 01647.

Content rule. This page names problems, products, stages and benefits — it does not state a dose, a spray concentration, a water volume, a composition or a waiting period before harvest. For all of those: As printed on the Company-approved pack label and technical leaflet. Please confirm with our agronomy team before use. Call +91 70808 01647 if anything on the label is unclear.

Reading a label

The label is the instruction. Everything else is advice.

An approved label is not packaging copy. It is the legally registered instruction for that formulation, and it names the crops the product is cleared for, the pests it is cleared against, the quantity to use, the safety equipment required and the waiting period before harvest.

If what you are told at a shop counter differs from the label, the label wins. Ask for the leaflet that comes with the pack. If something on it is still unclear, call the manufacturer — our agronomy team would far rather answer the question than see a crop damaged.

Reading the label before you spray Safe storage & handling

Four things to check

One: The crop — is this product cleared for the crop you are standing in?
Two: The target — is the pest or disease you have identified named on the label?
Three: The quantity and water volume, exactly as printed. Neither more nor less.
Four: The waiting period before harvest, which decides whether your produce is safe and saleable.

Dose and composition. As printed on the Company-approved pack label and technical leaflet. Please confirm with our agronomy team before use. No quantity per acre, spray concentration, water volume or pre-harvest interval is stated anywhere on this website, by design.

Questions farmers ask

Straight answers

Start from the problem, not the product. Identify what is attacking the crop — a sucking pest, a borer, a fungal disease, a weed type or a nutrient gap — and then open the page for your crop. Each problem there names the Shaktiwan product we recommend and the stage at which to apply it. If you cannot tell what you are looking at, send us a close-up photograph of the affected plant on WhatsApp, with your crop and district. Choosing a product before identifying the problem is how money gets wasted.

No. Price follows the active ingredient and the formulation, not the size of the result in your field. A costlier product used against the wrong pest, or at the wrong stage, performs worse than a cheaper one used correctly. The right question is whether the product is approved for your crop and your problem, and whether you can still apply it inside the window that matters. Ask what the product is for, not what it costs.

Only when the label says so. Some mixtures cut the effectiveness of both products, some burn the crop, and some are not approved at all. Where a tank mix is permitted it is stated on the approved label, and that statement is the only one we can stand behind. If the label is silent, do not improvise — call our agronomy team on +91 70808 01647 and describe both products and your crop stage.

It depends on the product and on how long the spray had to dry, which is why the label states a rainfastness period for products that need one. Rain shortly after spraying can wash off a protectant before it has bound to the leaf; a systemic product already taken into the plant is less affected. Do not simply spray again on assumption, because repeat application outside the label is both wasteful and unsafe. Note the time you sprayed and the time it rained, then call us and we will tell you what the label allows.

Call us directly and we will take it seriously. Keep four things: the pack with its label, the batch number, the purchase bill from your dealer, and the unused product. Tell us the crop, the stage, what you sprayed and when, and what happened afterwards. Photographs of the affected crop help. We manufacture in-house under ISO 9001:2015 systems and keep batch records, so a genuine complaint can be traced back to the batch. Reach us on +91 70808 01647 or info.yagyavalkyaagro@gmail.com.

Send a photograph

Show us the plant, not just the problem

A close-up photograph of the affected leaf, shoot or fruit, taken in daylight, plus your crop, its stage and your district. Our agronomy team will tell you what it is and what the label allows.

WhatsApp a photo of the plant

Talk to an agronomist

Call the agronomy team

Mon–Sat, 9:30 am to 6:30 pm, in Hindi or English. Product advice, a problem in the field, or a second opinion before you spray — there is no charge for the call.

+91 70808 01647