Mulching, shading, irrigation and whitewashing

• The soil around the plants should be mulched properly before the onset of summer to conserve soil moisture, maintain optimum soil temperature and control weed growth.
• Young plants during the year ofplanting are provided with artificial shade during summer with plated coconut leaves or gunny bags.
• From the second year onwards, brown portion of the main stem is whitewashed using lime or china clay to prevent sun scorching till the canopy develop partial shade.

Cover crops

• Cover crops are established and maintained in rubber plantation for conserving soil and improving or maintaining soil structure and fertility.
• Fast growing leguminous creepers, having the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in addition to other attributes common to all cover plants like suppressing weed growth, reducing soil temperature etc., are widely used as cover crops in rubber.
• The common cover crops established in rubber plantations are Pueraria phaseoloides and Mucuna bracteata.
• Seeds of cover crops have very hard seed coat which delays or inhibits germination.
• Therefore, presowing treatment is done to ensure uniformity and higher percentage of germination.

Perennial crops

• Shade tolerant perennial crops with canopy underneath rubber viz., coffee, cocoa and vanilla on Glyricidia standards can be cultivated as intercrops without adversely affecting growth and yield of rubber and soil fertility from the young phase onwards.
• Coffee and cocoa can be established during the mature phase also. When perennial crops are cultivated with rubber, yield will decrease after canopy closure of rubber.
• Medicinal plants like aratha (Alpinia calcarata), Karimkurinji (Strobilanthes haenianus) and Chuvanna koduveli (Plumbago rosea) also can be cultivated as intercrops in mature rubber plantations.

Weed control

• The concept of weed management in rubber plantation is to manage the weeds in such a way that they do not adversely affect the growth of rubber.
• Complete eradication of the entire weed flora from the field is not envisaged.
• Weeds can be controlled by manual, chemical (using herbicides) or mechanical (using weed cutters) methods.
• Manual weeding and herbicide application can also be done in rotation for effective weed control and better environmental safety.

Intercropping

• Rubber is planted at a wide spacing and hence sufficient land and light are available in the inter-row areas during the initial years for intercropping.
• Intercrops should be selected based on slope of the land, light availability in the plantation and marketability.

Guidelines for intercropping

• Intercrops should be selected based on the slope of the land.
• If the slope is less than 5 percent, any intercrop can be cultivated.
• If the slope is more than 5 percent, intercrops which require less soil disturbance should be selected. If the slope is more than 25 per cent, is not advised.
• In such plantations, cover crops should be established.
• Tillage operations should be restricted to minimum while inter cropping.
• During the first two years, light is not limiting for intercropping and hence any annual or short-term crop can be cultivated.
• From third year onwards, light availability in the interspaces decreases and hence partially shade tolerant crops like tuber crops may be cultivated.
• Intercrops should be planted at least 1.5 m away from the base of rubber plant and this distance should be maintained during later year also.
• Manures and fertilizers should be applied separately to rubber and intercrops as per requirement of the crop.
• For perennial intercrops, the dose of chemical fertilizers can be reduced to 50 per cent after 5 years.
• The residues of intercrops should be retained in the field.
• Cover crops should be established along with intercrops.

Annual and short term intercrops

• Banana, pineapple, tuber crops, ginger, turmeric and diverse vegetable can be cultivated in young rubber plantations following the guidelines.
• Short duration vegetables like amaranthus can be cultivated in mature rubber plantation also during the wintering period.