**6.3 Cultural management**

Services of date palm that are important in the management of pests and diseases include irrigation management, field sanitation, removal of weeds, organic fertilization, old frond pruning, frond base cutting, offshoots removal, pollination, fruit thinning, spines removal, fruit bagging, and harvesting. Each one of the abovementioned operations is carried out at specific time of the year with specific purpose; however, each operation can control palm pests and diseases in one way or another. Thus, adoption of date palm calendar for each locality will provide control of date palm pests and diseases.
