“If something is not eating your plants,
then your garden is not part of the ecosytem.”
Pests are a hindrance in agriculture and hence most farmers opt for using pesticides to eradicate them from their farms. But using this pesticides bring a lot of damage to our health, environment and also the soil and in most cases it does not solve the problem but only bring harm.
Research has been done on better Ecological Pest Management techniques you can use for your farm to repel pests in your farm rather than killing. These techniques are economically and Environmental friendly and are locally available. I’ll share some common remedies you can use at your farm that you can use.
Organic Pesticides
- Garlic– crush and mix with hot water- cool for 2 hrs then spray to control aphids.
Use Garlic and hot pepper
Crush one bulb of garlic and mix with one teas spoon of powdered hot pepperIn one litr of water add little bar soap and stir well and spray to control caterpillars
- Onions and Garlic– Its useful to grow garlic and onions in Brassica family (Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kales, turnips), carrots and tomatoes as the smell tends to confuse the pest and not attack the host plant.
- Use of Pepper
Against all insects
Chop 100gms of pepper and add in 1 litre of water
Allow it to stand for 2-3 days or boil for 20mins and let it cool
Add equal amounts of soapy water to dilute and then spray.
Use Garlic, pepper and onion against pest in general
Chop one bulb of garlic and one onion
Add tablespoon of hot pepper
Mix with 1 litre of soapy water and let it stand for 1 hour and then spray.
Spray against mites, aphids and caterpillar
Chop 4 pepper and a handful of Mexican marigold leaves at their flowering stage
Add 2 litres of soapy water
Let it stand for 24 hours
Add 2 litres of water.
4. Tithonia– crush 2kg, soak in 4 litres warm water for 2-3 hours or in cold water for 2 days. Apply to control caterpillars.
- Datura stramonium– Take 1kg of leaves,fruits,stem,crush and boil in 4 litres of water for 20 minutes and let it cool-scale insects, aphids and leaf miners.
- Paw paw leaves-1 kg leaves when green. Crush and boil for 20 minutes-scale, aphids
- Wood ash-get maize comb burned and dry the ash. can be used to dust plants when cut worms are a problem.
- Lantana camara-get branches and leaves,burn to get the ash-ants and worms.
- Dry sisal leaves-Get dried leaves of sisal plant,burn to get the ash and use it to store grain seeds
Fresh sisal leaves– crush and put in water- a very good dewormer for large and small animals
- Grow organic herbs around your home
NB; a ratio of 1 kg leaves: 4 litres water may apply.
Its Advisable to Grow Organic Pepper and Garlic in Your Farm as They are Most Commonly Used as Pesticides.
- Ash Brew
Boil water,
Cut bar soap into pieces
Add the bar soap to the boiled water and stir for 35 minutes.
When siring add cold water to reduce bubble
Let it coal and spray weekly.(it has a life span of 6months)
Practical making of Ash brew
- Plant Tea
Cut Carriandra, Moringa, Rukina, Bean Leaves, Sesbania or Tithonia leaves into pieces and put into the gunia and close it.
Put in a drum full of water and each day shake for 14 days
Sieve the components and then spray.
Liquid manures
A liquid manure is got from both animals and plants that have high nitrogen content. The manure is used as an organic top dress and harnessed as follows;
Get 4 kg fresh cow dung
Put it into a sack and tie the top
Get 20 litres water in a big bucket
Suspend the sack having the dung into the water
Close with a lid
Check and stir the water occasionally
Remove after 2 weeks then dilute to spray
Use one cup for every plant. Commonly used for the leafy veggies.
Use of rabbit urine
Rabbit urine can be used as a pest repellant of Aphids, Mites, leaf miner and bugs and also a good fertilizer due to it high content of nitrogen which very important to the plant.
Mode of application- for 1 litre of rabbit urine use 5 litres of water.
With the above information I hope these techniques will be beneficial to your farm. You can also check https://infonet-biovision.org/ and https://www.accessagriculture.org/ to get more information on pest management.
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