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My friend, Bharat Pandya wrote this article to share his experience using natural pesticides for plants. He practices traditional, sustainable farming based on ancient Indian Vedic texts as well as uses the best of modern sustainable farming methods.
I invited Bharat to write an article for us on natural pesticides as he has researched this extensively. What is especially unique about this article is that when Bharat and I first became Internet friends in 2003, Bharat barely spoke English! Through absolute determination and diligence he not only speaks good English now, he proved that natural pesticides could be used successfully in the Jinja, a rural area of Uganda that is home to the source of the Nile.
Useful Plants for Natural Pesticide Protection.
There is a worldwide demand for pesticide-free food, but the information on the various natural pesticides is limited and therefore, these methods are little used in India, Pakistan and other developing countries.
In order to produce fruit and vegetables using sustainable, locally produced products, we need to identify the constraints of crop production. We also need to develop an appropriate training course on integrated pest management to assist the millions of farmers growing on small areas of land.
The purpose of introducing pesticide-free fruits and vegetables is to increase the support and significance of natural crop protection and sustainable organic agriculture. Ultimately this will provide farmers with the experience and confidence needed to make the best use of the resources available to them and to use this knowledge to farm sustainably.
The plant species listed in this article are grown in Asia in abundance but have never been grown on a commercial scale. Even neem, a tree oil that is known to control numerous insects, pests, fungi, nematodes and viral diseases, is still processed and used in a primitive manner. A solution must be found for commercial applications and extraction of pesticide properties of plants on a much large scale so that organic and sustainable farming practices can be used everywhere.
I began my research for growing crops sustainably in the Jinja and found a blog by Mrs. Faranza Panhwar, of Pakistan. [Farzana Panhwar has deciphered the formulas of all chemical fertilizers, found their organic replacements and worked on compost and mulching. She runs a farm and assists farmers throughout Pakistan with sustainable farming. Ed.] Other information I have learned from older farmers in India and from a professor at Sardar Patel Agricultural University. I applied the use of natural pesticides for pest and disease control on the Jinja farm, which grows bananas, coffee, pineapple, vegetables and vanilla, along with the albegia tree, a tutor for the vanilla plants.
The plants listed below have pesticide properties in their seeds, leaves, stalks, un-ripe fruit, bulbs, rhizomes etc., and act by different modes of action. Each one controls different pests including: aphids, caterpillars, green bugs, fruit flies, leaf minors, red spiders, ants, slugs, house flies, mites, white flies, bacteria, scab, bowl-worm, thrips, anthracnose, hoppers, scales, termites, mosaic virus, powdery mildew etc.
The useful parts of a plant can easily be collected and used as a natural pesticide on a crop and can, of course, be established on a small scale in rural areas near farms. Fruit and vegetables with natural pesticide properties include: custard apple (anona, also known as soursop or guanabana), basil (sweet basil and holy basil), chilies (capsicum), garlic, ginger, neem, papaya and tobacco.
Pest control plants should posses the following characteristics:
Be effective at the rate of a maximum of 3-5% plant material based on dry weight.
Be easy to grow and require little space and time for cultivation and procurement.
Be perennial and recover quickly after the material is harvested.
Not become a weed or a host to plant pathogens or insect pests.
Possess complementary economic uses.
Pose no hazard to non-target organisms, wildlife, humans or environment.
Be easy to harvest. Preparation should be simple, not too time consuming or requiring excessive technical input.
Application should not be phyto-toxic or decrease the quality of crop (e.g. taste or texture).
Below is a list of useful agricultural species, their pesticide properties and the method of preparation:
Soursop
Plant parts with insect controlling properties: seeds, leaves, unripe fruit.
Target pests: aphid, caterpillars, green bug and Mediterranean fruit fly.
Preparation: 500 grams of custard apple leaves, boil in 2-1/2 litres of water, until only 1/4 of the original is left, then dilute this mixture into 15-20 litres of water. This is good enough for one hectare.
Basil
Plant parts with insect controlling properties: leaves and stems.
Target pests: fruit fly, leaf miners, red spider and mites.
Preparation: 100g basil leaves dipped in to 1 litre of water. This should be soaked overnight in water. Filter the mixture and add 1ml of liquid soap, stir properly. Dilute into 10-15 litres of water.
Chilies
Plant parts with insect controlling properties: fruit
Target pests: ants, aphid, caterpillars and slugs.
Preparation: 500g of chilies, dip into 3 litres of water for 10-15 minutes. Add 30g of soap to cling to plant. Add 3 more litres of water, filter and then spray the plants.
Note: You can additionally include tobacco, garlic, onion, citrus, alcohol, neem and lime.
Garlic
Plant parts with insect controlling properties: bulbs
Target pests: aphids, house flies, mites, white fly, bacteria, cucumber and scab.
Preparation: 3 bulbs of garlic, ground finely, add some kerosene, keep for 2 days. Add 1 tablespoon of soap powder, stir and filter and add 15-20 litres of water.
Ginger
Plant parts with insect controlling properties: rhizome
Target pests: American bowl worms, aphid, thrips, white fly, and mango anthracnose.
Preparation: 500g of crushed garlic add 10ml of kerosene oil kept overnight. Next day remove outer skin of ginger and make ginger paste. In another vessel add 100g green chilies, mixed with 50ml of water and add 30g of liquid soap as emulsifier. Solution is stirred and filtered and 10-15 ml of water added.
Neem
Plant parts with insect controlling properties: seeds and leaves.
Target pests: American boll weevils, ants, locusts, leaf hoppers, leaf miners, mites, scales, termites, thrips, white fly.
Preparation: 1 kg of neem leaves dipped into 2 litres of water and left overnight. Boil it 15-20 minutes untill 1/4 is left. Dilute with 10-15ml of water.
Papaya
Plant parts with insect controlling properties: leaves, seed, unripe fruit flower.
Target pests: thrips and fruit fly, mosaic virus and powdery mildew.
Preparation: 1 kg of finely shredded leaves, placed in 1 litre of water and squeezed through a cloth. Take 1 litre of soap solution, dilute it in 10-15 ml water.
Tobacco (not considered organic)
Plant parts with insect controlling properties: leaves and stalk
Target pests: aphids, caterpillars, leaf miners, mites and thrips.
Preparation: boil 4 litres of water, add 1/2 kg of tobacco leaves and 1 tablespoon of lime. Dilute it with 10-15 litres of water.
Tumeric
Plant parts with insect controlling properties: rhizome
Target pests: aphids, caterpillars, mites and rice leaf hoppers.
Preparation: 500g of turmeric rhizomes chopped and soaked overnight, dilute into 2 litres of water and again dilute into another 10-15ml of water.
African marigold flowers are also useful as it stops air born disease from entering the farm. It should be planted on the border of the plot. It works as tricodarma.
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