CHENNAI: Like them or hate them, insects will be a part of your garden and they are here to stay. What is a garden without insects ? It’s like life without problems! The most common insects that can create havoc are mealy bugs, aphids and spider mites.
Leaf Miner: These minute insects form lines on the leaves. They usually don’t harm the plant much, but its advisable to discard the leaves, else they can affect the whole plant.
Mealy bugs
These are soft cottony looking insects
Aphids
These are tiny dark coloured insects.
Aphids and mealy bugs can spread very quickly if not detected at an early stage. They are sap sucking insects and are mostly found on the stem and branches and at the back side of the leaves.
Spider mites
Are extremely tiny insects and usually found on the underside of the leaves. They form web like structure and make holes through the leaf.
Some common remedies are described below
Although organic pesticides are tempting, water jet spray and wiping with hand is a better option to clean off the insects from the plant. A jet spray from the watering hose pipe is very effective compared to spraying from a bottle. Give the affected part of the plant a complete wash. Wait for a few days and see if they come back. Give a second wash if necessary. Following are some alternative options in case the pests returns:
Neem oil : Add 20 ml of neem oil and 5 drops of liquid handwash to 1 litre of water. Mix it well and spray generously all over the affected parts of the plant. The liquid handwash helps the neem oil to stick on the plants and protect it.
3G formula : Grind 100g each of ginger, green chillies and garlic to paste. Take 5 ml of this paste and mix with one litre water and spray. Use once in 10 days.
Wood Ash : Sprinkle wood ash on the plant, preferably from wood that has not been chemically treated. You can also sprinkle homa ash on the affected leave and around the top soil of the pot.
Once you have an attack of aphids and luck shines upon you, a very friendly visitor, the ladybug or lady beetle may appear to feast on these aphids. Other insects / reptiles such as lizards and grasshoppers also help in controlling the pest population in a garden.
Another indicator of an aphid infection is the presence of ants on the plant. Ants do not directly harm the plants, but they help spreading and protecting the mealybugs and the aphids. The mealybugs and aphids take off nutrition from the plants and the ants then feed on them. So once you see ants on your plants, there is a good chance that there is something ‘buggy’ going on. Most of these insects will be on the back side of the leaves, so it is difficult to spot them.
Some gardeners spray the neem oil mix (as mentioned above) on a regular basis. But this is usually not a good option since it works like taking a paracetamol in advance to prevent from falling sick. Instead , it is suggested to spend time on making the soil rich enough that it has good amount of nutrition to keep the plant healthy and be able to fight pests.
Just like humans and animals fall sick, so do plants. This usually happens when plants are weak due to lack of nutrition or care. Providing nutrition on a regular basis helps the plant growth. For example, a tomato plant takes about 1.5 months to start flowering. Till this point of time, the nutrition present in the initial potting mix is used up. The plant needs more nutrition during the flowering and fruiting period. So starting from the flowering stage, provide additional nutrition to the plant. Some methods of enriching the soil are below:
Leaf Miner
These minute insects form lines on the leaves. They usually don’t harm the plant much, but its advisable to discard the leaves, else they can affect the whole plant.
Stem/shoot/fruit borer
These insects basically lay their eggs in the stem or the fruit of the plant. As the caterpillar develops, it destroys the fruit/stem. Most commonly seen on gourds and brinjals. Phermone traps can be used to trap these insects.
Different types of Compost
Remove approx 1 inch of the top layer of the soil and 1-2 handfuls of compost and cover with the soil again. General recommendation is to do this once in 2 weeks. Make sure that you do not disturb the root structure.
Liquid fertilisers like Panchgavya (PG) and Jeeva Amrut (JA) help in quick nutrient absorption from the soil. PG and JA are usually available with folks who have cows (preferably desi cows) in their farms. Making them is a rather long process and the ingredients are not easily available for an average urban gardener. Hence they usually prefer to buy these instead of making them on their own.
TIP
When opening the PG bottle for the first time, make sure you direct the opening away from you and slowly twist open the cap in an open place. Else it may fizz out like a cola drink! For first timers, PG smells can be intimidating.
Jeevamruta (JA)
is similar to PG, but with lesser ingredients viz, cow urine, cow dung, jaggery, besan (bengal gram) powder and untouched top soil. The microbial activity n JA is at it peak around the 3rd/4th day of preparation. Check with supplier for when to use & dilution details.
Panchgavya (PG) : is made out of five ingredients and hence its name — cow dung, cow urine, cow milk, ghee and curd. Bananas and jaggery are also added. To use PG, one needs to dilute 20-30 ml of PG into 1 liter of water and water the plants with this diluted mix. There might be slight variation in how PG is prepared, so check with the supplier about dilution details and its life. On an average, one can use it once in a month.