|
PEST CONTROL WITHOUT POISONS
__ 
Many gardeners use poisons to kill insect pests, but poisons cause serious problems:
- They are dangerous and can kill people – they are especially dangerous when there are children around.
- They kill dogs, cats and birds, and also the good creatures that protect our plants.
- They travel through the soil into underground water, then into streams and dams, they may even get into our drinking water. This danger is increasing every year.
- Poisons are expensive
- Instructions for using poison must be followed exactly, but many people are careless or cannot read.
- There is no safe way of getting rid of tins and bottles containing leftover poisons.
FOLLOW THESE GOOD RULES FOR NON-POISONOUS PEST CONTROL
- Make sure that your soil and plants are healthy. Pests go for weak, sickly plants!
- Plant several different crops in each bed (polyculture) – not just one kind (monoculture). Different tastes and smells confuse insects.
- Rotate crops. As each crop is harvested, replace it with a crop from a different family, because different plant families are attacked y different kinds of insects. For example, mustard family vegetables (cauliflower, kale, broccoli, rape, etc) could be mixed with nightshade family plants (green peppers, tomatoes and potatoes).
- Remove pests by hand and kill them. Check each plant every day. Because insects lay hundreds of eggs at a time, every harmful insect you kill really reduces the number of pests.
- Quickly remove and burn damaged and diseased plants.
- Grow anti-pest plants. Plants such as marigolds, nasturtiums, garlic and spring onions repel insects – plant them in and around your vegetable garden.
- Companion planting; eg, carrots and onions benefit each other; lettuce and beans are also good together.
- Use homemade, non-poisonous methods to kill pests or keep them away from plants.
ENVIROMENT – FRIENDLY INSECT REPELLENTS
GARLIC SPRAY - Cut one whole garlic into small pieces. Add two teaspoonsful of liquid paraffin and let it stand for 24 hours. Add 2 1/2 litres of soapy water*. Mix well and strain into bottles. Keep bottles tightly closed and use the mixture when necessary. Spray it onto the plants or apply with a very small paintbrush. Do not forget the undersides of the leaves.
CHILLI SPRAY: Ingredients: 4 chillies, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, soapy water*. Cut all the ingredients into small pieces. Cover with a little soapy water*. Let the mixture stand for twenty-four hours. Add 1 litre of water and mix well. Strain into a bottle - keep tightly closed. Spray or paint onto plants when necessary.
"BEETLE JUICE" - Collect the offending pests (e.g. those large yellow and black monsters which eat roses), drop them into a tin of water to drown them, then pour hot water over them to make a strong ‘beetle juice" (ugh). Leave for several days. Strain off the liquid and use as a spray.
WOOD ASH - was used by our ancestors to repel pests. It is also good for the soil as it contains potash and phosphorus. Finely sprinkle old dry wood ash around, but not touching, the plants. Never use coal ash.
SOME COMMON PESTS AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM
APHIDS - (plant lice) (dinta tse fumanwang dimeleng/izintwala zezithombo)
- A strong spray of plain water often removes aphids (repeat this 3 times at 3-day intervals).
- Dip a sponge or small, soft cloth into soapy water* and gently wipe aphids off plants.
- If the problem persists add a few drops of Jeyes Fluid ("dip") to the soapy water. Repeat this 3 times at 3-day intervals.
RED SPIDER MITES - are tiny creatures that spin tight webs on the under-side of leaves and suck out the sap. They flourish in hot conditions and can be controlled by keeping the soil thickly mulched and spraying (especially the under surface of leaves) with a fine, cool mist of water.
ANTS AND TERMITES - Ants do not eat plants but they often bring aphids to plants so keep them out of your garden. Termites. (called white ants) belong to a different family. They eat anything woody, including dry mulches, the bark of trees and even furniture and floors.
- Pour Jeyes Fluid (mixed with a little water), or urine down the ant holes.
- Crush dry chillies into a fine powder and sprinkle it where the ants are running.
SNAILS AND SLUGS - travel and eat at night. They like cool, moist places and hide under garden refuse. Keep the area around your vegetable beds free from piles of dead leaves and other plant waste.
- Collect and kill them every day in the early morning or the cool evening
- Snails like beer. Push shallow containers into the soil and fill them with stale beer. The snails will drown in the beer.
 Sprinkle crashed eggshells around plants - the sharp shells hurt the snails’ soft bodies.
EELWORMS (Nematodes) - are tiny parasites worms which suck the juice from plant roots. The eggs they lay cause knots to appear on the roots. This stunts and kills the plants. If plants collapse, examine their roots for root knots.
- Mulch, compost and organic fertilisers produce organisms that prey on the nematodes.
- Marigolds protect plants from being attacked by eelworm.
- Where there has been an eelworm infestation sterilise the soil 2 weeks before planting. (See under cutworm.)
CUTWORMS cut down young plants at soil level.
- Dig gently around the plant with your finger and you may find a curled up cutworm. Kill it.
- Protect young seedlings with a stiff collar made from newspaper or the inside of a toilet roll. Collars should be half in the soil and half above it.
- A small stick placed upright in the soil next to the plant may stop this nasty worm from cutting the stem.
- Finely crushed eggshells spread closely around seedlings may help to keep cutworms away.
- Soil which has been infested by cutworms or eelworms should be sterilised by soaking it with a strong solution of Jeyes Fluid (5Oml Jeyes Fluid to 5 litres water) two weeks before planting time.
CABBAGE WORMS AND CABBAGE MOTHS - The worms come from the eggs that the moths lay on the leaves of cabbages and other plants.
- Make a mixture of flour and salt and shake it onto the cabbage leaves through an old sock - just a very fine dusting on to the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves.
- Cut tomato leaves into small pieces and place them on and around plants which are being attacked
- Mix 1 teaspoon of salt in 2 litres of water, and spray onto plants.
BUGS AND BEETLES
Try keeping them off your plants with the chilli or garlic sprays (see above).
At night, place a lighted lamp on a stand in a basin of water, or hang the light above the water. The beetles are attracted to the light and fall into the water and drown. This works particularly well with Christmas beetles.
GARDEN FRIENDS
There are a number of creatures which eat garden pests, but do not eat plants. Learn to recognise these creatures and know their ways and encourage them to live in your garden. Predators which help to keep down our garden enemies include spiders, ladybirds, lacewings, the praying mantis, lizards, frogs and insect-eating birds.
EARTHWORMS (dinonometsane/umsundu) - are harmless. They do not eat living plants, but they do eat the organic matter which goes into the trench beds, and convert it into wonderful humus.
Earthworms also aerate the soil and make tunnels for water to penetrate to the deepest plant roots. Earthworm activity results in healthy soil. Healthy soil produces healthy plants, and healthy plants resist pests and disease.
Complied by:
J.Z. Nylika
Community Development Officer
Painted Dog Conservation &
Wildlife and Environment Zimbabwe
| 
