Took the plunge into farming last month and planted maize intercropped with pulses - Moong (moongbean), Urad (uradbean), Lobia (cowpea) under rainfed conditions in a plot that’s sightly less than 1 acre in our village in Punjab. This used to be a chemically cultivated land, now under conversion to natural farming with Palekar method.
As an absentee farmer I manage by visiting the village every 25-30 days now. It also helps to have relatives there. Plan to expand area under cultivation and perhaps move there later and/or have a family of workers to take care of operations.
Right now the focus is to get this crop safely. My question is which pesticide out of Neemastra, Agniastra, and Bhramastra is suitable for Kharif season crops, particularly maize and pulses? And at what stage should they be sprayed?
Neelgai (bluebull) are a major problem in the area. While I can’t invest on fencing right away, I’ve heard that they are scared by anything that reflects. We’ve put up flags with reflective frills that move with wind. Spraying jeewamrit on crop should also repel animals from eating it. We will see if it works.
Any suggestion for preventive spraying of organic pesticides on maize and pulses?
Spray only if needed. My region maze dont need any spays at all. for pulses spray neem oil. you may need this from 10th day onwards.
Since this is first year from chemical to organic conversion, I’m expecting pest attack.
Thanks for neem oil suggestion for pulses. Will do. Can you tell how often? The crop is 35 days old today.
This part of the country Maize is considered to be prone to pest attacks. I hope there’s no harm if I do neem oil on maize as well?
frequency varies on population. if it is only precaution once in three weeks. if you sight any pest attack spray twice a week.
If you are looking for long solution start using micobe treated compost. Microbes like Metarizium,Verticillium,Bacilus Thurengensis. you can get this from chemical fertilisers also.
Tatas,MCF,IFFCO have these now a days. MCF product name is Agri-Gold+
If you want to prepare your own, get all microbes from IIHR, they will send by courier also.
The reason I suggest you above is, you may not have all ingredients for preparing ZBNF pesticides.
I’ll find the ingredients either in Delhi or in our village, not an issue. Just not sure which pesticide – among neemastra, agniastra and bhramastra – is applicable for what kind of attack.
Would like to avoid industrial preparations, even if organic, as much as possible.
untill you sight insect you cannot decide which one to spray. Agniastra for All boreres, Brahmastra for Sucking pest, neemastra for all sucking pests and bugs.
Industrial products not bad either. Nualgi is tested by my collegue. it is a foliar fertiliser cum pest repellent. It has given very good results when beans crop was wilting.
Thanks, Sri. Very helpful. If you know of any write up on these insecticides, do share. My notes from Palekar workshop are misplaced.
Btw, I’m familiar with Nualgi and have a packet lying around (its marketing head is a friend who gave it to me for free 3-4 years ago). I was very tempted to apply it but decided not to do so as I want to use only natural products.
nualgi is not synthetic. they are diatom algae 100% natural.
Diatom algae are not in the Nualgi solution / powder. They propagated by addition of the solution / powder in the water body. Nualgi contains nano silica and other micro nutrients in nano form.
Note of caution about Nualgi:
[quote]While nanomaterials and nanotechnologies are expected to yield numerous health and health care advances […] they also may have unwanted effects. Increased rate of absorption is the main concern associated with manufactured nanoparticles.
When materials are made into nanoparticles, their surface area to volume ratio increases. The greater specific surface area (surface area per unit weight) may lead to increased rate of absorption through the skin, lungs, or digestive tract and may cause unwanted effects to the lungs as well as other organs. However, the particles must be absorbed in sufficient quantities in order to pose health risks. As the use of nanomaterials increases worldwide, concerns for worker and user safety are mounting.
[/quote]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanomaterials