Several farmers are following this practice and getting benefited

 The farmer, Chellamuthu, in his field with the asafoetida placed inside a gunny bag at Kodumudi, Erode, Tamil Nadu.— Photo: M. Govarthan
M.J. PRABU

INVENTIONS AND discoveries by farmers do not often get recognition from experts because they find a lack of scientific validity. But farmers who benefit from such discoveries vouch for their efficiency.

Mr. K. Chellamuthu, a farm labourer, at Kodumudi village, Erode, Tamil Nadu, came under a lot of criticism from experts, when he developed a herbal spray for control of eriophyd mite in coconut trees.
Non poisonous

“Unlike toxic chemical sprays, the bio-spray being non poisonous, does not cause harm to the crops, field, environment and humans,” says Dr. K. Natrajan (mobile: 9443358379) a physician and organic farmer in Kodumudi. Giving details on its preparation, Mr. Chellamuthu says:

“About one kg of custard apple leaves, turmeric rhizome, peenari changu (Tamil name) (Clerodendrum inermi), Aloe vera, Nochi (Vitex negundo), neem kernel (Azadirachta indica) and calotropis (calotropis gigantia) each should be ground into a fine paste by adding sufficient water and about five litres of essence extracted from it.

“The essence must be diluted in 15 litres of water (to make it 20 litres) and sprayed on to the crown of the tree at the rate of 2 litres per tree after harvesting the nuts.

“The procedure should be repeated once every two months.

“Nearly 2,000 coconut trees treated with my herbal formula are healthy and about 300 farmers are using it,” says Mr. Chellamuthu.

Regular spraying (once every 2 months in the beginning and later twice a year) controls the infestation, according to Chellamuthu.

The farmer also advocates use of asafoetida for increasing crop yield.

“I accidentally discovered that asafoetida acts as a pest repellent and aids plant growth,” he says.

The school dropout only knows that asafoetida benefits plant health but does not know why.
Aids crop growth

For an acre he places one kg of asafoetida inside a sack and places it in the irrigation channel. “The water along with the dissolved asafoetida repels pests and aids crop growth,” he says.

Where did he learn this technique?

“I once jokingly suggested to my neighbour, to use the surplus half-a-kg asafoetida he had, on his ring gourd plants affected by pests. I wanted to tease him and did not know the consequences,” he says.
Healthy yield

To the neighbour’s and his own surprise, the plants not only survived the pest attack but also grew well to yield bigger, healthier gourds than the normal ones.

Similarly a farmer from a neighbouring village, on hearing about this, also used it in his 2.5 acres for jasmine plants and got a good yield.

“I started experimenting asafoetida’s effect on paddy, sesame seeds, ground nut, tomato, brinjal and other crops and found that the yield increased and the plants were healthy,” says Chellamuthu.

Several farmers in the district have stopped spraying pesticides and follow Chellamuthu’s practice.
Positive report

The Centre for Plant Protection Studies at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, undertook a scientific study on the effect of the bio-spray on paddy and brinjal crops and endorsed its usage. For more information readers can contact Mr. Chellamuthu at Karukkamapalayam, Oonchalur Post, Kodumudi via, Erode District, Tamil Nadu, phone: 04204-266127, mobile: 9486602389.
Managing scale insect menace in ginger

Ginger is a subtropical shade loving plant.

The economic part of the plant namely the underground rhizome is often attacked by scale insect, Aspidiella hartii, both in field and in storage condition.

The minute crawling nymphs infest near the growing buds and suck the sap. It results in shrivelling and drying of the rhizomes. The plants are devitalized and get withered. The rhizomes fail to germinate.
Pest biology

The adult scale insect is circular in shape, light brownish to grey in colour and about 1mm in diameter.

It reproduces without fertilization laying its young ones directly. About one hundred nymphs are laid by a single female. The life span is around one month. The insect multiplies rapidly on stored ginger.

Selection of healthy rhizomes free from scale infestation prevents the insect spreading to new areas. Avoid water stagnation in the field. Severely infested rhizomes are to be discarded before storage of rhizomes.

Soak the rhizome seeds in 0.075 per cent quinalphos for 20-30 minutes before storing and sowing. Drench the soil with a systemic insecticide such as dimethoate 30 EC at 2ml/lit of water.
Rhizome treatment

To ensure seed material free from scale infestation, the rhizomes must be treated with 0.05 per cent phosalone, methamidophos, dichlorvos or monocrotophos.

The treated rhizomes must be kept at least for a week before planting to get the maximum effect of the toxicants.

The scale infested rhizomes are to be dipped in the insecticidal solution for 15 minutes, air dried and can be stored on sand.

Storing of rhizomes in dried leaves of Strychnos nux-vomica also helps in keeping the rhizomes free of scale infestation.

Two species of parasitic wasps and one species of a predatory mite keep the population of ginger scale insect under biological control.

J. JAYARAJ & M. ANANTHAN

HORTICULTURAL RESEARCH STATION, THADIYANKUDISAI PERUMPARAI, DINDIGUL,