Everybody who is doing gardening will definitely say that gardening is a very expensive hobby. Not just its starting cost but also its day to day cost is very high. Particularly if you are an urban gardener then you will certainly agree with me. Is this not true? Once you established your garden then you need fertilizer & pesticides throughout the year. Fertilizer is costly and pesticides are super costly items. Pesticide includes insecticide as well as fungicide/bactericides. Chemical as well as organic, both products are very expensive what makes gardening a costly hobby. But you are using these 4 natural & homemade insecticides then I must say the cost of your gardening will be drastically reduced. Most importantly, all those insecticides are effective and tested by many farmers/gardeners for last many many years, probably hundreds of years.
Gardeners actually spend thousands of bucks every year for buying various insecticides for their plants. If you want to buy an organic product then you may need to spend more. In case you have a flower garden then spending that much money might be justified because you are doing that for the beautification of your home as well as for your happiness.
But when you are growing vegetables & fruits then you certainly do not want to use chemical products & at the same time you also do not want to spend a thousand of bucks on insecticides what make your homegrown vegetable costlier than market bought vegetables. If you are still doing so then it is only for your happiness not for the vegetables.
But I am a greedy gardener. I want happiness as well as cheap & healthy vegetables. Haha. I think many of you are also greedy too. Right?
So the best trick to achieve the same is homemade natural insecticides. Those are almost free & harmless to human. Many traditional farmers are using those for years, generation by generation. Nowadays many helpful farmers are promoting those insecticides on the internet. So we kitchen gardeners should apply those insecticides on our plants.
I am using those for months and during this lockdown situation, I am only using homemade natural pesticides. Surprising those are not just free but also very very effective. But yes, you need to apply those more frequently & preventively. Once your plants are seriously affected by pests then you may face difficulties. In such cases, you may need to apply pesticides almost every day. If you do not have time then you can take the help of chemical inputs when your plants are seriously affected. But I believe if you maintain proper schedule for spraying those insecticides and very strict to that; then your natural insecticides are capable to keep your plants insects free.
So here are those 4 homemade natural insecticides
Mostly these are prepared with fresh cow dung & cow urine. But fresh cow dung & cow urine are not easily accessible to a urban gardener. Even I never got fresh cow dung at my locality, most importantly dealing with fresh cow dung or cow urine is really difficult to me. So I use vermicompost instead of fresh cow dung/urine.
Infact vermicompost is nothing but worm manure by using cow manure. Straight forward way, it is worm poop after eating cow poop, haha. So it also contains various microbes.
Dashparni ark
- 20 gm vermicompost
- 20 gm jaggery
- 2 teaspoons garlic paste
- 2 teaspoons ginger paste
- 2 teaspoons turmeric powder
- 4 teaspoons green chili paste
- 50 gm neem leaves
- 20 gm aak/rooi/akondo leaves
- 20 gm dhatura leaves
- 20 gm custard apple (sitaphal/aata) leaves
- 20 gm guava (amrud) leaves
- 20 gm oleander (kaner) leaves
- 20 gm papaya (papita) leaves
- 20 gm wood apple (bael) leaves
- 20 gm karanj leaves
- 20 gm pomegranate (anar) leaves
- 2-2.5 ltr water
- Mix all in a plastic container
- Cover it with a clean cotton cloth
- Rest it for 3-4 weeks under shade or keep it indoor
- Stir twice a day for a week
- Then strain it as use it for spraying on plants
- Dilute it before using, take 3% dashparni ark and rest water
Neemastra
- 50 gm neem cake
- 50 gm neem leaves, paste or finely chopped
- 10-12 gm fresh cow dung/vermicompost
- 1 ltr water/cow urine
- Take every thing in a plastic container mix properly with water
- Now cover the container with clean cotton cloth
- Stir the mixture twice a day for two or three days
- Then after 2-3 days strain it with fresh cloth
- Dilute neemastra solution with water (add another 1 ltr water with 1 ltr neemastra)
Agniastra
- 2.5 ltr water/cow urine/vermicompost tea (get reduced to 2 ltr after boiling)
- 50 gm tobacco
- 200 gm neem leaves
- 50 gm garlic paste
- 50 gm green chilli paste
- Take everything in a cooking pot a
- Now boil it over low to medium flame for 15 minutes
- Rest it for 2 days
- Strain it and keep it for 3 months (apply on plants according to your schedule)
Brahmastra
- 2.5 ltr water (boil till reduced to 2 ltr)
- 50 gm neem leaves
- Take any other 4 leaves (aak/dhatura/curstard apple/wood apple/papaya/karanj/pomegranate etc) 50 gm each
- Take everything in a cooking pot
- Now boil it over low to medium flame till water get reduced to 2 ltr
- Rest it for 2 days
- Strain it to get its extracts
- Store it for 3 months and apply whenever you need
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