Thursday, February 26, 2015

Rats, Peacocks and Gandhi Bug

I had planted 6 tapioca plants, around 6-7 months back. I had piled soil on its base and also applied some dried cowdung and mulched the base. I used to visit some times and was happy that there were no rat holes on the top. When I harvested it on last week, surprised to see holes underneath the ground to each of tapioca plants base !!! Some of the tapioca was eaten by rats..but it was not that bad, may be they had eaten 10% of the total, that also probably which had matured some time back and it was due for harvest, tender ones were spared by rat. I got around 6Kgs and felt happy about that, even though it is not much. I planted some of the cuttings in that place itself and piled some soil around it. While piling there were lot of loose soils which rats had made and that made by job little bit easier, rats do some good things also.

Peacocks are supposed to be a great problem for rice since they eat matured rice. In my experience, they don't enter the field, if there is enough water and they just eat the rice from plants which is on the edge of the field. But some cases, if the density of plants is very poor and there is no water in the field, they enter the field and harvest it before me.

Gandhi bug (not sure why it is named after Gandhi?) is a foul smelling insect which used to be a big problem in the paddy cultivation. Not sure, if it is by mere luck, so far it was not a problem for me, to that extend no insects attacked the rice in the last 2 season.

To conclude, so far all the so called pests and other enemies of farming, are manageable.

5 comments:

excellent scholarship essays said...

wonderful! what a amazing post

Nandakumar said...

Thank you !!!


Regards,
Nandan

Raj said...

Hello Nanda, You can try few things to get rid of pest naturally. Try Neem and cow urine solution spray. Also, you can plant Marigold plants around your farm, this will ward of pest. Grow Tusli plants and mint ( pudina ) plants around your farm, this will also help you to get rid of pest. Make T shaped poles which attract owls, this will take care of rats and rodents. Sprinkle human hairs ( buy it from local hair saloon ) and spread it around tuber crops, rats and rodents like human hairs... Try it and let me know.
Rajesh.

Raj said...

I mean, rats and rodents do not like human hairs...so they will stay away from this.

Nandakumar said...

Thanks Raj..If it affects me too much, will try some of these techniques...so far, they are manageable..