Garden IPM Changes

Friday, September 15, 2006

With IST over and now having a great understanding of the garden, it is now time to experiment, make changes, and have fun with it. This week, I have done that. While the Hopital Fann Garden De-weedification project has been under way for about the past week and a half, other projects (more research based) are somewhat underway now as well.

The project I want to discuss is that on pest control. With the rainy season going on, there has been an increase in pests, from white flies, aphids, spide mites, escargot, to everything else. As a result, this is the perfect time to test some non-traditional methods to combat pests.

The first experiment was the utilization of beer to combat escargot. In the English vernacular, we often say "snail". The brand of Royal Dutch was used primarily due to its low cost and placed in a makeshift sauce pan. Because my only concern was a quick and painless death for the escargot, I feel like this experiment was a failure, but also because of the expenditure of $2 on 2 high quality beers could have gone to other and better purposes.

So, do I recommend beer as a pest control measure for escargot? NO...While it may be an effective solution, I don't think it is cost effective or necessarily efficient. While this may offend some of the more eco-friendly people who I am sure read this stuff, I typically prefer the use of non-organic pesticides do to the size of the garden, their effectiveness and efficiency, and you get a better bang for the buck typically.

The next day, I ended up getting a pale, filling it up with water and decis, then just placing about 75 snails in it. They stopped crawling around fairly quickly. I did learn that there are some people in neighboring countries and potentially Senegal that eat these snails. I am pondering the exportation of snails and the establishment of the Hopital Fann Snail Shack Restaurant to of raise money for the garden.

The second experiment is something I have been doing some research on for a few months and have been quite excited about. It was the making is spraying of a "organic" pesticide concotion. Inside a large 2.5 gallon zip lock bag, I placed 3 small packs of dried hot pepper, 6 small diced onions, 2 small packs of ground tobacco, 1 bunch of basil, 1 bunch of mint, and 3 diced garlic. From what I have gathered through research is that tobacco is the only thing you have to be concerned about due to its strength. After placing it all in the bag, I added water and let it sit for 2 days.

Two days later, using a hand-held sprayer, I added 3 parts of the strained organic solution to about 5 parts of water and a little bit of powdered soap. I probably went a little weak on this, but my major concern was with the tobacco's ability to burn the plants, especially after it burned my hands. Also, I would rather go weak, then too strong. You can always spray again.

Did it work? With the use of organic, homeade pesticides, results often take time and repetition. They are also better as a preventive measure. Because of this, it is important to continue trials, but in a more integrated and rotational method, using potentially dimathoate, decis, as well as the use of fungicides. As the fungicide, I plan to try and integrate baking soda into the mix. Another potential is hydrogen peroxide, but feel baking soda will be more cost effective.

The two things I didn't like about this hillbilly tea was its smell. It kinda smelled like the bathroom of a bar after a long night of taking shots. I got sick in my stomach most of the morning as I sprayed. The second qualm I had with this solution, is that it clogged the sprayer everytime. When it takes about 10 to 15 refills to cover the entire garden, it can be frustrating. Fortunately, the major reason for this was that I did a poor job filtering it and should have bought a strainer.

So, a lot of positive things are happening around the garden with this sort of research development. In the coming weeks, other solutions will be added into the rotation so hopefully pest control can eventually be done in a preventively way instead of the current combative way. Also, a few upcoming meetings are scheduled to refine the goals of the garden and start determining how to accomplish them. I'm fairly excited about the direction that things are going in making this garden last far longer than my time in Senegal as well as creating the understanding that the purpose of the garden not only involves the garden, but the culinary aspects of utilizing the vegetables, the well-being and quality of life of the maladies infectious patients, and more.

It is going to be an exciting 1.5+ years left here in Senegal.