SEC | S20W3:"Identification and Elimination of Crop Pests"

Pests management is very important to crops and agricultural productivity due to its negative impacts like; stunted growth, physical damage on plants, disease transmission, low crop production and reduction of photosynthesis.

Caterpillar on yam leaf

I will present my entry in an understandable format by using the questions given by the teachers as guideline;

What Pests Did You Observe When You Visited the Crop Field? How Did You Identify that it was a Pest?

I am not a full time farmer but I have a little knowledge about farming because of the garden in my home. We have a small farm land near the house where you can find different types of edible green plants like; corn, water leaf, bitter leaf, papaya, yam, plantain, cocoyam, water yam, pineapple, groundnut, scent leaf, coconut, editan leaf, casava, potatoes, curry leaf, vegetable leaf, okra, cucumber and melon.

Pests on leaf

Being that there are many crops in this farmland, it attracts a lot of pests which are very harmful. From my observation, I have come across more of caterpillars, grasshoppers, rodents, mites, weeds and fungi.

Pest on potato leaf

I mostly see fungi in plants like cucumber, okra and melon. Different kinds of insects are seen doing physical damages to the leaves. Insects like caterpillars and grasshoppers feeds on all the leaves which in turn destroy them.

Rodents create holes in the farm, destroy the plants from the roots and damage the stems. Another pests that is very harmful to crop which I have seen is spider mites, this type of insects creates web on the leaves and destroys them. Lastly, I have also observed that when weeds are in the farm land, it hinders plants growth.

Express your Own Opinion on Which Pesticides you Think are Suitable for Controlling the Pests you Observed in the Field?

With my experience, the pesticide I think is suitable for controlling the pests I observed in the field is strong force. I have seen strong force worked effectively especially with the following crops;

• Corn
• Beans
• Okra
• Cucumber
• Guava
• Garden egg

This works by measuring 30 ml of the pesticide and dilute in 15 liters spray bottle, then spray gently around the plants. All the pests mites, caterpillars and flies will die off and the crops will be safe in 3-7 days time.

Describe the Method Used in Trapping Insects by Creating a Pest Trap Using Various Natural Materials Like; Containers or Adhesive Substances

Chemicals are the most effective because it works faster and get rid of the insects totally but in the absence of that, setting of trap can be helpful. Insects can be lured easily with attractive things. I will describe this method with just 4 steps.

• Get a transparent background bottle
• Create different holes in the container ( 2 -4 holes)
• Tie it to a stick, add something inside ( leaf, palm wine, syrup or honey) and watch the insects gets into the trap with ease.
• Monitor the trap and dispose trapped insects daily.

Discuss in Detail Which Crops you Think the Use of Bio-chemicals is Beneficial and Cost-effective

Since biochemicals are made from natural materials, it has been of help in the environment. Crops like corn, tomatoes, casava, cucumber, okra and potatoes yields good harvest after applying biochemicals to them. In turn, it gives farmers the leverage to reduce cost, gets healthy plants and yields great production.

Healthy looking corn

Create and Discuss a Chart of which Pesticides are Used for which Pest in your Area

The following are pesticides used for pests in my area and their measurements;

Hallakat pesticide

Pesticide	Pest	Measurements
Strong force	Caterpillars and mites	30 ml
Glory ( fungicide)	Fungi	30 ml
Hallakat	white flies and grasshoppers	30 ml
Uproot	Weeds	30 ml

Glory fungicide

Application methods;
These pesticides listed are not to be used directly, the 30 ml measurement is to be diluted into 15 liters spray bottle and spray round the farm. It is best to apply strong force , hallakat and glory after weeding the farm environment.

Container for spraying of chemicals

I will invite @eliany, @josepha and @mvchacin to join the class.

Photo credit: @adylinah