Organic food is the buzz word we often hear these days. On one hand organic food is grown in very natural ways without the use of harmful chemicals and are very healthy to consume but on the other hand the excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers on the fruits and vegetables is quite harmful. Such chemicals get absorbed by the vegetables and fruits which we consume. Such harmful foods may lead to many diseases including many kinds of cancer.
Most of us have kitchen gardens or terrace gardens where seasonal vegetable, fruits and herbs are grown. Seeds are sown in the soil and seedling so produced are replanted. The rain or dew and climatic changes will bring in the pest which will destroy the seedlings and plants. As a protective measure we will spray these with some chemical pesticides and get rid of the bugs. But such chemicals will get absorbed by the plants.
As organic food grower we are not allowed to use chemicals. Then how to protect from bugs is the question that arises. Some important measures that we can take are as follows:
1. Improve Soil Health - Soil is where the seeds germinates and gets food. If the soil is good then it will provide immunity to the plant. For this soil should be enriched with humus by adding organic matter like vermicompost, manure and mulch. This will improve structure of the soil and replenish the soil with much needed nutrients and micro-nutrients.
2. Use organic pesticides - Neem oil works wonders in this regard. It is a natural pesticide with no harmful effects. Neem oil and Soapnut powder mixed with water and sprayed on the plants every week will not let the bugs settle on the plants. Also the residue of neem oil extraction (neem cake) is a pesticide as well as it is a nitrogen rich fertilizer. It can be applied to the soil along with compost / manure.
3. Use organic / untreated seeds - Best way is to save the seeds for next season yourself. Many youtube videos are available to show how to harvest and save seeds for next year. Otherwise get organic seeds from the market. Before sowing you can treat these seeds with neem oil.
4. Using alternative growing media for germination - Soil alternatives are available for seed germination. The major content is cocopeat. To this vermiculite and perlite are added to increase aeration and water retention of soil. These are all neutral and sterile media and contain no germs or microbes. You can produce pest free seedlings.
5. Composting - It is a process of converting kitchen and garden waste into organic additive for the soil. The kitchen scraps provide nitrogen and garden scraps provide both carbon and nitrogen. Both carbon and nitrogen contents are required to produce compost. The brown leaves, saw dust, newspaper and cardboard shredding, straw, wheat and rice husk are rich in carbon. Green scraps from kitchen and garden are nitrogen rich. Carbon to Nitrogen ratio may vary but C:N = 30:1 is considered good. Alternative layers of carbon and nitrogen contents are assembled into a pile, watered and aerated from time to time to let aerobic decomposition. These days this process could be speeded up by using microbial inoculants (available in market). The end product is full of good microbial life required for immunity and good growth of plants.
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