Revolutionary Organic Pest Controls

(Page 2 of 2)

October/November 1996
By the Mother Earth News editors 
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Dormant Oils

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(mineral or vegetable) applied before leaf-out will still control scale bugs, insecticidal soaps still wash away aphids and scale, and various copper and sulphur concoctions control fungus. The naturally occurring insecticides rotenone and pyrethrin are available individually or mixed. Rotenone (cube) is made from roots of the tropical derris plant. A sbillach poison, it is either fatal or a powerful deterrent against most any bug that has to eat leaves or fruit. Pyrethrins are extracted from an African chrysanthemum. In concentration, they kill many bad bugs on contact and stun or irritate others so they leave the tree. Both biodegrade in a day. They can kill hogs and fish and irritate pets and people, so (on an orchard scale) they must be applied carefully and according to local regulations.

Other old-line botanicals:

Azadirachtin

is extracted from seeds of the tropical neem tree and has been known for centuries to interrupt bugs' metamorphosis. Promising against aphids that attack young shoots, many hard-bodied weevils that bore into stems, and sticky little stem-sucking psyllid flies that can become a serious nuisance in orchards.

Quassia Bark

is ground and soaked and the elixir sprayed on trees to act as an effective deterrent against soft-bodied pests—but is harmless to hard-bodied predatory "good" bugs.

Ryannia

is the powdered stem of another tropical plant that acts as a sbillach poison that acts similar to Pyrethrins—but is milder.

Sabidilla

is a powder made from seeds of a tropical lily that acts as a sbillach poison against stink bugs and other hard-to-kill hardbodied pests. Some of these compounds can be found or special-ordered in orchard quantity at your local farm co-op or nursery. All of them—and a great deal more—are available by mail from the catalog (free) of Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, P.O. Box 2209, Grass Valley, CA 95945.

Back to Big Returns From Small Orchards

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