Managing Pests and Plant Diseases 299
Physical methods of pest control
There are many ways to control pests, or to
encourage predators and parasites, based
on their habits and life cycles. Talk to other
farmers to learn about methods they use.
Animals and insects
Many birds, bats, snakes, and insects eat
pests and pollinate crops. You can tell what
Watch the animals in your fields
a bird eats by the type of beak it has and by
to know if they control pests.
watching how it acts in your fields. To scare
off birds that are eating crops, some farmers hang shiny things such as shiny
paper, tape from old cassette tapes, and scraps of metal near crops.
Most bats eat mosquitoes. But some bats eat fruit and a few others bite
animals. By watching them eat, or by looking at the remains of their food
under the place where they sleep at night, you can tell if they are eating the
fruit off your trees or are eating the insects that bite you or eat your crops.
Some physical methods of pest control
To control fruit flies, put some rotting fruit in a plastic bottle with
fruit-fly-sized holes in it. Hang it from the fruit tree you want to protect about
6 weeks before the fruit will be ripe (when the flies start laying their eggs on
the fruit). The flies will fly in but will not be able to get out.
Many small wasps feed on pollen and attack
pests. Growing flowering plants that make lots of
pollen will attract these wasps, and the wasps will
protect crops from pests.
Tall trees planted around your field can stop
locusts or make them pass over your field. Trees also
provide shelter for useful insects.
Ants are fierce predators. If your crops are
attacked by grubs, sprinkle sugar water on the
stems or harvested tubers. Ants will come for the
sugar water and stay to eat the grubs!
Many flying insects lay their eggs on crops. The
eggs then hatch into grub and caterpillar pests.
Hanging a torch or a lamp above a bucket or lined
hole full of water will attract flying insects, which
then fall into the water and drown. This solves the
problem before any eggs can be laid or hatched.
Make a few
small holes
in the
bottle.
Fruit fly trap
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012