Hello everyone,
How are you?i am good.i hope you are well.
I found harmful insects on some crops and some trees on this farm and I found insects.
Last season it was beetles on my pumpkins and aphids on my basil. This season we are seeing some new suspects and an all new level of challenges. I am trying to do everything organic and with respect to pollinators so I am avoiding any chemicals and dropping any nukes. But I must admit I am frustrated and losing the war.
So far I have been trying to manage things with by spraying a combination of neem oil, citronella and soap. I see moderate results with some things but I also have to admit that I am not doing it regularly enough. I am also running low on these supplies and they can be expensive so I am going to try some other options.
Suspect #1:
This big ass greedy bastard looks like he is straight off of Alice and wonderland smoking some hookah. I noticed him last week and this type is not a normal occurrence and the first I have seen of this type. There are many butterflies and moths that come around which is great for pollination which makes for a lot of varieties of caterpillars. You can see that this one single handed chopped a whole half of a basil leaf. It got hand picked and met its demise under my shoe.
Suspect #2:
These ones have been a struggle since day #1 with my cantaloupe and cucumber. I thought I had it handled at one point and my cantaloupe started to recover but now as of last week I am seeing a new resurgence of them. I have not yet identified this variety of critter yet. But they very quickly turn the leaves into Swiss Cheese.
Well I just looked it up and it looks to be a type of leaf miner.
Suspect #3:
Here is the aftermath on the top of a corn of the Fall Army worm. I do not have a picture of the phase when they are out and about on the plants.
Source https://www.gardja.org/fall-army-worms-hit-11-districts-upper-west-region/
This is the newest asshole on the block and seems only to have been introduced to Ghana in 2017. This is the first season I am having a big problem with it. And I am seeing from our Nigerian brothers it is quite serious for them also.
They chop the whole tops of the corn plant and seem to get into the stem. I am now having corn falling over at the base when the wind blows. They are very adaptive to building resistance to chemicals. Farmers in other parts of Africa have found that a pepper solution works well. Also putting soil in the top of the corn plant while it is still small and uninfected. The other method is a bacteria called BT (long name forgotten) that can be sprayed. It is a bacteria that is found in soil and I understand it can be quite effective. I have not wanted to go this far yet because some BT formulations are toxic to pollinators also including bees. I also don't know where to get it in Ghana yet.
I am also blaming this guy for a lot of my seed failure as I will see sprouts one day and then it is like nothing has come up the next day.
Suspect #4:
To me this looks like the Japanese Beetle. I need to do more research and see how I can combat this one.
Suspect #5:
This is a new one that I saw just the other day. I have not started research on this beetle yet.
Suspect #6:
This guy is beautiful but another heavy eater in the garden. As for the grass hoppers I am sure they are part of the problem but I have not noticed as much wide spread affects from them.