Homemade pesticides
Beejamrutha:
a mix of cow dung, cow urine, water, lime and a handful of soil for protecting the crop from harmful soil-borne and seed-borne pathogens. Seeds and fruits are preserved in this solution. At times, saplings are dipped in the Beejamrutha before being planted.
Ghanjeev Amrit:
is applied to the soil during the sowing season. This is a mix of cow dung, cow urine, jaggery, gram flour and soil, preferably from forest.
Agni Astra:
kills bollworm, a common pest in cotton fields. Prepared by boiling and fermenting green chillies, garlic, tobacco and neem leaves in cow urine.
Brahma Astra:
another pesticide prepared by boiling and fermenting leaves of neem, milkweed, dhatura, arjun ( Saraca arjuna), giloy (Tinospora cordifolia), karanj (Pongania pinnata) and guava in cow urine. A mix of neem leaves, cow dung, cow urine and water is yet another pesticide that kills aphids, jassids, mealy bugs and white flies. Buttermilk is used as an effective fungicide and weedicide.
Yellow card:
a board sprayed with mustard oil and fixed in the fields prevents white flies which get stuck to it.