Agniastra # Missile against leaf roller, stem, fruit & pod borer

Agniastra is a very powerful missile against pests like leaf roller, stem borer, fruit borer & pod borer. The solution can be prepared inhouse by the farmers.

Materials required:

• Cow urine (go mutra)
• Crushed leaves of Tobacco @ 25g per litre of cow urine.
• Deshi hot green chilli pulp @ 25g per litre of cow urine.
• Deshi garlic pulp @ 12.5g per litre of cow urine.
• Crushed neem leaves (with thin stems) or neem seed powder @ 100g per litre of cow urine.

Procedure (as suggested by Shri Subhash Palekar):

Step 1:

Mix all the ingredients in a earthen pot. Use wooden stick for mixing the ingredients. The stick should be moved clockwise while mixing so that positive energy is circulated in the mixture.

Step 2:

Boil the solution.

Step 3:

Cover the pot with gunny bag or poly net. Tank should be in shade and ensure the tank is not exposed to direct sunlight or rain water. Let the mixture ferment for 48 hours.
 

Step 4:

Stir the solution clockwise using a wooden stick 2 times a day for 1 min.

Step 4:

After 48 hours filter the solution and and store agniastra in bottle.

Preparation Time:

48 hours

Shelf life:

3 months.

Usage:

The solution should be sprayed on the infected plants. For foilar spray use 3% agniastra with water. If the infestation is high then you can use 4% solution. For 1 acre mix 6 to 8 litres of agniastra with 200 litres of water and spary on the plants.

Note:

Crush the neem leaves & tobacco leaves using sil-batta (baton).

Make chilli pulp & garlic pulp using sil-batta (baton).

Use cow urine of desi cows only.

Neemastra # Insecticide for sucking pests & mealy bugs

Neemastra is a very good solution for fighting the menace of sucking pests & mealy bugs. The solution can be prepared inhouse by the farmers.

Materials required:

• Water @ 200 litre for 1 acre
• Cow urine (go mutra) @ 50 ml per litre of water
• Cow dung (gobar) @ 10g per litre of water
• Crushed neem leaves (with thin stems) or neem seed powder @ 50g per litre of water.

Procedure (as suggested by Shri Subhash Palekar):

Step 1:

Mix all the ingredients in a plastic or cement tank. Ensure that there is no lumps of cow dung. Use wooden stick for mixing the ingredients. The stick should be moved clockwise while mixing so that positive energy is circulated in the mixture.

Step 2:

Cover the tank with gunny bag or poly net. Tank should be in shade and ensure the tank is not exposed to direct sunlight or rain water. Let the mixture ferment for 48 hours.

Step 3:

Every morning & evening stir the solution in clockwise direction, using a wooden stick for atleast 1 minute.

Step 4:

After 48 hours filter the solution and use.

Preparation Time:

24 hours

Shelf life:

6 months

Usage:

The solution should be sprayed on the plants. Do not mix any water, spray it as is.

Note:

Crush the neem leaves & stems using sil-batta (baton).

Use cow urine & cow dung of desi cows only.

Beejamrutam - Amruta given to seeds for increasing immunity & germination.

Beejamrutam is used for seed treatment. Seed treatment is very important since a number of diseases make their footprint while germination. Seeds treated with Beejamrutam have more immunity & their germination probability also increases.

Materials required:

• Water (20 litres for 100 kg of seeds)
• Cow urine (250 ml for every litre of water)
• Cow dung (250 g for every litre of water)
• Chuna (2.5 g per litre of water)
• Handful of soil from farm dykes, farm bunds, ensure that there is no stones. 

Procedure (as suggested by Shri Subhash Palekar):

Step 1:

Mix all the ingredients in a plastic or cement tank. Ensure that there is no lumps of cow dung. Use wooden stick for mixing the ingredients. The stick should be moved clockwise while mixing so that positive energy is circulated in the mixture.

Step 2:

Cover the tank with gunny bag or poly net. Tank should be in shade and ensure the tank is not exposed to direct sunlight or rain water.

Step 3:

Next morning Beejamrutam is ready and can be used for seed treatment.

Preparation Time:

12-24 hours

Shelf life:

Use this for beej shanskar within 48 hours. Although this can be kept upto 7 days.

Usage:

For 100 kg seeds, use 20 litres of water for preparing Beejamrutam.

Spread seeds on a plastic on the floor. Sprinkle Beejamrutam on the seeds. Move seeds up-down and ensure that all the seeds are covered with the Beejamrutam.

Care should be taken with the dicot seeds like the pulses (tur, urad, cowpea, etc.) They are delicate and hence do not rub them. Move your hands very delicately while moving the seeds up-down.

Do not use this treatment for soyabean & groundnut seeds since they have a very thin coating over the seeds and the coating may get damaged when it gets wet. For these seeds mix 10 percent Ghana Jeevamrutam and sow them.

After Beejamrutam treatment let the seeds dry and then sow them.

While transplanting nursery plants, dip the roots in Beejamurtam solution and then transplant them in the fields.

For plants that are cultivated by cuttings like drumstick, vanila, giloy, etc or stems like sugarcane or rhizomes like banana, turmeric, etc, put the planting material in a wooden basket and dip the basket in Beejamrutam. Use the treated material for sowing in the farm.

Seed Balls:

After the seed treatment is done, mix the seeds with soil & ghana jeevamrutam mixture and make seed balls. The see balls can then be broadcasted in the fields.

Ghana Jeevamrutam - The dry form of microbial culture for rejuvenating soil

Ghana Jeevamrutam is a dry form of the amruta that can be provided to rejuvenate the soil. Ghana Jeevamrutam can be spread on the farm and mixed with the soil before sowing the seeds or broadcasted once in a month.

There are three methods for preparing Ghana Jeevamrutam.

Method 1:

Materials required:

• Cow Dung, the fresher the cow dung the better
• Jaggery (10 g per kg of cow dung) or Sugarcane juice (20 ml per kg of cow dung)
• Pulse flour, also known as besan of pulses like chawdi, tur, chana or urad (10 g per kg of cow dung).

Method 2:

Materials required:

• Farm Yard Manure 
• Jeevamrutam (100 ml per kg of farm yard manure)

Method 3:

Materials required:

• Dried Bio gas slurry
• Cow Dung (same quantity as dried bio gas slurry)
• Jaggery (20 g per kg of dried bio gas slurry) or Sugarcane juice (40 ml per kg of dried bio gas slurry)
• Pulse flour, also known as besan of pulses like chawdi, tur, chana or urad (20 g per kg of dried bio gas slurry).

Procedure (as suggested by Shri Subhash Palekar):

Step 1:

Mix all the ingredients.

Step 2: 

Cover the mixture with bardana (gunny bag). The mixture should be in shade and ensure it is not exposed to direct sunlight or rain water.

Step 4:

After 48 hours Ghana Jeevamrutam is ready for usage. 

Step 5:

If you need to store Ghana Jeevamrutam then dry it. After the Ghana Jeevamrutam is completely dried crush it and make fin pieces and store it in dry place.

Preparation Time:

48 hours

Shelf life:

6 months. Dried Ghana Jeevamrutam can be stored and used for upto 6 months.

Usage:

Ghana Jeevamrutam can be used while sowing the seeds. Mix it with soil and you can make seed balls for sowing.

It can also be broadcasted in the farm manually 400 kgs of ghana jeevamrutam should be used for 1 acre, once every month. 

Ghana Jeevamrutam can also be used in preparing potting mix for kitchen gardening. It should be mixed with soil and coco peat in 1:1:1 ratio.

Jeevamrutam - Life giving amruta for soil

Jeevamurtam is a ocean of microbes which when irrigated into the farm increases humus and activities of living organisms in the soil. Jeevamrutam when used as a foilar spray, plays an important role in promoting growth & providing immunity to the plant.

Materials required:

• Water 
• Cow urine (25 ml to 50 ml per litre of water)
• Cow dung (50 g per litre of water)
• Black jaggery, also known as gur (5 g per litre of water) or Sugarcane juice (20 ml  to 40 ml per litre of water) or Sugarcane pieces (50 g per litre of water) or pulp of any sweet fruit like ripened chikoo, papaya, banana etc (5 g per litre of water)
• Pulse flour, also known as besan of pulses like chawdi, tur, chana or urad (5 g per litre of water). Flour of Green Peas, Soyabean & Groudnut should not be used since they contain higher percentage of oil.
• Handful of soil from farm dykes, farm bunds, ensure that there is no stones.

Procedure (as suggested by Shri Subhash Palekar):

Step 1:

Mix all the ingredients in a plastic or cement tank. Ensure that there is no lumps of cow dung or the pulse flour. Use wooden stick for mixing the ingredients. The stick should be moved clockwise while mixing so that positive energy is circulated in the mixture.

Step 2: 

Cover the tank with gunny bag or poly net. Tank should be in shade and ensure the tank is not exposed to direct sunlight or rain water.

Step 3: 

Every morning and in the evening mix the Jeevamrutam for 1 minute using the wooden stick.

Step 4:

After 48 to 72 hours Jeevamrutam is ready for usage. Filter the solution and keep the filtered liquid in glass or plastic bottle or tank for usage.

Step 5:

Pour same amount of water again in the sludge that is leftover in the tank after filtering the liquid. Keep this for another 48 hours and a second batch of Jeevamrutam is ready.

Step 6: 

After second batch use the spread in the farm.

Preparation Time:

48 to 72 hours

Shelf life:

8 to 15 days. Use the jeevamrutam within 8 days of preparation. After 7 days the smell from Jeevamrutam will increase because of too many microbes which are present in the liquid. Jeevamrutam should not be used post 15 days.

Usage:

Jeevamrutam can be used in the farm by way of mixing it with the irrigation water or pouring the liquid on the soil manually or by foilar spray or pouring it straight on the ground during rainy season.

When mixing with irrigation water or spreading on the farm soil manually 200 litres of jeevamrutam should be used for 1 acre, once every month. 

Azolla - Miraculous fern for nitrogen fixation & sustainable cattle feed

Azolla is a free floating fern and can be grown in ponds, pits, tanks, etc.

Azolla can be very easily cultivated in a pit with depth of 20cms.

Materials required:

• Azolla mother culture 250 g per sq m
• Labour for making trenches
• 5 kgs sieved soil per sq m
• Poly sheet 
• Poly net
• Few gunny bags
• Cow dung (4-5 days old) 1.5 kg per sq m
• Neem cake 125gm per sq m
• Water

Procedure:

Step 1: 

Azolla cultivation pit can be prepared using the following options

• Dig a trench
• Arrange bricks in a rectangle or square so that a pit is formed between the four sides
• Construct a concrete pit, in this case directly go to step 5

The pit should be 20 cms deep. Typically you can go for a pit with 2.5 x 1.5 x 0.2 m dimension. This will help in harvest and maintenance.

Have round edges avoid any sharp edge in the corners.

Step 2: 

Level the floor and remove any stones. There should be no slope inside the pit. 

Step 3: 

Place some gunny bags on the floor

Step 4: 

Cover the pit with UV stabalised poly sheet or tarpaulin sheet. Ensure that there is no wrinkle left. Also, the edges of the sheet should be well covered with soil so that the sheet remains tight and is not loosened when water is poured into the pit.

Step 5: 

Spread sieved soil on the floor evenly

Step 6: 

Make a slurry by mixing cow dung, neem cake & some water and sprinkle it evenly on the soil in the pit.

Step 7: 

Now fill the pit with water such that water depth of minimum 10 cm is achieved. Fill the water cautiously and ensure that the soil does not get concentrated in one corner or area.

Step 8: 

After the water is settled remove the layer of foam and scum that are formed. Now add the azolla mother culture to the pond. The Azolla mother  culture is nothing but azolla fern from some existing pit. This can be purchased from any existing azolla cultivator or from agriculture university.

Step 9:

Place poly net on the pit.

Harvesting:

Azolla will spread @ 400 g per sq m. Azolla will cover the entire bed and form a mat within 1 week. After 1 week the harvesting of Azolla fern can begin. Daily 400 g per sq m should be harvested this will avoid over-crowding of the fern.

Azolla should be harvested using sieved plastic trays. The fern should be washed properly in clean water two to three times to remove the cow dung smell. 

The left over water after washing (Azolla Wash) can be used as bio-manure for plants.

Usage:

Azolla can be used as cattle feed. The washed azolla should be mixed with feed concentrates in 1:1 ratio. 1 - 1.5 kg of azolla can be fed to the cattle every day. In case of excess, azolla can be dried and stored. This dried azolla can also be fed to cattle.

Dried azolla can be used as bio-manure in the farm. Azolla is a ver good source of nitrogen.

Notes:

1. It is important to keep azolla at the rapid multiplication growth phase with the minimum doubling time. Therefore biomass (around 200 g per square meter) should be removed every day or on alternate days to avoid overcrowding 

2. About 1 kg of cow dung should be added once every 5 days in order to maintain rapid multiplication of the azolla and to maintain the daily yield. 

3. The temperature should be kept below 25 °C. If the temperature goes up the light intensity should be reduced by providing shade. If possible, it is best to place the production unit where it is shady. 

4. The pH should be tested periodically and should be maintained between 5.5 and 7. 

5. About 5 kg of bed soil should be replaced with fresh soil, once in 30 days, to avoid nitrogen build up and prevent micro-nutrient deficiency. 

6. 25 to 30 percent of the water also needs to be replaced with fresh water, once every 10 days, to prevent nitrogen build up in the bed. 

7. The bed should be cleaned, the water and soil replaced and new azolla inoculated once every six months. 

8. A fresh bed has to be prepared and inoculated with pure culture of azolla, when contaminated by pest and diseases. 

9. The azolla should be washed in fresh water before use to remove the smell of cow dung.

Financial:

The cost preparing 1 pit of azolla of size 2.5 x 1.5 x 0.2 m is about Rs.1800/-. 

Overall cost of azolla harvest is Rs.0.65 per kg.