Probably pests are the single biggest challenge any organic gardener will ever face. Pests are capable of destroying standing crops in matter of days. I got first hand taste of in the past few weeks.My first encounter with pest in my garden was in form Aphids.
Aphids they were, first in very little numbers attacking my hibiscus plants.
While I was still at it trying to find a non-chemical organic answer to them, their attention turned to my cucumber plants. In matter of days lot of my tiny cucumber were eaten up (sucked??) by the aphids.
They were all over the place, attacking the flowers buds as soon as they started to show up.But finally I found answer ( may be non-organic but home based)
That's mixing a liter of water in roughly 1 tbs detergent powder and edible oil (normal refine) and spraying it on the plant. Not sure if this was organic. Next time i will try with neem oil.
But I must admit it was a pain to flush out the pests by spraying this mix on each affected part. I wonder what organic options would a farmer doing farming in acres of land have against these pests.
Finally all is well that ends well. I harvested the first cucumber. It tasted yummy, the crunchiest i have tasted in a long time :) And what a journey it was from those tiny seeds to seedlings to now these tiny cucumbers and then to my family's tummy... all in just 2 month's time.
Here it is for your viewing pleasure.
