How to kill Fall Armyworms

Seeing that this pest is still a huge problem in the many farmlands in the country and I’m seeing very dumb agricultural officers informing people with not so smart methods. I’m here to educate my fellow shamba brethren on how to kill and eradicate fall armyworms.

For starters DO NOT USE PESTICIDES! I repeat DO NOT USE PESTICIDES!!!

Using pesticides is not going to kill the worms. The first line of defense against the worms and their eggs are other insects that don’t damage plants. Like ladybugs, lacewings, Minute Pirate Bug, Trichogramma
Wasp etc. These are your first line of defense that pesticides end up killing, leading to the growth of the worms so stop using those nasty dangerous pesticides.

The worms are spread by moths ones with a distinctive white dot on their forewings. These are how these worms have ended up everywhere and the best solution to stop these moths is to lay pheromone traps which are very simple and cheap for farmers and contain no pesticides, insect traps use visual cues like colors and shapes that are attractive to insects making easier to get rid of them.

Manually collecting the worms and larvae is a very tedious cycle but its all very effective. But do not crush the worms on the ground as it will release smell signals from the caterpillar to the larvae eggs which will fall to the ground and wait to hatch. The best method is to put them in a soapy bucket of water which will drown and destroy the eggs/caterpillars.

After the season has advanced an easy method is spraying the crops with organic horticultural oil must be mixed with water and will help by smothering the target pests, and are only effective if applied directly to the pests. So one could mix vegetable oil with water go out on the farm with his spray equipment and be able to kill some of the worms cheaply.

Another way nature helps is birds they love these worms early in the morning but it seems we have forgotten that and we have become pesticide spraying robots thinking that it will solve our problems. Let us give the birds a chance.

In a moist, dark environment Beneficial Nematodes kill almost all pests. Therefore, they are ideally suited to combat insects in and on the soil and those that bore into wood, trees, and shrubs. These microscopic, worm-like parasites actively hunt, penetrate and destroy over 230 different pests including fleas, fungus gnats, black vine weevils and white grubs. Naturally occurring, they are not harmful to people, pets, plants or earthworms and will continue working for 18 months.

If all has failed then you are encouraged to use organic insecticide like Safer Garden Dust which is a highly selective biological pesticide containing Bacillus thuringiensis to control leaf-eating caterpillars and worms. After ingesting a treated portion of the leaf, caterpillars stop feeding within a few hours. Death occurs in a few days. Will not harm beneficial insects or honey bees.

Spinosad, the active ingredient in Monterey Garden Insect Spray, Spinosad can be used on outdoor ornamentals, lawns, vegetables, and fruit trees to control caterpillars, thrips, leafminers, borers, fruit flies and more! Works fast! After ingesting Spinosad, insect pests die within 1 to 2 days. Will NOT persist in the environment.

Most agricultural officers are clueless about these things and you wonder how they got their qualifications in a world of internet where knowledge is almost infinite.

source for this interested

man. i appreciate your effort at contributing to the eradication of this serious threat to our food security. i however find your solutions impractical to cost and time conscious farmers. for one, considering a fall worm infestation is like in the picture here, how does a farmer go picking the worms from the maize stems without killing the plants he is trying to protect? and how long to pick the worms from five acres, say? consider the life of the larva is 14 days too during which they will have devastated
the farmer’s crop.

http://www.wvi.org/sites/default/files/styles/article_full/public/^AB41CC3F0EF446EF6BA819E914274BF3994FC164BCEBBE6145^pimgpsh_fullsize_distr.jpg?itok=sJLks5BK

you also recommend birds as a natural control; pray, tell, how is the farmer going to call birds to come feast on the worms? how will the birds get the worms inside the stocks?
Is Bt now a legal pest control method? last I heard the jury was still out on the safety of the use of Bacillus thuringiensis especially when its genes are spliced into crops. my last reading on this was against its use in cotton, which is not even a food crop per se; sembuse food crops?

from my corner, the fall army worm infestation is an international emergency that calls for the most concerted and efficient methods of eradication and prevention. perhaps you could elaborate on how farmers can access, or better still, manufacture the pheromone traps on their farms because surely if we can control the breeding parents then we wouldn’t have the devastating offspring.

p/s - do not skin me as I am only a sociologist…

using nature to sort out our problem, mzuri, mambo ya global warming na pharmaceticals hakuna, although the process is tedious.

Emamectin Benzoate 19g/l ( Escort 19EC or Prove) has proved to be the most effective insecticide against Fall Armyworms. It’s affordable, highly effective & easy to apply.

The quickest method is using a organic based insecticide and not pesticide. That will get rid of the worms and eggs in a matter of days and won’t harm any of your plants.

For advanced maize season like the picture you posted horticultural oil could help in killing the worms. Oils like vegetable oil mixed perfectly with water could provide tangible results but I’m yet to see that being tested…

The best long term solution is to have a healthy farms. I’m alarmed at how much pesticide is dumped on farms which lead to high cancer rates among consumers. So farmers need to be mindful and protect the right type of insects like ladybugs etc these insects eat the eggs of the worms before they do damage.

On the manual process I saw Embu county hiring laborers to remove the grown worms and eggs. But they’re gonna crush them with stones instead of putting them in soapy water to kill them… A whole county government cannot afford to stock up on natural insecticide or even traps for the moths that spread these worms…smh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkW4S60SY-0

Another ancient oil. Is called Neem Oil

[media]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_YXE1wZsHM
[/media]

Hehe, difference between insecticide and pesticide ni nini? No offense but kama wewe ungepewa usimamie agric Kenya, tungehamia SSudan kutafuta chakula. You make it sound as if farmers arent serious in dealing with the menace

which ones?

where has it worked?

apparently you do not seem to appreciate that the worms are only the larva of a moth and will only be on farms for 14 days.

you sound more oriented to being critical than offering practicsl solutions. what can the farmer do even before we go to the government?

Kitunguu Lazima inukishwe at whatever cost, the agrovets have to sell their pesticides to stay afloat even if it means introducing pests to our fields.
That’s my conspiracy theory.

Nilikuwa natafuta hio prove. But nilinunua belt ya bayer

Me hushuku that’s how anti virus software companies survive u create a virus and u milk cash out of the problem just like RAT he survives in chaos:D:D:D:D

Sasa mnataka tutumie mortein doom :D:D:D they only effective way for now is to use a systemic pesticide. They worms hide and borrow deep into maize funnel, even birds can’t reach them. Also you can’t physically remove the very small larvae, it is hard to see it.

How effective is the Bayer Belt?

Mimi ni telephone farmer. Will give you info spraying ikiiisha

Kitu ni mix. Contact pesticide kwanza then after like 2days systemic. Though watu kama koppert na bayer wanasema wamedevelop moja yenye ina act poa kuliko mixing

Belt is very effective on tuta absoluta and most sucking pests… Iko chonjo

I like this a lot. How you deal with Issues of verification? How do you manage? Through WhatsApp pics and videos of reports ama? It seems I would do that.

If you can avoid it, please do

Its hard. I started like 5months ago and honestly i am giving up. You rely on trust. If you get a reliable person youre ok,if you dont youre doomed

Pesticide kills everything

Insecticide is for targeted pest killing so it doesn’t wipe out other important insects.