Oil and bulbs stop moths from ravaging my tomatoes

Arthur Kimani a tomato farmer illustrates how his innovative moth control system works in controlling pests in his crops. PHOTO | LEOPOLD OBI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The method entails home-based materials that include a bulb, a bucket and used motor vehicle oil.
  • The concept is simple. I begin by setting up the bulb on the pole and connecting it to electricity. The bulb is set just above the container carrying a mixture of water and used oil, such that it reflects in the solution.
  • The moths cause significant losses to farmers as they feed on the plant roots and leaves, therefore, trapping and killing them reduces the number of pests attacking the crop.
  • The insects gets into the greenhouse through openings or through people who visit greenhouse.

Arthur Kimani suffered a huge loss when he first grew tomatoes on his farm in Kikuyu, Kiambu County.

The farmer, who was a matatu tout on route 102 and 105 (Kikuyu-Kinoo-City Centre), until the beginning of last year, abandoned the job for greenhouse farming.

But things did not turn out as he had expected. Kimani, who had spent Sh120,000 from his savings to make his own greenhouse measuring 16 by 18m, harvested losses.

“I was devastated. The money went to greenhouse polythene cover, drip pipes, a 2,000 litres water tank and labour. I had timber. I had saved a great deal, therefore, was happy because the structure would have cost me Sh500,000,” he recounts, adding after putting up the structure, he bought 500 tomato seedlings from Naivasha at Sh10 each.

According to him, the pest that wiped out his tomatoes was tuta absoluta, a deadly moth.

As they say, once beaten, twice shy. Kimani says he had to find a solution to the problem because he did not want to return to the matatu industry.

A research on the internet saw him get the idea of trapping the moths that cause the disease with a bulb and used oil. It is now close to six months since he started using the idea and the results are encouraging.

The method entails home-based materials that include a bulb, a bucket and used motor vehicle oil.

To start, he mixes the used oil (18 litres) with water (2 litres) inside the bucket, and places it beneath a bulb suspended on a pole.

CONTROL NOCTURNAL INSECTS

“The concept is simple. I begin by setting up the bulb on the pole and connecting it to electricity. The bulb is set just above the container carrying a mixture of water and used oil, such that it reflects in the solution,” he explains, adding that he rotates the tomatoes with spinach to escape bacterial wilt, a soil-borne disease.

Therefore, when the bulb is lit at night, it attracts the flying pests, mainly moths.

“The insects will find the bulb too hot to perch on, therefore, land on the “other bulb” inside the container (the reflection) where they drown.”

The method, according to him, has reduced pest attacks on his tomatoes that he no longer buys pesticides.

Geoffrey Ongonya, a technical manager at Koppert Biological Systems, says that the mechanism works well in controlling nocturnal insects such as moths.

The moths cause significant losses to farmers as they feed on the plant roots and leaves, therefore, trapping and killing them reduces the number of pests attacking the crop.

“Tuta absoluta is caused by moths, which lay eggs that hatch into caterpillars that later feed on the plant leaves, roots and even the fruits. Tuta absoluta is a huge menace to tomatoes and can cause up to 100 per cent loss.”

The intervention cannot entirely mitigate all the greenhouse pests, thus, the expert advices farmers to adopt other environmentally sustainable control methods such as using the blue and yellow sticky traps to kill aphids and whiteflies.

He points out that insects are crop specific and that pests, which attack tomatoes are different from those that attack spinach, for instance.

The insects gets into the greenhouse through openings or through people who visit greenhouse.