Posted on 09/07/2006 1:44:19 PM PDT by SJackson
Now drink to the ingenuity of Telangana's farmers. First they sprayed soft drinks - in place of pesticides - on cotton crops. They are moving on to hard drinks.
In some villages in Adilabad and Karimnagar districts, farmers are experimenting with cheap liquor on crops. And the results are encouraging, they say with all the seriousness of scientists in lab coats.
The farmers turned to the bottle when the use of spurious pesticides led to crop failure. Liquor treatment is cost-effective too. A litre of cheap booze costs a little over Rs 100 and is enough to spray on
two acres. Pesticides for the same area will cost the farmers Rs 3,000-4,000 .
“I did not think it would work but the liquor killed bugs and pests,” says Jagan, a farmer at Ilegaon village in Adilabad, who has been using spirits on his cotton field for the past two seasons. Says Bhumesh, a farmer: “For consecutive years, we lost crops because we used spurious insecticide bought at exorbitant rates. Neither the government nor the companies came to our help. Now we’re doing some experiments on our own.”
The farmers say spraying liquor — instead of pesticides — is doubly beneficial: they do not get poisoned while spraying and the soil does not get contaminated. But sceptics wonder if the “organic treatment” of cocktails is good for the crop.
Wine-shop owners are not complaining. “The sales of cheap liquor have more than doubled,” says the owner of a liquor shop at Ilegaon.
Agriculture officers in the two districts, however, dismiss liquor-treatment as a short-lived craze. But if the farmers get hooked on to the bottle, then the pesticide dealers will end up with a headache.
I tried that with my garden and all I grew were pickled beets and stewed tomatoes.
Grain alcohol.
Bad waste of good whiskey.
:,(
This year I tried garlic spray and red pepper spray on my vegetables. I never thought of liquor!
Does it work on Muslims? ;-)
...reminds me of that joke that involved a mirror, shaved area's and an ice pick......
Doogle
We used to play a game in the AF called dead bug. It involved a lot of alcohol and reduced mental capacity. Looks like this is the real "dead bug" deal though.
Neat idea. I'm gonna order a case of liquor from David Gregory right now!
Don't forget the gasoline and match.
If hand-spraying, just use some de-greaser/soap (i.e. dish soap) mix.
It's very effective for smallish gardens.
They are thinking of the bugs. Poor bugs, all work, no play....
Why shouldn't they have a party once in a while?
Thanks, SJackson. I'll try that on a test bed next year. ...shouldn't be any worse than the expensive, ineffective floral junk that's being offered now.
Just soak a bunch of ciggette butts in some water for about a day. Strain. Instant pesticide. (avoid spraying directly on fruit/vegetables).
The price is right too.
If you insist on organic a mixture of milk and water will help with the mildew but will never wipe it out.
..yeah the other method
Good Lord, what's next? Recovery programs for boll weevils? Arachnid 12-step programs?
Shave half. Soak the other half in gasoline. Light it on fire. Then kill them with the icepick as the come out of the flames.
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