The Mantis, The Moth and The Neem

One of the fact about gardening is that the garden truly doesn't belong to you.
You must in a way share generously with all the creatures that come by with or without your permission.

Currently I have both the good, the bad and the ugly in my garden.
And there is no way you can with confidence say that they won't trespass the garden.
The one that I would like to share here are my favourite ones.
The Mantis & The Moth.

Its good to have predatory insects or creature in the garden.
Ladybirds, Praying Mantis, Spiders & Lizards does help to control unwanted pest that cause harm in the garden.
But sometimes these doesn't always stay in the garden for long term.
And you may have to resort to pest control using chemical to counter the attack faced by mealy bugs, whitefly, spider mites, scale insects and ants that farm them.

The ones that I don't want and cause harm in my garden
have to face the organic pest control:
The Neem.

I found that most garden centres sell the premium Neem oil
for a very expensive price.
Neem oil is very good to deter harmful pest that does great damage to the plants.
Some doesn't die easily when conventional pesticide is used and in most cases these pesticide does more damage to the environment compared to pest itself.

I had purchased this from an Indian Store,
one found in Jalan Ipoh known as Madura Store.
I got it for RM3.90 which is very cheap compared to the ones I found that sells almost RM50.00

Neem oil is very good to eradicate Spider Mite & Scale insects.
These prove stubborn as they can do dormant and comeback with a vengeance.

This is the mixture for preparing the organic pest control:

For 1 litter of water spray:

1) 1 litter of water.
2) 1 tablespoon of Neem oil.
3) 1 tablespoon of liquid detergent (or liquid soap)

(optional)
4) 1 tablespoon of Chilli powder
5) 1 teaspoon of salt.

The Water, The Oil & The Soap is mandatory.
The Soap is required as it would be a catalyst to mix the water and the oil together.
(If not - when spraying, you would only be spraying the water substance that comes below the spray suction tube and the oil remains standing on top of the water spray)

Shake well and spray.
Preferable time to spray - in the morning or evening.
After watering your garden plants.

The optional factor of Chilli powder and salt is additional as it can get rid of ants, mealy bug, snail & slugs in the process.
But if you are very much wanted to focus on the spider mites and scale insect, then the oils with the soap is considered sufficient.

I would suggest to use off all the pesticide substance in one day and pour the rest of the left-overs on the effected potted plants rather than keeping it in the spray for the next day.
Mixing and using it (finish the pesticide) in one day and make a new mixture for the next 2 days proves more effective than keeping them and spraying them bit by bit in the continued 3 days.

In most cases its just not just the pest that is causing the trouble rather a secondary insect that is actually farming them. Farming ants can bring mealy bugs with them & harvest honey causing some plants to succumb to viral infection or leaf/bud deformation.
I have big problem with my Spicy Jatropha as these farming ants invade and take over the whole plant with white infestation of mealy bugs.

They do come back time to time as I realise that the battle is yet to be won and the wager is my poor flowering plant. Regardless the issue. The real factor of gardening is also includes pest control. You may not totally eradicate them totally as they come back time to time.

Therefore the idea of control is important.
Using chemical laced pesticide can prove dangerous to others
(especially children at home)
The best is using home made remedies that cause no harm to the family that all of us can enjoy the garden without much worry of being poisoned.

Pictures Below:
These are the sold in the Indian Store.
It would be difficult to identify them as the manufacturer had printed most of the details in Tamil.
I hope this helps as so that it would be easier to identify the product when purchasing them.