Grow maize, control the stalk borer

Prepare holes at a spacing of 75cmx60cm (2.5feetx2feet).

Apply farm yard manure, if you have it or inorganic fertilisers, like DAP or NPK at a rate of 50kg per acre. About 50kg of DAP cost between sh150,000 and sh180,000.

Apply one full soda bottle cap in each hole and cover. DAP/NPK helps in root formation and improving yields.

You need 10kg for each acre. With a kilogramme of hybrids, like Longe10H going for sh9,000, this means that you spend sh90,000 for each acre on seeds alone.

Carry out first weeding two weeks after planting. After three weeks, top dress with UREA/CAN, at 50kg per acre.

You spread the fertiliser within the rows of the crops. UREA, which contains nitrogen, increases crop health and yields.

How to control the stalk borer

This is the biggest threat to maize plants. However, it can be controlled, if measures are taken.

• Leave the maize shamba bare for at least three months after harvesting. This will destroy all remaining pests.
• Pesticides are a remedy, but various agro dealers have adulterated the pesticides which has rendered them ineffective.
• It is better farmers to produce off season when there is no pollen grain around to contaminate the gardens.
• Farmers need to plant maize early in the season, so that the maize passes the most preferred stage of the caterpillar. Caterpillars attack maize late in the season as the rains reduce. However, if a farmer planted early, by the time the caterpillars strike, the maize will be mature enough.
• Crop rotation with non-host crops (non-cereals) can also help. Plant maize and cowpeas in the same garden, to reduce population of caterpillars, since most of them may opt for the cow peas.
• Use pull-push strategy too. In between maize rows, plant desmodium to repel stalk borers from the maize.
• Plant Napier grass along at the borders of the maize as a trap crop to pull stalk borers away from the maize. The stalk borer comes from a moth. It lays eggs on the maize plant that turn into larva in five days. The larva remains in the maize for 22 days as it eats away the stem.

It will then turn into a pupa and then a moth that lays eggs again. It is a deadly cycle for the maize plant.

The main purpose of planting napier plants with maize is because napier helps control the stalk borer. A stalk borer gets into the maize plant by laying eggs on the maize plant leaves.

They then go through the entire gestation process, until they hatches. The most dangerous stage of this process is the larvae stage because this is when they start feeding on the maize plant.

However, research has proved that if you have both maize and napier leaves in the same environment, the borer will choose the napier leaves to lay their eggs.

But what the borer does not know is that the napier plant has got a sticky substance inside, which traps the borer inside. In the process, few larvae survive, hence the maize is saved. For effectiveness, plant the napier plant surrounding the maize garden.

It is also advisable to plant the napier earlier than the maize so that it is more mature. Plant at least three rows of napier.

Compiled by Joshua Kato (editor Harvest Money)