How to save our cultivations from “Sena Dalambuwa”

The late Mr. W.M.P.G. Dingiribanda, Poddalgoda in the Kandy District, a well-known government registered Ayurvedic Pysician, was my beloved father. My father had inherited many Ola leave (Puskola) books on many subjects. I, therefore, had a golden opportunity to read one of my late beloved father’s ancestral Ola leave books. The following technique was our ancient traditional way which explained how to protect our cultivations (paddy fields and vegetable gardens) from insects.

The book reads: “A coconut oil lamp is to be lighted, in a small box made with coconut leaves (white) called “Mal Pala”, in each corner of the cultivation or in a paddy field from the early evening. It will be the end of the lives of insects when they reach the light of the lamp”. Let us consider the science behind the practical knowledge of our ancestors.

Sena Caterpillar (“Sena Dalambuwa”) has become a massive threat to cultivations in Sri Lanka. They can damage cultivations in a large area within one or two days. How is it happened?

If you observe very carefully the pattern of life i.e. the birth, the growth and the end of caterpillars, you will be able to see the process of their spread. It is unthinkable that caterpillars spread very quickly in an area. The task of spreading caterpillars is done by moths and butterflies. The life span of a caterpillar will end by becoming either a moth or a butterfly. Moths and butterflies lay eggs on the top of cultivations in a large area daily as it is their duty of spreading their species.

Moths and butterflies are light sensitive. They reach a light in anywhere they can see.

Our ancestors made a small box called “Mal Pala” with coconut leaves (white) (called gokkola) to keep the lamp. They made four boxes to install one in each corner of paddy fields and vegetable gardens to avoid the harm of spreading the eggs of caterpillars. The number of lamps to be installed in or around cultivations will depend on the size of the area the cultivations spread. The distance between lamps may be at least 15 yards to be a successful attempt

Sometimes moths, butterflies and insects come inside dwelling houses during the night. Our ancestors used the same strategy in the home garden in a corner in front of the dwelling house in a special lamp house made with the help of a tin having holed all around and fixed the tin on the top of a post in order to stop moths coming inside the dwelling house. Moths and butterflies reach the lamp outside the house when the lamp is lighted in the early evening instead of going inside the dwelling house during the night and come to the end their lives.

It is really amazing to know how our ancestors used just their common sense for the pest control. This was how they were able to produce organic vegetables i.e. without using any chemicals to control pests.

Thusita Weerakoon