Eucalyptus Leaves Control Grain Moth

Backgrounder

A Guatemalan farmer uses crushed eucalyptus leaves to control grain moths in stored maize.

José Elias is a farmer in Guatemala in Central America. For many years he had a problem with grain moths (Sitotroga cerealella) eating his stored maize. The moths would eat the centre of the kernels and leave the outside part. He didn’t know how to prevent this damage and sometimes he lost almost half of his corn harvest. One day, just by chance, he found a dried branch from a eucalyptus tree (Eucalyptus globulus) on the ground. He crushed it and smelled it – it almost made him choke. It made him think that if you exposed an insect or animal to that strong smell, the insect or animal would be forced away.

So, he decided to try storing his maize with some crushed eucalyptus leaves. He asked his family to help him collect and grind the leaves. It was a big job to crush them all by hand. He mixed the eucalyptus powder with his stored grain. After some experimenting José found that the strong-smelling eucalyptus leaves do protect stored maize from grain moths.

Here is his method. He picks the eucalyptus leaves, then dries them in the sun. When they are dry, he grinds them to a powder. He places a layer of the eucalyptus leaf powder, about one centimetre high, on the ground where he plans to store the maize. On top he puts a layer of maize cobs, about 15 centimetres high. Then he puts another layer of eucalyptus powder on top of the maize. He continues to alternate one layer of maize cobs (15 centimetres deep) with a layer of eucalyptus powder (one centimetre deep) until all the maize is stored.

Now moths don’t eat his stored corn. The powder repels them by its smell. This method has been a great success for José Elias. Not only has he found a way to protect his maize from moths, but this success has also encouraged him to continue experimenting to find other ways to control pests using local plants.

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