At last! A reliable, permanent location for the purchase of Neem products has come my way. First an apology – it seems that the Balinese name for Neem is ‘Intaran’. I would however say that the name I gave ‘Mindi’, is the name given by three separate authorities as the Bahasa Indonesia (probably derived from Bahasa Melayu) name.
Neem products, as listed on the indoneem website are available (during their normal operating hours) from:-
The Sunrise School
Parkir Place, Jln. Mertasari,
Pengubengan Kauh. Krobokan, Kuta.
Phone - 0361 735822.
Intaran saplings + cultivation notes, may also be obtained from this source. As The Sunrise School is a regular advertiser in the Education Pages of this journal, there is a permanent reminder of their contact details.
A reader contacted me recently with regard to the availability of ‘Glyphosate’ in Bali. Glyphosate is the name of the active ingredient in a Monsanto Weedicide marketed originally as ‘Round Up’. During the 20 years Monsanto held exclusive rights, this chemical was a great money-spinner for them: So much so that they went to the U.S. Patents Court in an attempt to extend the life of their patent.
The Court threw out this demand and the chemical became available (at no royalty fee) to whoever cared to make and market it. Monsanto were most miffed by this, as all their attempts at genetically modifying grain crops (in particular canola and wheat) to be resistant to Glyphosate, were aimed at developing a monopoly market for these two products in tandem.
Glyphosate is remarkable in that it is only absorbed by green tissue; that on contact with the soil it is immediately neutralized without poisoning/sterilizing the soil in any way. (True, at least, of the past 25+ years of intensive use.) It attacks the root system and is not immediately noticeable – being some 3-5 days after application before the plant/s exhibit any signs of distress. It takes 2-3 weeks (depending on weather conditions) to complete its task.
From the above it may be seen that the ability to spray weedicide on an already growing crop without harming it, is a very big plus indeed. Devil take the unfortunate farmer growing any non-GM crop next door who has a sizeable portion of his crop wiped out by the unavoidable spray-drift!
Monsanto have not proved themselves to be much concerned about next-door neighbors. Some years back (I think in Canada) a neighboring farmer had Monsanto bring a successful action against him for ‘theft of their intellectual property’ having discovered GM plants on his property – no doubt brought there by wind and/or birds. One can only hope that such a manifestly absurd and unjust ruling was quickly over-turned.
Monsanto may yet find itself hoist on its own petard. GM Canola was approved for large scale planting by the Australian Govt. at the beginning of this year; this, despite considerable opposition from the Greens and consumer groups. (Really an ‘opening the stable door after the horse has bolted’ exercise as GM Canola is already growing wild along road verges in Australia, having ‘escaped’ from so-called trial plantings.)
While there is some insect activity involved in pollinating grain crops, their pollen is mostly wind-dispersed. GM Canola has shown itself to be extremely promiscuous – happily mating with the non-GM variety. Certified non-GM growers are already envisioning the day when there will no longer be such a thing as non-GM and there is much muttering about class actions etc. etc.
‘Round Up’ now proliferates under a variety of trade names. As far as chemical weedicides go, it is probably the safest and most environmentally friendly thus far available. Some wanted plants are extremely susceptible – eg: roses. Never spray close to a fishpond as fish are also very quickly affected.
What you will need to do is to read all the labels of weedicides until you come to one stating: Active ingredient – Glyphosate. 360g/liter. This is the usual ratio. Buy anything under this and you are being ‘dudded as you will need to use more to obtain the same effect’. I have seen some as low as 10g/liter. Better to pee on the weed than use this – urea burn might kill it; this low concentration certainly won’t! Read the label carefully and consider spraying in the early morning calm, thereby minimizing spray drift.
Depending on the type of weed to be destroyed (there should be an enclosed chart) the dilution rate is between 5-10ml/liter. Add a surfactant (dishwashing detergent will do) after dilution (don’t want a spray tank full of bubbles) to help it stick to the green parts of the weed.
Please send all your gardening questions to
E-mail: gardendoctor09@gmail.com
