Ingredients:

5 liters buttermilk, 1 liter tender coconut, 1-2 kg arappu leaves (or, 250-500 gms leaf powder), 500 gms waste fruit or 1 liter juice from waste fruit.

Preparation:

Mix the buttermilk and tender coconut. Crush the leaves well. If using waste fruit, add it to the crushed leaves and put this mixture in a nylon mesh and tie it. Immerse the mesh in buttermilk – tender coconut solution. Let it ferment for seven days. By using the nylon mesh we could avoid the need for filtering the solution wile spraying.

If you use Arappu leaf powder, use fruit juice instead of waste fruit. Mix all four ingredients and let it ferment for seven days. Note, again, that our goal is to simplify the process for farmers. That is why we suggest various combinations like waste fruit versus juice and arappu leaves versus leaf powder. Wherever arappu is not available, you may use soap nut seed powder instead. In that case, we call it soap nut-buttermilk solution.

Many plant parts when they ferment release a sticky, gum-like liquid. You may add this liquid to the buttermilk and let it ferment. Hibiscus leaves, kattukkodi (cocculus hirsutus) leaves, pasalai kerai (greens), AvArai, tender betel leaves, and the thick peel (outer skin) of jackfruit are examples.

Again, we wish to remind you about Dhavolkar’s suggestion that every farmer should become an innovator.

Usage:

Mix ten liters water with 500ml to 1liter solution and spray. This helps plant growth, repels insect, and adds resistance to fungal diseases. This solution has the same potential as that of gibberelic* acid.

Buttermilk Solution – Improved Method :

This is an easy to make and improved version of buttermilk solution. This has the same uses of the previous coconut buttermilk solution and arappu buttermilk solution.

Ingredients: Buttermilk 4litiers, tender coconut 1 liter, papaya fruit pulp 250ml, turmeric powder 100 gms, asafetida powder 10 to 50 gms. Any two of the following tender leaves 100to 200 gms each – neem, thulasi, arappu, custard apple, notchi, aloevera and pudina. Cut these leaves into small pieces and mix this in the above solution. Let it ferment for 7 days.