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African Dryland Alliance for Pesticidal Plant Technologies:

A network for optimising and promoting the use of indigenous botanical knowledge for food security and poverty alleviation in Africa

African Dryland Alliance for Pesticidal Plant Technologies

Tagetes minuta (marigold)

Tagetes minuta, known as wild marigold or Mexican marigold, which features slender, green leaves and small, yellow budding flowers at the tip, set against a clear blue sky.

Asteraceae

General

Fact sheet about Tagetes minuta

An introduced garden ornamental, native to Central America, widely planted in public and private gardens. Nowadays it is found as an escape in fields and along riverbanks, even at elevations above 600 m. It is an erect annual herb, branching above, growing up to ca. 90 cm high, rooting at the lower nodes. Leaves usually are alternate, deeply divided with toothed leaflets which are linear-elliptic.

Plant parts with insect-controlling properties

leaves, flowers, seeds, roots, whole plant

Mode of action

repellent, insect-controlling, fungicidal, nematocidal

Target organisms

General grain pests, aphids, bean pod weevil, caterpillars diamondback moth, leaf beetle, leafhoppers grasshoppers

Preparation and application

Collect leaves and seeds of the plant and dry them, then pound them into a powder. Mix 20 litres of grain with 1/4 litre of marigold powder.

Cut fresh marigold plants and place them inside the sotre room about 1 inch thick. Then fill the granary with the grains. On top of these spread another layer of crushed marigold.

Tagetes minuta plant