types of plants to prevent bugs in the garden?

mothergoose

mothergoose

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are their certain plants that are proven to prevent certain bugs on the garden or for certain plants? If so, could you list what ones and what they do for the garden? Maybe how many in ratio to # of garden plants that need to be planted to be effective?

I have heard petunias, marigolds - not sure what they do for it?

Borage for tomato hornworm?

Interesting if it works?
Thanks,
Christie :)
 
Christie, I don't know a lot about these things but I've got 1 or 2 ideas.

Some plants attract bugs that are beneficial. You didn't ask about that group.

One thing, a MIX of plants discourages pests from creating a population explosion and devastating a crop. If they can't go from plant-to-plant-to-plant . . . and eat on them all -- they may not be able to cause as much harm.

I'm going to go a little astray, and I hope you don't mind. This idea that you can plant something that a pest really likes and they will eat that while leaving your valued plants alone -- see, that doesn't quite fit with this mixing of plants to avoid problems idea. I don't want to be a "friend" of pests! I don't want to do anything that helps them to reproduce in huge numbers right beside my garden!! I want them gone!

The Colorado potato beetle really, really likes to eat nightshade. Okay, that's good. Nightshade is a weed. Maybe we should grow nightshade somewhere so the potato beetle eats that and leaves our potatoes and tomatoes and eggplants alone. The problem is that, the beetles will NOT leave our garden plants alone. After it shreds most of the nightshade, it moves on to our potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplants.

Okay, back on track -- marigolds are supposed to be effective in repelling some root nematodes. These nematodes cause lots of damage to plants and can weaken them terribly. One problem is that these pests chew on all sorts of plants and not just the ones we want to grow in our gardens. So, nematodes may be out there everywhere in great numbers.

There are a few things they will not chew on; one of those is marigolds. I understand that it is effective especially to grow lots of marigolds in a garden bed, say, then - turn over those plants into the soil and grow something else. The nematodes won't be in that ground and won't be able to attack whatever you have planted next.

There are several other things you can grow that can suppress nematodes. Here's a list from Alabama Cooperative Extension. It includes marigold varieties that have been found to be effective.

Steve
 
Thank you Steve. I was pretty vauge. I want the good bugs, and would like to do my best to prevent the bad bugs. I definetly do not want to purposly attract any, I like the idea of plants that repel.

Are there any plants for attracting good bugs that you would reccomend as well?

Thanks,
Christie :bee
 
Honestly my impression is that most of the elaborate companion-planting schemes w/r/t insects are much more effective in the gardener's mind than in the garden ;)

That said, I believe I've read that there is some evidence that garlic does help mildly repel various pests, among veggies and flowers and roses alike. And there is the whole marigold thing for nematodes.

The best two things I know of for minimizing "bad" insects in the garden are 1) don't plant in big blocks, intersperse your plants as much as possible as Steve says (with other veggies, or even with flowers); and 2) make your soil as excellent as possible, and water as properly as possible, to make the plants as healthy as possible, as it is well documented that insect pests are both more-apt to attack stressed plants AND do more damage on those.

There may be some benefit to encouraging 'beneficial' insects around the garden; the simplest thing is to provide a variety of flowers, especially things of the family Umbelliferae (dill, fennel, queen anne's lace, etc), the family Compositae (daisies, sunflowers, etc) and things from the mint family (mints, bee-balm, etc)

Good lcuk, have fun,

Pat
 
For what it is worth, here is something that lists a lot of companion plants.

Companion Planting
http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

I agree with Digits and Pat. I have had limited success using companion planting, but I'll admit I have not experimented vigorously. I do scatter marigolds throughout the garden and will continue to do so, but I get other benefits from that. The chickens really like the marigold plants, flowers,a nd seedpods and I think they are pretty, especially in the fall when most of the rest of the plants are gone. I have not noticed any difference in bug population or growth in the plants next to the companions compared to the ones further away. Like Digits said, planting something to cause a pest explosion just seems wrong. Sometimes the companions crowd out the crop I'm trying to grow, competing for garden space. To me, that can negate what few beneficial effects there are. I especially like Pat's phrase about the gardener's mind. In my opinion, that is true about a lot of things.

I will perform an experiment this year. I am always willing to try things to see if they will help. I have a huge problem with squash bugs. Not squash borers but squash bugs. I'm starting lots of nasturtiums from seed this year, so I can have vigorous nasturtiums to set out when I sow my winter and summer squash seeds. I tried planting nasturtium seeds with the squash seeds last year and that did not work. Poor germination and extremely poor growth of the few that did germinate from direct sowing.
 
Ridgerunner said:
For what it is worth, here is something that lists a lot of companion plants.

Companion Planting
http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

I agree with Digits and Pat. I have had limited success using companion planting, but I'll admit I have not experimented vigorously. I do scatter marigolds throughout the garden and will continue to do so, but I get other benefits from that. The chickens really like the marigold plants, flowers,a nd seedpods and I think they are pretty, especially in the fall when most of the rest of the plants are gone. I have not noticed any difference in bug population or growth in the plants next to the companions compared to the ones further away. Like Digits said, planting something to cause a pest explosion just seems wrong. Sometimes the companions crowd out the crop I'm trying to grow, competing for garden space. To me, that can negate what few beneficial effects there are. I especially like Pat's phrase about the gardener's mind. In my opinion, that is true about a lot of things.

I will perform an experiment this year. I am always willing to try things to see if they will help. I have a huge problem with squash bugs. Not squash borers but squash bugs. I'm starting lots of nasturtiums from seed this year, so I can have vigorous nasturtiums to set out when I sow my winter and summer squash seeds. I tried planting nasturtium seeds with the squash seeds last year and that did not work. Poor germination and extremely poor growth of the few that did germinate from direct sowing.
Click to expand...
Very good link!

I have had some success with companion planting, but I think some are just too unpredictable. And no matter how much you plant and think you have it under control, you'll have to worry about disease still.

Bugs weren't my issue last year, I had them... but not where they were in mass and couldn't handle by hand. I used marigold, calendula, radishes, petunias, and some strong herbs.

Lets just say, butterflies didn't care so much and laid eggs on all my parsley where I was able to collect 100's of caterpillars last year.

Even after all that planning I still got Downy Mildew and Early Blight! Boooooooooo

So now I keep Neem Oil on hand for my trees, roses and the plants more likely to get disease or bug attacks.
 
patandchickens said:
. . . There may be some benefit to encouraging 'beneficial' insects around the garden; the simplest thing is to provide a variety of flowers, especially things of the family Umbelliferae (dill, fennel, queen anne's lace, etc), the family Compositae (daisies, sunflowers, etc) and things from the mint family (mints, bee-balm, etc) . . .
Click to expand...
Family Umbelliferae for me has been wild carrot that grows near my big veggie garden. I once grew sweet fennel and recommend it for attracting bees. It attacks yellow jackets also and those critters can carry off your cabbage worms ;).

Mint family anise hyssop reseeds itself darn well out amongst the veggies. The bees love it :)! And, so do I, especially mixed about 50:50 with lemon verbena and brewed to a nice cup of herb tea :P!

Steve
 
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