Companion Plants that help with pest control..

[GreenGrow Garden Route]

I desided it was time to really test the efectivity of these companion plants with regards to pests..

Chamomile, Sage, Basil and Marigold. I know when planted in the same pot, Marigold can be very beneficial..

Got some seeds and put them in Jiffies..

A few days later and I have a few showing face...

Sooo dam tiny...

[Pants]

I’m also busy with pretty much the same. Mostly for the veggie patch. Those chamomile babies are indeed incredibly small.


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[GreenGrow Garden Route]

Evening growmies.. The companion plants are potted up and well on their way to provide protection for the girls..

[Chris Jay]

I am going to start growing tonnes of chillies in the new year. Pretty, tasty, grow easy and can be used for many things. Actually cant wait to grow chillies, lots of chillies, potent, colourful and delicious. Also look at the weeds in your garden, kakibos is a good plant to keep aphids/fleas away.

[GreenGrow Garden Route]

Morning my fellow green thumbs.. So yet again I burned my fingers with a soil mix I made for these plants and had to repot most as some was burned to a crisp.. I did not expect the mix to be that hot.. 

[GreenGrow Garden Route]

Most survived and is growing nicely.. This is the first time I will be able to actually take the companion plants to maturity.. Exciting time of the season. Enjoy..

[GreenGrow Garden Route]

Evening growmies..

So the companion plants turned into far more than just companion plants.. I have to get my grow space ready to host all these new seedlings and Vegelings..

 

[GreenGrow Garden Route]

So the companion plants are coming along really nicely.. Glad that most survived my hot soil. Curious to see if they really do what is expected and they attract beneficial Insects.. Spotted a new mantis today but I don't think these plants attract them though..

[Pants]

Mantis is my spirit animal. Finding one makes me literally jump for joy.


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[GreenGrow Garden Route]

For some reason they fascinate me... and I'm a bit skittish for them also... Have you seen their fangs...

I always expect them to bite.. When I find them on a plant it is assif I have peace that there will be no pests arround..

[GreenGrow Garden Route]

The companion plants are now outgrowing their pots and I need to Finnish the nethouse and grow box soon.. I have not seen anny beneficial Insects except for the odd Mantiz yet.. I am waiting for some lady bugs to pitch up..

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

you got a lot of bugs there? 

if you don't have "food" for the beneficial bugs they wont come. the reason why some plants deter insects is cause of their smell, like the marigolds you got there

they will deter beneficial bugs too, and if there is no other insects for them that's another reason for them to not pitch. 

they don't just come to hang around, they always looking for food. 

I had a big artemisia afra plant in the garden and those are well know for attracting little mites and aphids. lady bugs came in abundance and a whole bunch of other beneficial bugs. 

[GreenGrow Garden Route]

True that... I might not have enough food for them... a good thing then.. I don't want any aphids or mites at the moment..

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

hahah yea best not to have them around at all, but if you wana see some happy critters going around maybe try building an insect hotel? you heard of those? basically a pile of scraps that you pack to look nice, like a little hotel, and some small perennial flowers to attract pollinators. 

few ideas, you can build them small, but takes longer for the hotel to become known

you can build them quite big obviously, this first big one can be seen at Babylonstoren here in Franschoek. 

might actually build myself one soon, but I also said this a while ago, still nothing 

[GreenGrow Garden Route]

Damn.. this is a first.. Thnx for sharing.. Quite cool...

[Nope]

I don't think it is wise to encourage pests just so you can have more beneficial insects... What are your goals, quality pest damage free outdoor or a insect battlefield?  

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

nah bro,

I've seen these in action, they're housed with predatory insects such as spiders and mantis dudes, they'll make extra sure there's no pests in your garden lol

you not attracting unwanted insects. that's what the plants already do by themself, if we like it or not. 

big idea behind it is to create a symbiote and minimize the pestecides and shit we spray outdoors, that harms beneficial bugs in a lot of cases.

this is a win win win mybru, just if you can't make it look real nice you gona have a lump of a sore eye in the garden, that's bout it. 

[Nope]

I'm feeling what you're dealing, but still seems a little backwards to me. I've never done an outdoor run so please take my comments as from someone with zero idea.  

[ORGANinc.]

23 minutes ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

nah bro,

I've seen these in action, they're housed with predatory insects such as spiders and mantis dudes, they'll make extra sure there's no pests in your garden lol

you not attracting unwanted insects. that's what the plants already do by themself, if we like it or not. 

big idea behind it is to create a symbiote and minimize the pestecides and shit we spray outdoors, that harms beneficial bugs in a lot of cases.

this is a win win win mybru, just if you can't make it look real nice you gona have a lump of a sore eye in the garden, that's bout it. 

Howzit bru, 

Okay I must jump in and comment here, the prevalence of many deferent parasites, pests and diseases are closely related, if not directly related to plant health and finally production of secondary metabolites, lipids and fats. All of these things ... flavonoids, terpenoids oils and waxy layers on the surfaces of the plant tissue will dictate the palatability relative to the consuming organism.

Some people believe that plants are just sometimes susceptible to certain pests regardless of the health of the plant. First off, its hard not to see it that way, because some plants just look healthy and get attacked anyway. Looking at the back end of things and not just on the surface, is that plant really healthy and happy? This connects closely to holistic nutrition. Are there any excesses or deficiencies? Are there any missing gaps? There are 118 elements they focus on in chemistry, they can make plant growth in excess with less than 17.
Plants most certainly have very effective defense mechanisms - recent studies suggest, but are all the enzyme co-factors available to kick that switch into gear? Not only that, are there also any imbalances that might also interfere with the highly complex domino effect of these enzymes, many of the time not. Here is a key example, Plants convert nitrate to ammonia and ammonia to various amino acids that it then uses those amino acids to build proteins. The first step should be completed in less that 24hr give or take, So if excess nitrates are left over, they are stored in the vacuoles waiting to be moved through the system, apparently aphids love nitrates. 

Regarding the addition of bugs in the system to counter the bad bugs, this is possible, however very much swinging in the dark. Also adding a few more layers of potential complication. Microbial life from bacteria through to the macro arthropods and worms are very selective regarding the environment they choose to make home - if there is enough food, a suitable environment and little competition they will appear or disappear.     

 

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

yeah.

that's some in depth thinking

before anything, the idea of an insect hotel is not to get more insects onto your plants. it is to invite predetors that help keep unwanteds away! that is the whole point.

if you worried about each individual plant, you can grab a refractometer, squeeze a drop out a leaf, get a % reading of how healthy your plants is. low % they will be palatable for most unwanted critters. high % they will be unfavourable. 

however, adding a insect hotel to your garden will not cause more harm than good, if this is what you're trying to say. 

overall, an insect hotel doesn't mean you gona have more aphids in your garden, in turn you'll have more spiders who will eat aphids. (just a broad example)

if you worry about inviting unwanted live ones you can carry on with organic pest deterant, such as Neem, that will not disrupt any of your gardens symbiote. all it does is increases the plants % on the refractometer and giving the plant a better chance to fight for itself. (by focussing on all those things you went into depth about)

also, keeping a healthy garden, like you said. 

I just don't think that was a problem here hahaha I just think the dude wanted to see some live stock patrolling his plants. 

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

I understand exactly what you saying, but doesn't seem like @GreenGrow Garden Route had a problematic garden here...

he even said there's no insects.

 

[ORGANinc.]

2 hours ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

nah bro,

I've seen these in action, they're housed with predatory insects such as spiders and mantis dudes, they'll make extra sure there's no pests in your garden lol

you not attracting unwanted insects. that's what the plants already do by themself, if we like it or not. 

big idea behind it is to create a symbiote and minimize the pestecides and shit we spray outdoors, that harms beneficial bugs in a lot of cases.

this is a win win win mybru, just if you can't make it look real nice you gona have a lump of a sore eye in the garden, that's bout it. 

Oh no I’m referring to your specific comment about plants attracting unwanted bugs, only scenario I see that being possibly is if the plant is sending out those stressed signals. Well documented phenomenon. This is all. 

Otherwise, healthy plants attract beneficials. 

[ORGANinc.]

36 minutes ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

yeah.

that's some in depth thinking

before anything, the idea of an insect hotel is not to get more insects onto your plants. it is to invite predetors that help keep unwanteds away! that is the whole point.

if you worried about each individual plant, you can grab a refractometer, squeeze a drop out a leaf, get a % reading of how healthy your plants is. low % they will be palatable for most unwanted critters. high % they will be unfavourable. 

however, adding a insect hotel to your garden will not cause more harm than good, if this is what you're trying to say. 

overall, an insect hotel doesn't mean you gona have more aphids in your garden, in turn you'll have more spiders who will eat aphids. (just a broad example)

if you worry about inviting unwanted live ones you can carry on with organic pest deterant, such as Neem, that will not disrupt any of your gardens symbiote. all it does is increases the plants % on the refractometer and giving the plant a better chance to fight for itself. (by focussing on all those things you went into depth about)

also, keeping a healthy garden, like you said. 

I just don't think that was a problem here hahaha I just think the dude wanted to see some live stock patrolling his plants. 

Quite right, plants with a brix of higher than 13/14 seldom have problems. 

Bees don't waste their energy on plants lower than 6/7, so it goes to show 

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

10 minutes ago, ORGANinc. said:

Oh no I’m referring to your specific comment about plants attracting unwanted bugs, only scenario I see that being possibly is if the plant is sending out those stressed signals. Well documented phenomenon. This is all. 

Otherwise, healthy plants attract beneficials. 

I see what you saying.

but what I meant by "if we like it or not" I kinda refer to the thing you mentioned that bugs can be attracted to even healthy plants. and we obviously always aim for a healthy garden, but nonetheless still end up with unhealthy plants. you can be top of your game and still get a bad clone / seed or just send a full happy healthy plant down the poopshoot cause you do one thing with a certain intent only to have it blow up in your face. in the name of science ofcourse, soooo kinda "if we like it or not" hahah but yeah plant health plays a drastic role in it's favourability to pests and diseases, no doubt about that.

I am pretty sure that's a thing with all species, though, across the board. 

even with us humans

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

sorry, not sure if that's what you meant by this here...

1 hour ago, ORGANinc. said:

Some people believe that plants are just sometimes susceptible to certain pests regardless of the health of the plant. First off, its hard not to see it that way, because some plants just look healthy and get attacked anyway. Looking at the back end of things and not just on the surface, is that plant really healthy and happy? 

even if you plan on having a healthy garden, it doesn't always work out that way