Saturday, July 5, 2014

Decoy companion plants

One organic way to deal with pests is companion planting.  In some cases, a decoy plant which is very attractive to the pest is planted to protect other plants.  I have noticed a couple of instances where this works for me (even though it happened unintentionally).
Here you see my muscadines on the left are about 8 ft. or so from the chain link fence on the right on which a Virginia creeper has volunteered.  (Incidentally, one magazine I read said that because of the way a Virginia creeper attaches itself, a chain link fence will be difficult for a Virginia creeper to grow on.  Guess my vine forgot to read that magazine.)
 
As you can see from this picture, the Japanese beetles have made mincemeat of the leaves of the Virginia creeper.
 
The upside is that the beetles like the Virginia creeper vine so well, they mostly leave the muscadine alone.

 
Of course, this works for me because I don't mind damage to the Virginia creeper vine that just volunteered along the fence.
 
 
Another decoy is the wild cherry.  The birds seem to prefer them to the blueberries.  That works for me too.
 
Have you had any successes with companion plants?


1 comment:

  1. One day I might be able to put this education to work. I have never heard of companion plants, but it does make sense. I cannot imagine any creature preferring the wild cherry to the BB. LOL

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