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Dr. Susie Legaspi at the FAMU CBC satellite lab in Tallahassee
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USDA Agricultural Research Service
People generally don’t go out of their way to attract
insects. But on a few small farms outside Tallahassee, Florida, that’s
precisely what some growers are doing—with guidance from scientists from U.S. Department
of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Florida A&M
University (FAMU).
Through the scientists’ field demonstrations and technical
presentations, the growers are learning how to pair their crops with “companion
plants.” Some of these, like sweet alyssum, a flowering annual, attract and
bolster populations of beneficial insects that prey on costly crop pests. Other
plants, like giant red mustard, repel the pests and “push” them away from the
main crop. Then, there are so-called “trap crops.”
“These are companion crops you can plant next to the main
crop to lure pests away to where it can be controlled with pesticides,
biocontrol agents, or other means,” explains ARS entomologist Susie Legaspi in
Gainesville, FL. Legaspi co-directs FAMU’s Center for Biological Control (CBC)
in Tallahassee.
Companion cropping and biocontrol are complementary facets of an integrated pest management (IPM) approach that’s become increasingly popular among the Tallahassee region’s community of organic growers and sustainable farmers, many of whom market their produce directly to local chefs and farmers markets.
Legaspi and her colleagues have been demonstrating IPM
principles to growers, home and urban gardeners, students, and other interested
parties since 2008. Among such groups is the Red Hills Small Farm Alliance.
Some Alliance members have begun using flowering plants like sweet alyssum and
buckwheat to bolster hoverfly numbers following their release to biologically
control whiteflies and aphids in vulnerable crops like collards, tomato, salad
greens, melon, and cantaloupe.
Companion plants are especially attractive to adult
hoverflies, which feed on nectar. More adults, in turn, mean more larvae, which
are the predators that feed on pests in the main crop.
Besides the Red Hills group, similar projects involving
spined soldier bug releases have also begun at Turkey Hill Farm in Tallahassee
and Crescent Moon Farm in Sopchoppy, FL. Data resulting from growers’ trials of
companion cropping will also be used to assess cost-effectiveness and impact on
pest populations.
Pest control isn’t the only potential gain, though.
Companion plants can shelter shade-loving crops from direct sunlight, provide
structural support (think beans on corn stalks), suppress weeds, and share
nutrients in the form of nitrogen-fixing root bacteria and organic matter.
At the end of the day, it’s a buddy system worth
encouraging.