General information and discussion about cultivating fruit-bearing plants, trees, flowers and ornamental plants.
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#1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Collierville TN
Posts: 106
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I plant Marigolds around a lot of my plants to help control insects. I found one today laying over and cut off at ground level. When I picked it up and looked at the end of the stem there were 4 or 5 termite looking creatures about the diameter of a toothpick and about a quarter inch long chewing on the stem. They are off white with dark marks on or in its abdomen. Anyone have an idea about what they are?
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I'm two days older than dirt and I like to play in it. |
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#2 | ||
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Texas
Posts: 3,027
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![]() Quote:
The whole marigold/tomato companion planting thing is an old urban gardening myth mostly based on two things: (1) The smell. Some folks think the pungent smell translates to yukky for bugs. Doesn't work that way. ![]() (2) Potential for supression of nematodes. First off (in Tn), you probably don't have nematodes, so it's a non issue anyway. But marigolds are really of limited effectiveness in this regard, *and* they have to be tilled in to have any effect. As for spider mites, I've seen them skeletonize the foliage on a marigold plant to the point of killing it many a time. And no (in my experience), they do not 'draw' the bugs away from the tomatoes, they sure do attact them to the area, though. Quote:
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