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Old July 10, 2014   #1
drew51
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Default Does borage really make tomatoes taste better?

This year I added many flowers to attract beneficial insects. Borage was one, and I must say it seems to be a bee magnet! Attracting more bees than any other flower. Impressive! I read it enhances tomatoes flavor. So I planted them next to my tomatoes. Huge plants came up from seed. Not very ornamental but the bees are in love with it. I best collect seeds from tomatoes pollinated before it flowered as now that are all over the place!
Anyway I was wondering if any evidence it does enhance tomato flavor?
Any thoughts?
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Old July 11, 2014   #2
Lorri D
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I planted it between my tomatoes as a companion plant to help with bad bugs. I noticed no difference in flavor. I don't know how big your plants are, but when they get over 2 feet tall, the spines can really begin to hurt. Like tiny glass needles if you get stuck.

I decided they weren't a good companion plant for tomatoes, because I noticed no difference with them at all and they are about the same height and width as my tomatoes for many weeks of the growing season. They all got really crowded and competed with sun, water and blocked air circulation.

I do like the plant though, in a quiet less traveled part of the garden. I mainly use it for a bee attractant. It will self-sow in great supply, but is easily weeded. Lorri D
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Old July 11, 2014   #3
drew51
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Thanks for the input. Yeah I gave it room, and my tomato plants are way ahead of it. They are about 4 to 6 feet tall already. I removed some branches around a ground cherry, as the borage was crowding it, and a pepper plant too, but they seem to not be able to compete against the tomato plants, staying small. I wanted it mostly to attract bees. I grow a number of male and female plants that need the bees. Or plants that need cross pollination from a different cultivar. Like Musk strawberries, kiwi, Pluots, blueberries, etc. Most peach trees are self fertile, but I have one that is not (Indian Free).
So I need to get the bees here early, and it has worked very well. No pollination problems this year.
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Old July 11, 2014   #4
nicky
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This is my first year planting borage with my tomatoes. I have found that borage acts as a kind of living mulch under my tomatoes, keeping the ground moist & preventing soil splashing up on the plants during rain. I am hoping that this leads to less leaf spot.
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Old July 11, 2014   #5
carolyn137
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Quite a few years ago I planted both the usual blue as well as white borage between some varieties I knew well, and had those same varieties in a different row as controls and saw no difference in taste at all.

THink about it? In order to improve the taste of fruits on a tomato plant the borage plant would have to release something from the roots that would haveto travel to the adjacent tomato roots and be taken up by them.

No way, since enzymes and normal soil flora/fauna would destroy whatever it might be. At least that's the way I see it.

Some might say that b/c of the increased bee activity around the borage plants that there would be increased pollination of tomato blossoms, there might be, but since most tomato blossoms self pollinize and since more complete pollination leads primarily to possible increased fruit size, I think not.

I did quite a bit of companion planting years ago, and I know some who swear by it, but when I ask they haven't done controls in the same season,

Ah well, whatever.

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Old July 11, 2014   #6
PaulF
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Tried the same thing with basil several years ago and even did a control. No difference that we could tell, but that is all subjective. The real taste difference was when we mixed basil and tomatoes together on the plate. With basil was a nice treat.
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Old July 11, 2014   #7
lavanta
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According to this link http://www.aces.edu/counties/Limesto...companions.htm it helps repel tomato worm.
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Old July 11, 2014   #8
jmsieglaff
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I planted it once and haven't had to replant seeds and probably never will and that's with letting one or two plants grow each year. I enjoy munching on the flowers when out in the garden and they do attract a lot of bees, which I like for my squash and cukes. I do think plants are good for attracting certain insects, probably some level of repellant of others, beyond that I doubt it.
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Old July 11, 2014   #9
drew51
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I agree for me insects are needed since I grow as mentioned many fruits that need help! Male musk strawberry pollen needs a way to get the the female plant and last year with no males, I had no strawberries. this year I'm loaded, and they are very different from regular strawberries. Super intense flavor, some do not like it.

As far as changing taste it doesn't have to add say an enzyme, it could say take an enormous amount of sulfur out of the soil. Think Vidalia onions...

I think the idea of many different plants is a good one. I will keep adding more flowers every year. Some for my own pleasure. My whole yard (actually the whole street) smells like the Caribbean thanks to night blooming jasmine. The most powerful scented flower in the world.
maybe some are happy just growing fruit, but I want a garden, a flower garden, an edible landscape of things.
My house is full of plants too, so no doubt the amount of oxygen in my house is more than outside. It's good to feed one's brain. See you at the oxygen bar!

The amount of insects one can attract is enormous.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organ...#axzz37BW4Jtnl

http://www.farmerfred.com/plants_tha...ct_benefi.html

http://www.midwestgardentips.com/att...l_insects.html

http://www.dianeseeds.com/flowers/be...l-insects.html

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Old July 11, 2014   #10
carolyn137
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lavanta View Post
According to this link http://www.aces.edu/counties/Limesto...companions.htm it helps repel tomato worm.
That's the kind of Companion chart I've seen many times.

Note it said to plant marigolds near tomatoes, and here's a Google link that has many links that indicate that except for Tagetes marigolds for nematode control, the problem is that marigolds also attract spider mites.

I do know the hornworm life cycle and the moth involved and I'm not sure I understand how companion planting can deter hornworms,so hopefully someone here can contribute some documentation on that with some data and controls.

And to be honest,what I find lacking in books and articles and websites about companion planting is data and controls to document the suggestions

Lots of good reading in this link:

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...d+spider+mites

Carolyn, but who also says if some are convinced that companion planting works for them where they garden then keep doing it.
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Old July 11, 2014   #11
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My wife plants oregano in and around cucumbers and squash to repel squash bugs. Seems to work. Next I think I will plant oregano as a cover crop along with pumpkins, gourds and melons just to see what happens.
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Old July 13, 2014   #12
drew51
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I guess I would be one who thinks it works. I see so many more bees now that I have companion plants. You can hear them so many are in my yard. I don't need a study, seeing is believing. I see these bees all over all my fruits. never seen this before, not at this level. I have no doubt it works. Don Shorr is a very cool, educated gardener. I listen to his radio show all the time. I trust his research. I'm sure he gathered the info from very reliable sources.
He recently wrote an article on companion planting.
http://redwoodbarn.blogspot.com/



Many studies are on the internet. i have looked though the various search engines on these sites for specific articles. I have no desire to do so with this subject as my own obsevations are enough for me.

Many of the sites require you buy the research. For example numerous articles and studies on companion planting are on sciencedirect.com, but I'm certainly not going to purchase them. If you search for companion planting 69 pages with 25 articles on each page come up. So again thousands fo studies that show it works are out there.
Microsoft academic reseach does have hundreds of studies on companion planting, and most are free. But I have no desire to wade through the hundreds and hundreds of extremely dry academic documents.
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Old July 14, 2014   #13
peppero
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At the very least companion planting makes for varied comments on T'ville.as well as variety in the garden.

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