Beneficial Insect Attractants
If you are growing using organic practices, or applying IPM, then beneficial insects are important to you. Unfortunately, many of them are so tiny you cannot see them just walking around (let alone from the tractor seat). I have often wished that they were neon color coded so I could do a quick inventory, or that they sent a text when they were around, --"just checking in"-- or --"need more pollen please"--.
The easiest method I find is to assume that if you build it, they will come. And if you build them a really amazing beach resort, they will stay. Your farm is already teaming with them, now you just need them to be in the right place with enough bug-power at the right time.
Enter:
Beneficial Insect Attractants (aka certain plants)
A lot of the predatory bugs need a supply of pollen to reproduce and build their numbers. The easiest way to not let your population have a setback is to plant some pollen laden plants in the vicinity, and make it a constantly available pollen buffet.
Certain bugs will migrate far distances, some not so far, and you can help control where your bugs are by where you plant. Here are a few of the thousands of different ways you can incorporate beneficial insect attractants efficiently into your farm:
Phacelia and Sweet Allysum- the power hitters:
These plants are versatile- both pollinators and predators are big fans of their pollen.
Phacelia is a tall ferny plant with a succulent stem, and long-blooming purple flowers.
When: Plant in the spring and summer, 2 successions will give you all the blooms you need.
How: Plant a little lighter than salad mix, about 2-3 seeds per inch for a thick row. This 'hedge' will be about 3' tall and 2' wide, so think about shade and what access you will need when.
Where: Between brussels sprouts rows is a good start, maybe every 4 to 6 row gets a row of Phacelia? If you transplant your brussels sprouts in late May, go ahead and direct seed the Phacelia then or up to a month later. With the benefit of irrigation on the B. sprouts, they should still be pumping the flowers for the predatory wasps when those pesky aphids are being destructive.
Another suggested spot would be a broadcast after last cultivation in your winter squash and pumpkins, to bring in the pollinators (especially bumble bees) and increase your fruit set.
Something to think about- this plant will call in pollinators from all over your farm, especially the further traveling type, so make sure to plant phacelia or have equally enticing pollen vectors for those bees and wasps wherever/whenever you need some pollinating service. Try some against a back wall in your tomato greenhouse!
BONUS: Phacelia makes a great long lasting cut flower. Winter kills, and can re-seed but is not a bothersome weed.
Sweet Alyssum is a bushy plant with tons of small white flowers that will bloom all season.
When: Plant in the spring and summer.
How: Direct seed just like salad mix or baby leaf lettuce- a dense thin band is the easiest to keep clean. Broadcasting into a summer cover crop or as an understory works also.
Where: Rows among crops is a good idea whenever possible. However, alyssum is a tough plant that can take some abuse. This year we experimented with planting a line down the middle of a loose dirt field road, which was driven down by a pickup truck multiple times a day. It looked fine and it is a great way to not lose any valuable land to a non-harvestable planting. Letting the irrigation hit it once or twice in the season will keep it going.
Buckwheat is another great attractant, and a summer cover crop adjacent to some crop land is a good habitat. If you can let your fall sown
Crimson Clover stand long enough to flower in May and June, that will be a big draw for pollinators. These are just some of the basic ones, there are lots of information sources online for specific insect draws.
A few other ideas to experiment with:
Cilantro understory for corn: broadcast and cultivate in once the corn is at least 1 foot high. For aphid control.
Letting herbs like
Dill and
Parsley stay as flowering plants after they have bolted.
Any of the above as space fillers where crops do not reach the end of the row.
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