Marigolds planted with tomatoes to keep bugs away?

s1rGr1nG0 2/10/2014, 1:09 pm

This year, along with our SFG, we are going to plant some tomatoes in food grade 5 gallon buckets as well. I was reading up on container gardening and it was mentioned to plant Marigolds in with the tomatoes in order to keep bugs away. I was unaware that Marigolds were a deterrent. Anyone know what bugs the Marigolds keep away? Sounds like a good, natural way to limit some pests.

cheyannarach 2/10/2014, 1:49 pm

I plant Marigolds throughout my garden and the only bug problem I have with my tomatoes is flea beetles! We also have much fewer bugs in the North though.

**camprn** 2/10/2014, 2:02 pm

s1rGr1nG0 wrote:This year, along with our SFG, we are going to plant some tomatoes in food grade 5 gallon buckets as well. I was reading up on container gardening and it was mentioned to plant Marigolds in with the tomatoes in order to keep bugs away. I was unaware that Marigolds were a deterrent. Anyone know what bugs the Marigolds keep away? Sounds like a good, natural way to limit some pests.

I think there is not as much truth to this as some would like to believe.
Regarding companion planting, there are reasons to plant in such a way,
1) repellent plants
2) trap Plants
3) beneficial plants

... in any case it doesn't always work and is never the silver bullet that some folks make it out to be.

cheyannarach 2/10/2014, 2:07 pm

I agree with Camprn!! That's why I pointed out I'm in the North (the one plus of the short growing season is the lack of bugs there is in the South) I still plant marigolds in with everything because I like the idea!

Marc Iverson 2/10/2014, 3:36 pm

I had virtually every kind of bug you could think of last year and I planted dozens of marigolds. They, along with my basil, were the very first thing the bugs ate, and the first thing they went back to as I constantly replanted them.

quiltbea 2/10/2014, 3:54 pm

I'm in the North and I plant both marigolds and nasturtiums to deter bugs. I don't know if it works but I don't have much of a bug problem. My downfall is blights on tomatoes mostly. I use light row cover over my cole crops against flea beetles and that works great. Then the grasshoppers come and I've got them everywhere. Ugh.

yolos 2/10/2014, 4:34 pm

Here is a previous thread discussing tomatoes and marigolds. There is also a rookie topic out there somewhere that discusses marigolds.

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t15455p15-tomatoes-and-marigolds

H_TX_2 2/10/2014, 4:36 pm

This is not exactly companion planting related but close enough. I have read in several different places that basil helps to repel mosquitoes. I don't know if it is due to the humming bird size mosquitoes we have or if this is simply a myth but when I go out into the garden during the summer I usually disturb mosquitoes that are sitting under my basil leaves. I would pay 4 times the cost for a basil plant that would repel mosquitoes but the regular basil I have doesn't really have any effect on them.

**walshevak** 2/10/2014, 6:20 pm

I'm in the buggy south and I plant a basil in every bucket of tomatoes. I also spray my tomatoes with an asprin spray during early growth and with copper fungicide to help prevent some blight. Last year I got lucky and had minimum destructive pests on the tomatoes.. Just a boat load of tiny flies that got into the split tomatoes. But they washed right off if I got to them early and the tomatoes were usable. Only the ones I misses got the flies deep into the tomato. I also plant a nasturtium and a marigold in each bed, just cause it might help and they are pretty.

Kay

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Marigolds planted with tomatoes to keep bugs away?

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