trap crops to protect your garden from pests

 How to use trap crops to protect your garden from pests

Feel free to take the wisdom to use trap crops in your garden. To understand why this is so important, you only need to introduce the concept first.

Becoming a Nature Gardener can be said to be your ultimate goal.

There are many ways to get there, and none of them will be easy. That is the honest truth. There can be bugs or bad weather in any season, which gives you less than the best harvest, but that doesn’t mean you have to resort to chemicals to “fix” nature.

There is more than one way to garden organically

You can walk with the rotations of the moon, go along the path of the permaculture garden or mix some features of the sub plantings.

Then, you can add a pinch of crop rotation, throw in the ducks' dung for organic pest control, or attract hoverflies and beneficial insects.

And do not forget about the use of cover crops.

You will never find the right way to do it

However, you need to take some steps to avoid damaging the insects.

If you try everything and feel that nothing works, the answer you are looking for maybe trap crops.

The work of trap crops or sacrificial crops, as the name implies. In essence, you plant another vegetable in anticipation of a predator to keep your high-value crops safe.

Most garden pests have a favorite food.

Take flea beetles for example. They adore eggplant, mustard, rocket, radish, horsetail, and more. From season to season it is not always easy to know what they like most.

However, one thing that an avid gardener will notice is that whichever food comes first is the first choice of the pest. Young tender seedlings of beans and spicy greens are their dessert.

The same can be said of tomato hornworms. They will swallow an entire tomato plant in a day. You may be afraid that they will eat the ripe, ripe red tomatoes you have in store for you.

Do not despair, plant a trap crop.

Some naturalists have known this technique for a long time, however, the word did not spread very quickly. Also, the use of trap crops is usually handed over to large farms, not backyard gardeners, so the advice is generally limited.

If you are avoiding the use of harmful chemicals and pesticides in your garden, read on. Your harvest is not only healthy but also natural.

If you have already started to rewild your garden, know that bats, birds and beneficial insects will love you for your kindness to the environment.

If you already know which pests are a problem in your garden, you are off to a great start. Now all you have to do is find the right seeds to sow at the right time.

There are two main ways to use trap crops

1. Plant the same species as a trap crop

On a regular basis, you can plant the same crop that you are trying to protect, earlier than your main crop. As we mentioned, fresh plants are eaten first.

This gives you time to start growing the first crop in your garden and attract anything that wants to eat it. Then you can destroy it (some say chemicals, alas! - instead try a natural soap-based solution) or burn those first crops with pests or throw them in the trash.

If you want to prevent pests from invading your main crop, call it a decomposing plant.

2. Plant different species as a trap crop

Another strategy in trap cultivation is to plant another, more attractive species to attract the bad guys or the undesirable ones.

Depending on the insect, the web can be used to prevent invaders. You can remove pest culprits by hand.

Also, note that you do not need to harvest anything from your trap crop.

With this mindset from the beginning, you will not feel the loss of the harvest. There is only so much leftover in the vegetables that you really want.

The important thing to remember about trap crops is that you do not want to kill everything that comes to eat in your garden.

What you want is to attract beneficial insects that can do the job better than you. Bringing pollinating pests into your garden.

Incorporate a little bit into your planting input Serve and give free rules to nature.

Choosing where to plant your crops can be time-consuming.

I would like to encourage you not to think too much about this and not to plan your garden too much. Because sometimes things can not be avoided without growing properly. For some pests, intercropping of plants is beneficial, while for others, border planting of trap crops works best.

Examples of trap crops

To get its essence, we all know that the potato attracts potato beetles. Bad little things. Plant dansy with your potatoes.

Blue hyacinths can also be used as a trap crop for pumpkin borers, cucumber beetles, and pumpkin pests. This works best when planted around the edge/border of your garden to protect indoor plants.

Plant hot peppers with your sweet peppers to protect them from pepper worms.

Sow beans and other legumes to control leafhoppers, spider mites, and leaf beetles.

Plant gourd greens on the edge of your garden to protect gifted cabbages from cabbage worms and diamondback moths.

You have to sacrifice one crop and reap another.

When it comes, to harvesting large heads of cabbage that will be stored for a long time, you will have to drop the kale.

Once you notice Calley's invasion, it's time to take action to eliminate it. Again, in organic gardening, handpicking works wonders. Yes, it is useful for other parts of the garden but it will take time even if it is not harmful.

How soon will I see the results of the trap harvest?

Successful trap crop in your garden depends on many factors: number of pests, weather and soil conditions, time of planting, etc.

This is not something you can do in your garden.

If you have an infection, chances are good that it will take more than a year to get rid of the annoying pests. However, if you did everything right, you should see results in the first season.

Except for the trap crop, you can not plant a specific crop in one growing season, or two. This way, nature will be restored when you wait and buy the vegetables you want to grow from other farmers or local markets.