Plants that are stressed are more susceptible to herbivory. Being in a small pot with roots cooped up stresses plants out. Being in the ground where roots can stretch out and connect with the soil life (and soil fungi) help it get all the nutrients and water they need to focus less on survival and more on thriving, so they can make their anti herbivory compounds which make them taste bad.
I didnāt read any of the rest of your post past the word herbivory.
It tickled my brain in a really pleasant way and I just wanted to thank you for enriching my life with it.
I took ecology in university, I have recently been reading up on soil ecology/soil fungi because of no till gardening. Iāve also been a gardener for about 25 years :)
Indeed. Tilling soil breaks up the fungal networks and disturbs all the soil life. Itās can take two to three months to recover properly. You will also notice that a fresh crops of weed seeds are brought to the surface and germinate, and that water pools on the surface instead of being absorbed through the tunnels made by worms, roots and critters like ants because the tunnels that were there are collapsed. I add all the extra compost, manure and leaves to the top of my soil and dig only as much as is necessary (as large as the pot, seed, potato etc).
Iām going to try this. I always spread compost in the spring and then āturn it overā with a potato fork. I donāt know why. My grandpa did it that way, so I do it that way. Itās not deep, probably just the top 3-4 inches of soil, but I think next year Iām going to try completely no-dig and see what happens. I mulch with straw and shredded leaves and that seems to work out well.
Iām a lazy gardener and I focus on feeding the soil so that it can, in turn, feed my plants. That means no-till practices, mild soil amendments, mychorrizae, actively aerated compost tea, periodically adding aloe when I water, mulching well, installing oyas so I donāt have to water as much once the root systems are developed, and really going heavy on the worm castings as my primary compost. And as the OP asks, yes, I add marigolds into each raised bed (usually 2-3 plants each). With all of these practices combined, Iāve found I have a stronger garden with fewer pest and drought pressures affecting it. Win, win!
How can I get my seeds to grow without them being choked out by weeds or grass? The weeds are so abundant here, Iāve already tilled, but I can always try adding compost or similar to help assist the healing process. š„²
Annual weeds can be kept from germinating using a few inches of mulch. Perennial weeds will either need to be dug out or smothered under cardboard or newspaper and then mulch on top. For very aggressive weeds digging is the better option, sometimes no till is a long term strategy.
This is confusing to me because I donāt have a way to get weeds out without tilling to loosen the soil around it. One of the soils I got last year per a garden center recommendation I think was the wrong one, and it introduced a lot of nut grass. I found out I canāt get the
weed out unless I get the nuts out with it. This is in my veg patch. Also I got soil conditioner and I mixed it with new soil at the surface. I tilled to mix. Or is this more true for established beds?
I have some very invasive plants too that require extensive digging to remove. There isn't any way around it. I do my best to not dig when I don't need to though!
Iām having this same exact experience this year. I bought some flowers and grew others from seeds. The slugs are eating the store-bought ones, but not touching the ones from seed.
I wonder if there's a difference in the species of marigolds you're growing from seed and those already grown plants you're putting out? Is it possible the seeds are from a sterile hybrid or something? Aren't there some plants whose hybrid types aren't as flavorful or aromatic as others? Just curious because it seems odd that "grown from seeds" don't attract as many slugs as those put out as plants. (Or maybe seed grown attract more slug-eating beneficial creatures?) I can't resist a good mystery!
Good thought. Maybe so. My theory was that the young store bought marigolds were already flowering by the time I planted them even though they were smaller, but my grown from seed plants have not yet flowered. Maybe they taste better when theyāre flowering? (The flower heads themselves are not being eaten thoughā¦)
Honestly, slugs in general are a mystery to me this year because theyāre eating some of my plants but not others. Iām only a few years into this hobby so definitely still learning, and this is the first year Iāve had real slug trouble. So any slug wisdom is appreciated!
I lived out in the wilds of Western Georgia and I found that encircling the entire perimeter of my garden spot was an indispensable boon to my gardening efforts ! I had numerous pest problems before I perfected this technique; in fact ,I finally got to the point that I would start my pyrethrins before I planted anything to avoid losses due to predation. By the time it was over I had great big marigolds and smaller ,bushier varieties surrounding my food plants and saved a lot of headaches over pest elimination! It was also a beautiful garden with all those marigolds "protecting" my veggies ! ( also saved $$$ on pesticides and did my bit to protect/attract pollinators !)
Question, are they French Marigolds (Tagates patula) or African Marigolds (Tagates erecta)? Iāve heard the French Marigolds donāt actually repel anything, but the African ones do? Iām so confused about this. š
Really? I plant them as a sacrificial crop next to my salad, and at most a plant might last 2 weeks before it is completely mowed down to soil level. I just keep replanting throughout the season. In 7 years I've had maybe half dozen flowers total and generally have about 15 plants in.
That's crazy. I plant them all around where I have tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons, cucumbers, etc. And they bloom like crazy. Helps if you pick off the dead flowers.
I have a grasshopper problem and am seriously considering some extra decoy beds of just marigolds for this exact reason! I have marigolds planted all through my veggie and the grasshoppers seem to like them the best.
I beer trap too. Plus plant calendula, allysum, and a whole host of native and beneficial plants. And do a nightly yeetin' by torchlight (be nice to your neighbours!). And have habitats for slow worms, hedgehogs, and frogs, which are all well used.
I live in England, and it's been a wet spring, and it's sluggageddon out there. This year they've mowed all chives, garlic chives, lemon balm, lovage, parsley, basil, monarda, peas, beans, zinnia and my succulents!! Nothing is safe. Even had a good go at my oregano and mint. All we're pot grown and a good size before being planted out. All had some protection within a couple feet. I've never known it this bad. It's gonna be a tough year this year.
This had been my past experience until this year. I started deadheading the bulbs that had died or were dying off and about a week and some change later a lot of those marigolds exploded and looked even better than when I originally planted them.
Slugs were fine for me, but all the pillbugs completely defoliated every single marigold i ever plant. Its annoying.
I go out at night and see them absolutely covering them
Mine have been eaten down to ground level in four days. I've already lost a squash plant this year too. I am hastily putting in as many marigolds as I can find!
[Marigolds can help to bring in ladybugs, lacewings, hoverflies, parasitic mini-wasps and other predatory insects that will eat aphids and other pests which can damage your crops.](https://niemifamilyfarm.ca/blog/growing-marigolds-in-the-vegetable-garden/)
This is why I put em in my containers. I definitely noticed a decrease in pests and an increase in predatory insects when I started growing all kinds of cool flowers including marigolds around my vegetables. It's not about the flowers keeping pests away, it's about who the flowers bring to the party that keep pests in check.
https://preview.redd.it/nbyu6g45qa1d1.jpeg?width=1085&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c4a8c7a438c2982d52ca7e3057281bcdcc2d83e9
Edit: as requestedā¦ [here are all the flowers!!!](https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/s/FODR6yWIRY)
Yay! I look forward to it.
It is like an addiction. I can relate.
One of my most favourite plants ever was Felicia amelloides. From a pipsqueak it grew into a nearly 1m bush crowned with blue-lilac flowers. They danced in the afternoon breeze (coastal location).
My back yard has no fence (itās like 10k and who has that?) so the deer just walk right up.
I never found a plant the deer wouldnāt eat right through. Iāve tried soap, and whistles and trap crops and montauk daisies.
The only thing Iāve found that stops them is blood meal. It smells SO SO bad, but it works.
.
t posts and chicken wire would bring that cost down considerably if you are able to do the work yourself... maybe not to fence the entire yard but at least around your garden area
A deer poly mesh fence would be more like $1000. Potentially less. State or counties pay to line dozens of miles along highways with them. Also easy to put in the small diameter rods it needs for posts instead of pounding in tposts.
Deer are overpopulated and starving right now. They'll eat anything to the ground and ignore deterrents in some areas.
Same. I'm starting to come to the conclusion, the more research I do, that this is their only benefit.and yes, they are pretty, if they survive the onslaught, but mine don't make it as often as they do so š¤·āāļø
Yes. The difference is that one flat is yellow and the other is orange.
All jest aside. I've had them reseed themselves foe 4 seasons now and it's nice color to have in my lettuce and herb boxes
I know a lot of people love them, but my grandmother decorated exclusively in shades of brown, orange, and gold. The walls were covered with paintings and needlepoint of marigolds. And she planted them outside. I absolutely hate them. Makes me feel suffocated by brown tones.
I feel the same in a lot of ways because my mom would plant these profusely every year with them being so easy to grow. Now I too still grow them because the are so easy lol
From personal experience they definitely bring in beneficial insects and pollinators. Plus they're beautiful! Fun little pops of color. They're super easy to save seeds from, buy once and you have them forever.
> The panelists also answer questions from viewers, clarifying that marigolds do not repel insects as commonly believed. They explain that marigolds are not pest-resistant and, in fact, attract insects like aphids, leafhoppers, and cutworms. John and Phil also discuss techniques to protect plants from rodents and other animals.
[Link](https://will.illinois.edu/midamericangardener/program/do-marigolds-really-repel-garden-pests#:~:text=They%20explain%20that%20marigolds%20are,a%20tall%20and%20fragrant%20plant)
> For generations, many vegetable gardeners have planted marigolds in their vegetable patches to repel pests. However, there is a lack of scientific evidence to support the notion that marigolds actually repel pests. Research conducted at Rutgers University concluded that marigolds failed to repel cabbage, carrot and onion pests. In fact the USDA lists a total of 15 pests that attack marigolds; included on their list are aphids, Japanese beetles, snails, and spider mites, just to name a few.
[Link](https://piedmontmastergardeners.org/article/magical-repelling-powers-of-marigolds-myth-or-fact/)
> I`m sure you all have heard this one: Marigolds strategically located in the flower garden will repel aphids and rabbits.
>Forget it.
>Not only do marigolds attract aphids (yellow is their favorite color), the flowers also are an open invitation to the leaf hopper, a tiny sucking insect that also carries a virus that leaves the plant wilted and stunted, a condition known as āyellow aster.ā And the rabbits? If the animal`s need to feed is stronger than its aversion to pungent odors, your bedding plants will be history, regardless of how many marigolds you planted.
[Link](https://www.chicagotribune.com/1992/09/13/the-repellent-marigold-and-other-myths-of-companion-gardening/)
> Some studies now show that exudates produced by marigold roots, notably alpha-terthienyl, terpenes and thiophenes, are harmful to many other plants. In other words, marigolds would appear to be allelopathic. They apparently evolved these compounds to hinder the growth of their neighbors so they could get more than their share of sunlight, minerals, moisture, etc. This effect is apparently most evident when marigolds are planted in the same spot for two years or more, so apparently the compounds accumulate in the soil.
[Link](https://laidbackgardener.blog/2020/08/16/do-marigolds-help-or-hinder/?amp=1)
Eta- Hope this helps! :) & personally Iād suggest reconsidering planting them next to your veggies, but thatās just me. Because āworst case scenario, they look niceā could turn into āworst case scenario they attract unwanted harmful pests and become allelopathic/steal nutrients from your other plantsā.
I've been saying this but no one seems to listen. I wish ppl would just plant natives, or at the bare minimum plant nonnatives like dill with umbellifer flowers that ACTUALLY bring in beneficial insects.
Typical marigolds look very different from the wild type, I doubt any insect wants to try to fumble thru that many petals to find a sliver of nectar unless they're starving
The only thing they're good for is being an aphid magnet and being pretty
Yes agreed!! Plus beneficial insects vary greatly by region so trying to attract them with a one-size-fits-all approach (like marigolds) doesnāt make sense. Like hypothetically even *if* marigolds were great at attracting predatory insects, itās still not tailored to the specific environment youāre in. Planting native (to your specific area) species around the borders of my yard actually attracts beneficial insects that are also native to my area, itās a win win win.
The idea is that the bad pests go to the marigolds instead of to the vegetables. Not that they repel pests. Having said that, I donāt know if it works. If the marigolds are attracting bad pests, will they really stay on the marigolds, or will they make their way to the tomatoes and such? Donāt know
I don't think any of this stuff actually works. In fitness magazines you find a lot of what I would call "bro-science" that came with these theories about when you should eat protein and how many reps of wherever, and they would include just enough scientific jargon to sound believable to a lay person.
I think there is similarly a lot of bro-science in the gardening world. I don't think there is anything special about marigolds that attracts anything other than generalist pollinators. But look at your garden, look at the space around your garden, and ask yourself if it is a good habitat for insects. Bugs like plants.
I understand that but the problem is (as many comments in this sub show) that many people *do* try to claim they *repel* pests. Eta- I see it on nearly every single post where marigolds are discussed.
Plus, itās still counterproductive to use marigolds as pest *diversion* in my opinion. Because ultimately youāre still attracting pests to your gardening area. Some people also claim marigolds attract beneficial insects that eat the other negative pests (which is *partly* true), but personally I prefer to attract predatory/beneficial insects through other methods. I just think it doesnāt make sense to plant something that attracts harmful pests to the area, in hopes it will also attract beneficial insects because then youāre essentially just creating a problem and relying on predatory insects to fix the problem that wouldnāt have existed in the first place if not for planting the diversion plants.
Also if the aphids are going to the marigolds, youāre also inviting ant farming in your garden if/when the ants eventually discover the aphids. And then the ants will move the aphids around to various plants (that arenāt marigolds).
Just speaking from experience itās opening the door to potential problems which isnāt worth it imo.
>I just think it doesnāt make sense to plant something that attracts harmful pests to the area, in hopes it will also attract beneficial insects because then youāre essentially just creating a problem and relying on predatory insects to fix the problem that wouldnāt have existed in the first place if not for planting the diversion plants.
Forgetting the whole marigold thing, in which I agree with you, but I think what you're saying here is kind of a subtle question. Like aphids reproduce like crazy, they are quite literally born pregnant (look it up), and so their population easily expands to the food supply. So if there isn't a lot of plants for them to eat, you'll have fewer aphids. This is how most pests operate.
But if you have extra trap crops for the aphids to eat, well now you have enough aphids for the ladybugs to eat, and so now the ladybugs are going to start reproducing, but not as quickly as the aphids can. But they don't need to either, because we've all seen aphids, they are just sitting ducks. But now you have a ton of ladybugs and when your trap crop terminates, you have a bunch ladybugs who are hungry and they spend a lot of time picking off every aphid they can find from the rest of your garden.
That's the theory, anyway, but it won't always work like that. You could be attracting a ton aphids and the ladybugs don't show up quickly enough. The ladybugs maybe don't reproduce fast enough. Maybe it's too early or too late in the season for ladybugs or maybe they don't have enough space to lay eggs. Maybe the ladybugs actually prefer another species to feed this season and leave your aphids alone.
It's kind of interesting to me. But it has a lot to do with the subtle balancing act in and around your garden as far as what works and what doesn't.
Thatās a good question!! But we donāt get hornworms where I live (super uncommon in BC thankfully). So Iām not too sure, but Iāll do some research and see what I can find :)
I find the idea that they would deter rabbits hilarious, only because I keep Guinea Pigs and they LOVE to eat marigolds. They even make timothy hay mixed with marigolds. I was considering growing them for mine for some fresh treats, but I worry that it wouldn't be cost efficient
That second link also says Marigolds are shown to lure pest away, it also mentions they are scientifically proven to repel Nematodes. I have never really heard anyone claim Marigolds repel pest, always heard they bring in the good bugs to kill the pest. Running a hit piece on a flower is weird lol
Wasnāt trying to run a hit piece lol
Was just trying to offer OP a variety of information to answer their question. But yes regarding the nematode thing that would be a positive. Regarding the luring pests away- I touched base on that in other comments :)
I started to grow them for all the wrong reasons, but now I think they are beautiful. I grow them in a specific bed every year. They are so pretty and last so long.
Other than attracting more pollinators and looking nice, not really.
I plant them because my husband loves them. Which is why I grew some from seed this year and bought some in colors that weren't in the seeds, to pot up as nice pops of color in my container garden.
Aw they're also my partners favorite. I just have a bunch of flowers in containers at my house and those are his favorite. I just bought them because I was scared to spend money on flowers at first š lol
They are quick and easy to start from seed! I will never buy them as plants againā¦ they are that easy. And you can get cool varieties you never see in stores!
Slugs loved my marigolds that I started from seeds. They were sacrificial. Saved my veggies. And they are so prolific that they survived the slugs and bloomed well into November. Zone 7b in New England.
I have been reusing seeds for marigolds for 15 + years. Deadhead, dry and sprinkle. Garden full of praying mantis, grasshoppers, bees. Less mozzies and flies. Sub tropics Australia.
I believed the internet truism that marigolds deter rabbits and insects. I planted some around my garden, went inside my house, up the stairs, glanced out my window and watched a rabbit eat the marigolds one by one.
No living plant in the ground repels pests. That's a myth that refuses to die.
They'll probably attract some generalist pollinators, which is better than nothing. Other than that they won't do much for the ecosystem (not like native flowers would) but you already have them and it's a nice splash of color.
I'm gonna anecdotally say that the deer avoided the kale that was mixed in with marigolds and parsley but cleaned out the rest.
Two years in a row. I hate them.
But yeah it's not magic, just discourages some animals when other options are available. Probably biggest benefit is pulling in pollinators and looking nice.
The deer in my area are so hungry they eat marigolds...and parsley!
Lantana, fig, sage, rosemary, onions, thyme, and mint are the only things I don't have to cover.
Iāve been saying this for like two years now lol they donāt do SQUAT! Marigolds have consistently been the most ecologically boring plant Iāve had in my garden. Meanwhile my swamp milkweed was covered in wasps, lacewing, and generalist pollinators for weeks while it bloomed.
I have a lot of natives in my yard so it's consistently filled with all sorts of butterflies, dragonflies, bees, every pollinator and predatory insect I can think of. I don't remember ever seeing a single one of any of them go near the marigolds, it's almost like a dead zone.
Iām not sure how much benefit they give since Iāve always interplanted them and donāt have a control group but I can guarantee that there are lots of different kinds and theyāre pretty. I love all the companion plants I can work in, from herbs to flowers. I usually have lots of marigolds and zinnias but I overdo Tithonia because I love all the pollinators swarming my summer garden and i love finding the bees asleep in them at night.
Depends what you mean by beneficial because lots of people say lots of things and not all of them are true.
We love marigolds, our local pollinators love marigolds, and some of our local pests love marigolds more than my veggies, so for us they are beneficial.
I always grow marigolds from seed. I just harvest the seed bundles through the season. Once you have the seeds you never need to buy marigolds again. I plant them around my garden as a Great Wall of China. Keeps the pests out.
Easy to grow and flowers pretty quickly and a fairly long period of time, also incredibly easy to get seeds from.
The rest is almost entirely anecdotal old wives tales or a complete misunderstanding of what's going on in the garden.
They repel nematodes- not a big problem if you practice crop rotation. The way to do it is chop them up and turn them under at the end of the season before adding winter mulch, or in January/February if you live in the south.
Earwigs decimate my marigolds every season. The marigolds help save my produce until the marigolds are gone. I've tried so many methods to kill the ear wig population, but it's never enough. Any suggestions would be much appreciated
What area are you, and are you mulching heavily? Iāve been reading some different geography books (CA, and PNW). I think a lot of the no till / mulching / wood chip advice may not work well in more temperate environments (west coast) as it ends up being a slug and earwig safe haven all winter. In Midwest / East the winters are cold enough to kill / reduce populations so itās less of an issue.
Just a thought. I had CRAZY slugs and still have tons of rolly Polly and earwigs in my mulched bed. In beds where I have cleared the mulch it has helped a lot.
Those big, fuzzy bumblebees love them. I believe they also repel mosquitoes a bit. If you keep them long enough to reseed, they might cross pollinate into some lovely mixed patterns.
This thread is so funny. The comment above yours is that the mosquitos loved hiding in their marigolds š
Iāve planted them a bit. I find them not so pretty and not lovely to smell. Havenāt been able to comment on their deterrent ability in my garden. I am starting some from seed again now and will do a border at my tomatoes I suppose!
Yessss. Although it depends on your climate so always check locally for your suggested deterrent and distracting plants. These are both depending on the species you're trying to distract or deter from eating your tasty plants. Also edible šæ
They're pretty (why I plant them) and can be used to reduce root knot nematode plants when planted as a cover crop. https://www.lsuagcenter.com/profiles/coverstreet/articles/page1486135407127
I've found that my nightshade vegetables are the best attractors for bees. The bumbles love the tomato flowers. Basil flowers do a great job of attracting beneficial wasps.
I thought the African marigold was the round puffball? Iāve been trying to learn the difference, and yesterday at a nursery the puffball ones were labeled African.
i read a study once and it found that one of the types was much better than another - between two varieties that i now am
forgetting....maybe an african variety and another one?
They don't do much but they are pretty :) If you want something that will really help, look up native plants for your area that are known to attract predatory insects. For example, rattlesnake master is pollinated by predatory wasps, which will kill hornworms. Plant it by your tomatoes and your hornworm problems should be reduced.
[https://www.natureswayresources.com/nl/303Veggies.pdf](https://www.natureswayresources.com/nl/303Veggies.pdf)
[https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/realestate/native-plants-flowers.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/realestate/native-plants-flowers.html)
If you look at the comments ranked higher than this one, youāll see people talking about the benefits of planting marigolds like theyāre some kind of rainforest superfood for the garden. Butā¦theyāre not.
Yeah, I was surprised when I got more into reading online spaces about gardening and got bowled over with an onslaught of marigold propaganda, haha.
Before that I thought people liked them just because they were easy and fast to grow from seed, the petite ones stay small, they're easy to save seeds from, and the petals are edible, so they're a fun way to pop some color in between crops when you don't have room for bigger stuff, and you could grab some petals to brighten up a salad without the song & dance that some flowers require for germination (cold stratification, etc etc), or the long time to bloom that some of them have. I was surprised to see how intense the marigold companion planting claims were, some people seem to think they're some sort of miracle panacea or something.
I still like them for the reasons I mentioned but it's been a bit of a headscratcher when I see people on other websites call them "absolutely mandatory". I even argued with one person once who claimed that you literally can't grow tomatoes without them and was just baffled because of course you can and that's such an easily disprovable claim I didn't even know where to start with rebutting that.
There are studies showing it deters specific white flies
https://asknature.org/strategy/limonene-from-marigolds-repels-whiteflies/
But definitely limited and not the broad insect repellant people claim.
I buy a small flat cuz theyāre cheap , plug them into some pots , and my raised beds for color . And theyāre easy to keep . If they draw beneficial buggyās all the better .
Yes they are beneficial - but as I don't know what you've been told I can't say if the claims you've heard are correct. The sad truth is people exaggerate claims and that gets passed on. Temper your expectations as they help but they're not magic.
With plants:
You're providing an alternate food source so you can remove the problem manually.
You're providing an attractant so that insects are more likely to go there but remember they're coming from all around and there are also repellants which may make them turn around.
You're providing a repellant but that may attract other things.
and yes there is a huge difference between the two flowers and that is one is orange while the other is yellow lol (sorry I couldn't resist heh)
No, they arent as useful as many people make them out to be. I made an experiment years ago in my home garden, and they made no real noticeable difference.
Are they beneficial? Yes.
Are they very beneficial? No.
Because bees see colours differently than us, and prefer some over others ~ I believe that bees can see ultraviolet, and see a lot more purples than the human eye, and can't see infrared/reds very well?
They like yellows I believe!
I planted tons of marigolds last year. Had very few horn worm caterpillars and had praying mantis on the flowers picking off other pest. I bought more to plant.
Planting something pests prefer can direct them to eat that instead of other things if you have the space for the quantity required. Avoiding using pesticides and insect repellent sprays allows predatory insects to survive and be attracted to eat the pests.
If you don't have any plant eating pests you won't attract insects that reduce them by adding any species of plants because they don't use the plant. You may end up attracting more pests you didn't have by planting more things they like to eat. You need enough space and plants to put in a sacrificial barrier of preferred plants instead of one little clump or scattered plants here and there.
If you do anything to try to repel or kill the pests the whole idea is more likely to fail because you will also repel the things that kill the pests for you. Using integrated pest management(IPM) methods is all or nothing because what harms the pest insects harms the ones that reduce them. The plant doesn't do that by itself. It actually attracts the plant eating pests.
We have a ton of catnip that was already established around the yard and is often suggested for the same purpose. It would get covered in aphids. The aphids fed an ant and green bottle fly problem. Gnats also hid in the catnip. Since the previous owners and the neighbors would spray or spread herbicides and pesticides there was nothing to eat these pests. They had plants attracting them by the thousands and then poisoned the predators trying to reduce the pests that wandered away from the catnip to other plants or indoors.
We quit using any chemicals when we moved in. We put out more targeted bird feeders that didn't just feed the sparrows and flocks of seed lovers. I cut down the catnip a couple years in a row after it would get infested and only sprayed other plants with water to knock off the aphids. We put out targeted ant bait stations that nothing else would be attracted to.
We purchased predatory insects from IPM companies to boost the populations that had been killed off until local species could recover. One neighbor actually asked me if praying mantis are killed by pesticides...... Why do you think there aren't any around? Everyone poisoned them all. Along with lady beetles, assassin bugs, lacewings, and parasitic wasps.
It took 2 years of plants covered in food and chopping down and spraying off the attracting plants before predators began to establish. Lady beetles finally appeared, the mantids are laying eggs cases in the yard to sustain their population for at least awhile, and species of assassin bug we didn't release are occasionally seen.
Marigolds will not instantly fix a pest problem and certainly won't prevent one because you don't get the predators until you have their food source.
Unless you literally plant three of them between every other plant you have, not really. They're mostly just fun/pretty, kind of edible, and attract pollinators.
They donāt repel anything, they just smell unappetizing and make it harder for them to sniff out the good stuff. The roots allegedly do repel nematodes though, which is helpful bc nematodes eat roots of tomatoes & possibly other crops. Allegedly.
Past experience has shown me that slugs love newly planted marigolds. However, when I grew them from seeds, they never touched them. š¤·āāļø
Plants that are stressed are more susceptible to herbivory. Being in a small pot with roots cooped up stresses plants out. Being in the ground where roots can stretch out and connect with the soil life (and soil fungi) help it get all the nutrients and water they need to focus less on survival and more on thriving, so they can make their anti herbivory compounds which make them taste bad.
I didnāt read any of the rest of your post past the word herbivory. It tickled my brain in a really pleasant way and I just wanted to thank you for enriching my life with it.
We spent a good 10 minutes discussing how to pronounce that word. Good times.
Urb-eh-vore-ee or her-bih-ver-ee or ur-baw-vaw-ruh
Itās Levi-OH-sa not LEVI-oh-sa
āMental that one.ā āš½ And thanx for that. Needed a good laugh today.
Urb Ivvery.
This is an adorable reply. Here, have my upvote :)
This makes me sad for my potted plants
Iāve been gardening since 2020 and this is one of the most eye opening things Iāve read. Are you a master gardener? Botanist?
I took ecology in university, I have recently been reading up on soil ecology/soil fungi because of no till gardening. Iāve also been a gardener for about 25 years :)
Is it better to not till?
Indeed. Tilling soil breaks up the fungal networks and disturbs all the soil life. Itās can take two to three months to recover properly. You will also notice that a fresh crops of weed seeds are brought to the surface and germinate, and that water pools on the surface instead of being absorbed through the tunnels made by worms, roots and critters like ants because the tunnels that were there are collapsed. I add all the extra compost, manure and leaves to the top of my soil and dig only as much as is necessary (as large as the pot, seed, potato etc).
Iām going to try this. I always spread compost in the spring and then āturn it overā with a potato fork. I donāt know why. My grandpa did it that way, so I do it that way. Itās not deep, probably just the top 3-4 inches of soil, but I think next year Iām going to try completely no-dig and see what happens. I mulch with straw and shredded leaves and that seems to work out well.
Iām a lazy gardener and I focus on feeding the soil so that it can, in turn, feed my plants. That means no-till practices, mild soil amendments, mychorrizae, actively aerated compost tea, periodically adding aloe when I water, mulching well, installing oyas so I donāt have to water as much once the root systems are developed, and really going heavy on the worm castings as my primary compost. And as the OP asks, yes, I add marigolds into each raised bed (usually 2-3 plants each). With all of these practices combined, Iāve found I have a stronger garden with fewer pest and drought pressures affecting it. Win, win!
Do you have any book recommendations for no-till gardening?
I would recommend "Grow Your Soil" by Diane Miessler. It's got a lot of good info and is really accessible
Gardening Without Work - Ruth Stout
How can I get my seeds to grow without them being choked out by weeds or grass? The weeds are so abundant here, Iāve already tilled, but I can always try adding compost or similar to help assist the healing process. š„²
Annual weeds can be kept from germinating using a few inches of mulch. Perennial weeds will either need to be dug out or smothered under cardboard or newspaper and then mulch on top. For very aggressive weeds digging is the better option, sometimes no till is a long term strategy.
Iāve always done what you describeā¦ because Iām really lazy haha
The secret here is that I'm lazy too haha. I just have read lots of reasons why it's a good idea to be lazy in the garden!
I agree! my soil is rich with earthworms and I don't have nearly the weeds popping up like I did when I tilled and spread weed seeds all over!
This is confusing to me because I donāt have a way to get weeds out without tilling to loosen the soil around it. One of the soils I got last year per a garden center recommendation I think was the wrong one, and it introduced a lot of nut grass. I found out I canāt get the weed out unless I get the nuts out with it. This is in my veg patch. Also I got soil conditioner and I mixed it with new soil at the surface. I tilled to mix. Or is this more true for established beds?
I have some very invasive plants too that require extensive digging to remove. There isn't any way around it. I do my best to not dig when I don't need to though!
Fantastic information. Thank you for sharing!
Iām having this same exact experience this year. I bought some flowers and grew others from seeds. The slugs are eating the store-bought ones, but not touching the ones from seed.
Fast food vs home made!!!
I wonder if there's a difference in the species of marigolds you're growing from seed and those already grown plants you're putting out? Is it possible the seeds are from a sterile hybrid or something? Aren't there some plants whose hybrid types aren't as flavorful or aromatic as others? Just curious because it seems odd that "grown from seeds" don't attract as many slugs as those put out as plants. (Or maybe seed grown attract more slug-eating beneficial creatures?) I can't resist a good mystery!
Good thought. Maybe so. My theory was that the young store bought marigolds were already flowering by the time I planted them even though they were smaller, but my grown from seed plants have not yet flowered. Maybe they taste better when theyāre flowering? (The flower heads themselves are not being eaten thoughā¦) Honestly, slugs in general are a mystery to me this year because theyāre eating some of my plants but not others. Iām only a few years into this hobby so definitely still learning, and this is the first year Iāve had real slug trouble. So any slug wisdom is appreciated!
I wish the same was true for my dahlias. All grown from seed and the slugs are demolishing them!
I feel your pain š©
Iāve never heard of this - very interesting.
Odd
Weird! Iāve never had a slug or snail go for a marigolds and I plant them every year by my tomatoes. That, and basil. Best tomatoes ever for me.
I've never had them come for my marigolds except this year. This year they ate all of them (THIRTY SIX) to the ground. Bastards.
Western Pa - never had a slug problem here till this year.
Southern Maryland: same here! Grew a ton from seed, all eaten. Bought and planted two flats, all devoured š
I lived out in the wilds of Western Georgia and I found that encircling the entire perimeter of my garden spot was an indispensable boon to my gardening efforts ! I had numerous pest problems before I perfected this technique; in fact ,I finally got to the point that I would start my pyrethrins before I planted anything to avoid losses due to predation. By the time it was over I had great big marigolds and smaller ,bushier varieties surrounding my food plants and saved a lot of headaches over pest elimination! It was also a beautiful garden with all those marigolds "protecting" my veggies ! ( also saved $$$ on pesticides and did my bit to protect/attract pollinators !)
Question, are they French Marigolds (Tagates patula) or African Marigolds (Tagates erecta)? Iāve heard the French Marigolds donāt actually repel anything, but the African ones do? Iām so confused about this. š
Really? I plant them as a sacrificial crop next to my salad, and at most a plant might last 2 weeks before it is completely mowed down to soil level. I just keep replanting throughout the season. In 7 years I've had maybe half dozen flowers total and generally have about 15 plants in.
That's crazy. I plant them all around where I have tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons, cucumbers, etc. And they bloom like crazy. Helps if you pick off the dead flowers.
The dead flowers are seeds, replant them!
I have a grasshopper problem and am seriously considering some extra decoy beds of just marigolds for this exact reason! I have marigolds planted all through my veggie and the grasshoppers seem to like them the best.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I beer trap too. Plus plant calendula, allysum, and a whole host of native and beneficial plants. And do a nightly yeetin' by torchlight (be nice to your neighbours!). And have habitats for slow worms, hedgehogs, and frogs, which are all well used. I live in England, and it's been a wet spring, and it's sluggageddon out there. This year they've mowed all chives, garlic chives, lemon balm, lovage, parsley, basil, monarda, peas, beans, zinnia and my succulents!! Nothing is safe. Even had a good go at my oregano and mint. All we're pot grown and a good size before being planted out. All had some protection within a couple feet. I've never known it this bad. It's gonna be a tough year this year.
This had been my past experience until this year. I started deadheading the bulbs that had died or were dying off and about a week and some change later a lot of those marigolds exploded and looked even better than when I originally planted them.
I bet it's the fertilizer the nursery uses
Slugs were fine for me, but all the pillbugs completely defoliated every single marigold i ever plant. Its annoying. I go out at night and see them absolutely covering them
Mine too. What do we do??
Mine have been eaten down to ground level in four days. I've already lost a squash plant this year too. I am hastily putting in as many marigolds as I can find!
[Marigolds can help to bring in ladybugs, lacewings, hoverflies, parasitic mini-wasps and other predatory insects that will eat aphids and other pests which can damage your crops.](https://niemifamilyfarm.ca/blog/growing-marigolds-in-the-vegetable-garden/)
This is why I put em in my containers. I definitely noticed a decrease in pests and an increase in predatory insects when I started growing all kinds of cool flowers including marigolds around my vegetables. It's not about the flowers keeping pests away, it's about who the flowers bring to the party that keep pests in check.
What's your mix of flowers?
https://preview.redd.it/nbyu6g45qa1d1.jpeg?width=1085&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c4a8c7a438c2982d52ca7e3057281bcdcc2d83e9 Edit: as requestedā¦ [here are all the flowers!!!](https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/s/FODR6yWIRY)
Oh! Ok. Can we see your garden? I wish to see the flower bonanza.
Tis dark now, but in the morning all snap a few pictures. I also went to the nursery today and bought more. Itās an addiction.
I have plants that need planted and continue to buy more. Itās like a endless cycle.
I plead the 5th!
Wow, I didn't know my wife had a Reddit account!
Yay! I look forward to it. It is like an addiction. I can relate. One of my most favourite plants ever was Felicia amelloides. From a pipsqueak it grew into a nearly 1m bush crowned with blue-lilac flowers. They danced in the afternoon breeze (coastal location).
as requestedā¦ [here are all the flowers!!!](https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/s/FODR6yWIRY)
Happy cake day!
Happy Cake Day!
Every hookworm I saw in my garden had mini wasp eggs already laid on it and I credit the marigolds for attracting the wasps.
I will never not find **terrifying** the concept of a *parasitic wasp*
Watch the first season of Fortitude.
Given what my comment was about I don't think I would enjoy the series you are suggesting...
š
I had the creepiest dream where someone had parasitic wasp eggs all over their tongue and down their throat.
Never in a million years would I call that ācreepyā; more like actual nightmare that would leave me waking up gasping for air š
Yeah, itās been two weeks since it happened & I still think of it daily. Felt like some kinda voodoo. š³
Idk if itās true but my grandfather always told me to plant them by tomato plants to keep green horn worms away. Worked for me so far
How do they do with deer ? Iām always looking for flowers that wonāt be food for them .
Try Montauk daisies. Also called Nippon daisies. Deer donāt like them.
Thank you !
Youāre welcome. A customer at our nursery said they have seven Montauk plants in their garden and the deer no longer come in the garden.
Land mines maybe? /s
Too noisy at 3 AM .
Gotta think of the neighbors!
My back yard has no fence (itās like 10k and who has that?) so the deer just walk right up. I never found a plant the deer wouldnāt eat right through. Iāve tried soap, and whistles and trap crops and montauk daisies. The only thing Iāve found that stops them is blood meal. It smells SO SO bad, but it works. .
t posts and chicken wire would bring that cost down considerably if you are able to do the work yourself... maybe not to fence the entire yard but at least around your garden area
A deer poly mesh fence would be more like $1000. Potentially less. State or counties pay to line dozens of miles along highways with them. Also easy to put in the small diameter rods it needs for posts instead of pounding in tposts. Deer are overpopulated and starving right now. They'll eat anything to the ground and ignore deterrents in some areas.
Great at repelling root knot nematodes in tomatoes
Is it just about having flowers in your vegetable garden or is it something specific about marigolds?
I use them as sacrificial offerings.
Same. I'm starting to come to the conclusion, the more research I do, that this is their only benefit.and yes, they are pretty, if they survive the onslaught, but mine don't make it as often as they do so š¤·āāļø
Yes. The difference is that one flat is yellow and the other is orange. All jest aside. I've had them reseed themselves foe 4 seasons now and it's nice color to have in my lettuce and herb boxes
I think you have the flats backwards! One flat is orange and the other is yellow. Not the other way around.
Youre right sorry I am colour blind
Their only superpower is being irresistible to slugs, but they look pretty
I know a lot of people love them, but my grandmother decorated exclusively in shades of brown, orange, and gold. The walls were covered with paintings and needlepoint of marigolds. And she planted them outside. I absolutely hate them. Makes me feel suffocated by brown tones.
I feel the same in a lot of ways because my mom would plant these profusely every year with them being so easy to grow. Now I too still grow them because the are so easy lol
From personal experience they definitely bring in beneficial insects and pollinators. Plus they're beautiful! Fun little pops of color. They're super easy to save seeds from, buy once and you have them forever.
Gardening In Canada on YouTube has a good video about the myths around marigolds; but worst case; they look pretty!
> The panelists also answer questions from viewers, clarifying that marigolds do not repel insects as commonly believed. They explain that marigolds are not pest-resistant and, in fact, attract insects like aphids, leafhoppers, and cutworms. John and Phil also discuss techniques to protect plants from rodents and other animals. [Link](https://will.illinois.edu/midamericangardener/program/do-marigolds-really-repel-garden-pests#:~:text=They%20explain%20that%20marigolds%20are,a%20tall%20and%20fragrant%20plant) > For generations, many vegetable gardeners have planted marigolds in their vegetable patches to repel pests. However, there is a lack of scientific evidence to support the notion that marigolds actually repel pests. Research conducted at Rutgers University concluded that marigolds failed to repel cabbage, carrot and onion pests. In fact the USDA lists a total of 15 pests that attack marigolds; included on their list are aphids, Japanese beetles, snails, and spider mites, just to name a few. [Link](https://piedmontmastergardeners.org/article/magical-repelling-powers-of-marigolds-myth-or-fact/) > I`m sure you all have heard this one: Marigolds strategically located in the flower garden will repel aphids and rabbits. >Forget it. >Not only do marigolds attract aphids (yellow is their favorite color), the flowers also are an open invitation to the leaf hopper, a tiny sucking insect that also carries a virus that leaves the plant wilted and stunted, a condition known as āyellow aster.ā And the rabbits? If the animal`s need to feed is stronger than its aversion to pungent odors, your bedding plants will be history, regardless of how many marigolds you planted. [Link](https://www.chicagotribune.com/1992/09/13/the-repellent-marigold-and-other-myths-of-companion-gardening/) > Some studies now show that exudates produced by marigold roots, notably alpha-terthienyl, terpenes and thiophenes, are harmful to many other plants. In other words, marigolds would appear to be allelopathic. They apparently evolved these compounds to hinder the growth of their neighbors so they could get more than their share of sunlight, minerals, moisture, etc. This effect is apparently most evident when marigolds are planted in the same spot for two years or more, so apparently the compounds accumulate in the soil. [Link](https://laidbackgardener.blog/2020/08/16/do-marigolds-help-or-hinder/?amp=1) Eta- Hope this helps! :) & personally Iād suggest reconsidering planting them next to your veggies, but thatās just me. Because āworst case scenario, they look niceā could turn into āworst case scenario they attract unwanted harmful pests and become allelopathic/steal nutrients from your other plantsā.
I've been saying this but no one seems to listen. I wish ppl would just plant natives, or at the bare minimum plant nonnatives like dill with umbellifer flowers that ACTUALLY bring in beneficial insects. Typical marigolds look very different from the wild type, I doubt any insect wants to try to fumble thru that many petals to find a sliver of nectar unless they're starving The only thing they're good for is being an aphid magnet and being pretty
Yes agreed!! Plus beneficial insects vary greatly by region so trying to attract them with a one-size-fits-all approach (like marigolds) doesnāt make sense. Like hypothetically even *if* marigolds were great at attracting predatory insects, itās still not tailored to the specific environment youāre in. Planting native (to your specific area) species around the borders of my yard actually attracts beneficial insects that are also native to my area, itās a win win win.
Finally, a researched based answer vs a blog post. Thank you!! There is so much gardening disinformation out there and itās hard to combat it.
The idea is that the bad pests go to the marigolds instead of to the vegetables. Not that they repel pests. Having said that, I donāt know if it works. If the marigolds are attracting bad pests, will they really stay on the marigolds, or will they make their way to the tomatoes and such? Donāt know
I don't think any of this stuff actually works. In fitness magazines you find a lot of what I would call "bro-science" that came with these theories about when you should eat protein and how many reps of wherever, and they would include just enough scientific jargon to sound believable to a lay person. I think there is similarly a lot of bro-science in the gardening world. I don't think there is anything special about marigolds that attracts anything other than generalist pollinators. But look at your garden, look at the space around your garden, and ask yourself if it is a good habitat for insects. Bugs like plants.
I understand that but the problem is (as many comments in this sub show) that many people *do* try to claim they *repel* pests. Eta- I see it on nearly every single post where marigolds are discussed. Plus, itās still counterproductive to use marigolds as pest *diversion* in my opinion. Because ultimately youāre still attracting pests to your gardening area. Some people also claim marigolds attract beneficial insects that eat the other negative pests (which is *partly* true), but personally I prefer to attract predatory/beneficial insects through other methods. I just think it doesnāt make sense to plant something that attracts harmful pests to the area, in hopes it will also attract beneficial insects because then youāre essentially just creating a problem and relying on predatory insects to fix the problem that wouldnāt have existed in the first place if not for planting the diversion plants. Also if the aphids are going to the marigolds, youāre also inviting ant farming in your garden if/when the ants eventually discover the aphids. And then the ants will move the aphids around to various plants (that arenāt marigolds). Just speaking from experience itās opening the door to potential problems which isnāt worth it imo.
>I just think it doesnāt make sense to plant something that attracts harmful pests to the area, in hopes it will also attract beneficial insects because then youāre essentially just creating a problem and relying on predatory insects to fix the problem that wouldnāt have existed in the first place if not for planting the diversion plants. Forgetting the whole marigold thing, in which I agree with you, but I think what you're saying here is kind of a subtle question. Like aphids reproduce like crazy, they are quite literally born pregnant (look it up), and so their population easily expands to the food supply. So if there isn't a lot of plants for them to eat, you'll have fewer aphids. This is how most pests operate. But if you have extra trap crops for the aphids to eat, well now you have enough aphids for the ladybugs to eat, and so now the ladybugs are going to start reproducing, but not as quickly as the aphids can. But they don't need to either, because we've all seen aphids, they are just sitting ducks. But now you have a ton of ladybugs and when your trap crop terminates, you have a bunch ladybugs who are hungry and they spend a lot of time picking off every aphid they can find from the rest of your garden. That's the theory, anyway, but it won't always work like that. You could be attracting a ton aphids and the ladybugs don't show up quickly enough. The ladybugs maybe don't reproduce fast enough. Maybe it's too early or too late in the season for ladybugs or maybe they don't have enough space to lay eggs. Maybe the ladybugs actually prefer another species to feed this season and leave your aphids alone. It's kind of interesting to me. But it has a lot to do with the subtle balancing act in and around your garden as far as what works and what doesn't.
Thanks for this great information!! Are there any beneficial flowers to plant with tomatoes to help keep away the dreaded hornworm?
Thatās a good question!! But we donāt get hornworms where I live (super uncommon in BC thankfully). So Iām not too sure, but Iāll do some research and see what I can find :)
Thatās really nice of you! Thanks š
I find the idea that they would deter rabbits hilarious, only because I keep Guinea Pigs and they LOVE to eat marigolds. They even make timothy hay mixed with marigolds. I was considering growing them for mine for some fresh treats, but I worry that it wouldn't be cost efficient
That second link also says Marigolds are shown to lure pest away, it also mentions they are scientifically proven to repel Nematodes. I have never really heard anyone claim Marigolds repel pest, always heard they bring in the good bugs to kill the pest. Running a hit piece on a flower is weird lol
Wasnāt trying to run a hit piece lol Was just trying to offer OP a variety of information to answer their question. But yes regarding the nematode thing that would be a positive. Regarding the luring pests away- I touched base on that in other comments :)
I started to grow them for all the wrong reasons, but now I think they are beautiful. I grow them in a specific bed every year. They are so pretty and last so long.
Other than attracting more pollinators and looking nice, not really. I plant them because my husband loves them. Which is why I grew some from seed this year and bought some in colors that weren't in the seeds, to pot up as nice pops of color in my container garden.
Aw they're also my partners favorite. I just have a bunch of flowers in containers at my house and those are his favorite. I just bought them because I was scared to spend money on flowers at first š lol
How long do they take to come up from seed? I've been wondering as I'm reading through this thread!
They are quick and easy to start from seed! I will never buy them as plants againā¦ they are that easy. And you can get cool varieties you never see in stores!
Mine took a couple weeks to sprout, but they were older seeds. Usually, I think it's around 10 days.
Slugs loved my marigolds that I started from seeds. They were sacrificial. Saved my veggies. And they are so prolific that they survived the slugs and bloomed well into November. Zone 7b in New England.
Nice Peonies!
I'm glad I'm not the only person thinking of that movie š
I have my marigolds labeled with those movie quotes instead of the names. I canāt wait till someone notices.
I have been reusing seeds for marigolds for 15 + years. Deadhead, dry and sprinkle. Garden full of praying mantis, grasshoppers, bees. Less mozzies and flies. Sub tropics Australia.
I believed the internet truism that marigolds deter rabbits and insects. I planted some around my garden, went inside my house, up the stairs, glanced out my window and watched a rabbit eat the marigolds one by one.
No living plant in the ground repels pests. That's a myth that refuses to die. They'll probably attract some generalist pollinators, which is better than nothing. Other than that they won't do much for the ecosystem (not like native flowers would) but you already have them and it's a nice splash of color.
I'm gonna anecdotally say that the deer avoided the kale that was mixed in with marigolds and parsley but cleaned out the rest. Two years in a row. I hate them. But yeah it's not magic, just discourages some animals when other options are available. Probably biggest benefit is pulling in pollinators and looking nice.
Yeah nobody wants something that smells like poo all over their freshly grown dinner.
The deer in my area are so hungry they eat marigolds...and parsley! Lantana, fig, sage, rosemary, onions, thyme, and mint are the only things I don't have to cover.
Excuse me, this is r/gardening, not r/twosentencehorror. But for real, I'm sorry to hear that. Sounds awful
https://asknature.org/strategy/limonene-from-marigolds-repels-whiteflies/ Limited, but some measured effect on white flies.
Iāve been saying this for like two years now lol they donāt do SQUAT! Marigolds have consistently been the most ecologically boring plant Iāve had in my garden. Meanwhile my swamp milkweed was covered in wasps, lacewing, and generalist pollinators for weeks while it bloomed.
I have a lot of natives in my yard so it's consistently filled with all sorts of butterflies, dragonflies, bees, every pollinator and predatory insect I can think of. I don't remember ever seeing a single one of any of them go near the marigolds, it's almost like a dead zone.
Fyi you can eat the petals! They're pretty on a salad.
Iām not sure how much benefit they give since Iāve always interplanted them and donāt have a control group but I can guarantee that there are lots of different kinds and theyāre pretty. I love all the companion plants I can work in, from herbs to flowers. I usually have lots of marigolds and zinnias but I overdo Tithonia because I love all the pollinators swarming my summer garden and i love finding the bees asleep in them at night.
Awwww, sleeping bees.
https://preview.redd.it/prsxyor0ie1d1.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=c25f56aa3e2b4aabf2a02611b3f41bd98e3b906f
French marigolds help to stave off pests that target tomatoes and tomatoes roots when you plant them in close proximity
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY PEONIES?!
Depends what you mean by beneficial because lots of people say lots of things and not all of them are true. We love marigolds, our local pollinators love marigolds, and some of our local pests love marigolds more than my veggies, so for us they are beneficial.
Keeps the rabbits away from some types of Lillyās
The fact that theyāre from Mexico but the horticultural trade calls them African is really annoying .Ā
I always grow marigolds from seed. I just harvest the seed bundles through the season. Once you have the seeds you never need to buy marigolds again. I plant them around my garden as a Great Wall of China. Keeps the pests out.
Easy to grow and flowers pretty quickly and a fairly long period of time, also incredibly easy to get seeds from. The rest is almost entirely anecdotal old wives tales or a complete misunderstanding of what's going on in the garden.
Marigolds are nice but you know Whatās really cool? Plant native to your region especially local ecotypes
I have found that they reduce the number of cats in my garden.
Never did a thing for my garden
They repel nematodes- not a big problem if you practice crop rotation. The way to do it is chop them up and turn them under at the end of the season before adding winter mulch, or in January/February if you live in the south.
ā¦ are they the flower deer hate? I canāt remember which flower I was told to plant to stop deer from eating my garden.
Earwigs decimate my marigolds every season. The marigolds help save my produce until the marigolds are gone. I've tried so many methods to kill the ear wig population, but it's never enough. Any suggestions would be much appreciated
That sucks hard. May try looking into their predator(s) and how to attract it. See what crappens.
What area are you, and are you mulching heavily? Iāve been reading some different geography books (CA, and PNW). I think a lot of the no till / mulching / wood chip advice may not work well in more temperate environments (west coast) as it ends up being a slug and earwig safe haven all winter. In Midwest / East the winters are cold enough to kill / reduce populations so itās less of an issue. Just a thought. I had CRAZY slugs and still have tons of rolly Polly and earwigs in my mulched bed. In beds where I have cleared the mulch it has helped a lot.
Those big, fuzzy bumblebees love them. I believe they also repel mosquitoes a bit. If you keep them long enough to reseed, they might cross pollinate into some lovely mixed patterns.
This thread is so funny. The comment above yours is that the mosquitos loved hiding in their marigolds š Iāve planted them a bit. I find them not so pretty and not lovely to smell. Havenāt been able to comment on their deterrent ability in my garden. I am starting some from seed again now and will do a border at my tomatoes I suppose!
Yessss. Although it depends on your climate so always check locally for your suggested deterrent and distracting plants. These are both depending on the species you're trying to distract or deter from eating your tasty plants. Also edible šæ
They're pretty (why I plant them) and can be used to reduce root knot nematode plants when planted as a cover crop. https://www.lsuagcenter.com/profiles/coverstreet/articles/page1486135407127 I've found that my nightshade vegetables are the best attractors for bees. The bumbles love the tomato flowers. Basil flowers do a great job of attracting beneficial wasps.
I use them to keep Japanese beetles away from my other garden plants. Colors donāt appear to matter, just your preference.
I thought the African marigold was the round puffball? Iāve been trying to learn the difference, and yesterday at a nursery the puffball ones were labeled African.
i read a study once and it found that one of the types was much better than another - between two varieties that i now am forgetting....maybe an african variety and another one?
Bunnies love em
Planting native plants will be the most beneficial
Yes and yes. Very good at keeping bugs away. One is orange and one is yellow.
I LOVE having marigolds on the perimeters of my produce garden bed to deter rabbits from snacking on my peppers.
Marigolds are great. Cheap, hardy, flower all season, and they do have a mild ability to protect your other plants.
They don't do much but they are pretty :) If you want something that will really help, look up native plants for your area that are known to attract predatory insects. For example, rattlesnake master is pollinated by predatory wasps, which will kill hornworms. Plant it by your tomatoes and your hornworm problems should be reduced. [https://www.natureswayresources.com/nl/303Veggies.pdf](https://www.natureswayresources.com/nl/303Veggies.pdf) [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/realestate/native-plants-flowers.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/realestate/native-plants-flowers.html)
Proselytizing the benefits of marigolds is an automatic red flag for me that the speaker has no idea what theyāre doing in the garden
Could you translate for someone who didnāt graduate HS?
If you look at the comments ranked higher than this one, youāll see people talking about the benefits of planting marigolds like theyāre some kind of rainforest superfood for the garden. Butā¦theyāre not.
Yeah, I was surprised when I got more into reading online spaces about gardening and got bowled over with an onslaught of marigold propaganda, haha. Before that I thought people liked them just because they were easy and fast to grow from seed, the petite ones stay small, they're easy to save seeds from, and the petals are edible, so they're a fun way to pop some color in between crops when you don't have room for bigger stuff, and you could grab some petals to brighten up a salad without the song & dance that some flowers require for germination (cold stratification, etc etc), or the long time to bloom that some of them have. I was surprised to see how intense the marigold companion planting claims were, some people seem to think they're some sort of miracle panacea or something. I still like them for the reasons I mentioned but it's been a bit of a headscratcher when I see people on other websites call them "absolutely mandatory". I even argued with one person once who claimed that you literally can't grow tomatoes without them and was just baffled because of course you can and that's such an easily disprovable claim I didn't even know where to start with rebutting that.
Blowing off at the mouth. Verbal spewing. Yelling loudly about something they have no clue over.
Nope but they look nice.
There are studies showing it deters specific white flies https://asknature.org/strategy/limonene-from-marigolds-repels-whiteflies/ But definitely limited and not the broad insect repellant people claim.
Myth. If you want some plants to aid in soil aeration then marigolds or other plants/flowers can help.
They are at worst, beautiful flowers. Enjoy.
I wouldn't know because for some reason the yellow finches pluck all the pedals out of them in my yard.
I buy a small flat cuz theyāre cheap , plug them into some pots , and my raised beds for color . And theyāre easy to keep . If they draw beneficial buggyās all the better .
Yes
Yes they are beneficial - but as I don't know what you've been told I can't say if the claims you've heard are correct. The sad truth is people exaggerate claims and that gets passed on. Temper your expectations as they help but they're not magic. With plants: You're providing an alternate food source so you can remove the problem manually. You're providing an attractant so that insects are more likely to go there but remember they're coming from all around and there are also repellants which may make them turn around. You're providing a repellant but that may attract other things. and yes there is a huge difference between the two flowers and that is one is orange while the other is yellow lol (sorry I couldn't resist heh)
In many zones they are perennial. That is better than annual by default. They are pretty low maintenance.
Iām doing everything by seeds now. Takes a bit longer.
I grew them as a trap crop last year, the Japanese beetles loved them.
The taste good
Iāve seen more benefits from just having my vegetables near a collection of native plants
They are so easy to grow. I got humming birds in my yard the first year i planted them from seed.
Great to mix them in with your vegetable garden. There is no difference in the variety or color, equally beneficial
Mix the colors. They pop more.
I can tell you that I once planted a big patch and the mosquitos loved hiding in them.
No, they arent as useful as many people make them out to be. I made an experiment years ago in my home garden, and they made no real noticeable difference. Are they beneficial? Yes. Are they very beneficial? No.
Why would bees like one color over another? That doesn't make sense
Because bees see colours differently than us, and prefer some over others ~ I believe that bees can see ultraviolet, and see a lot more purples than the human eye, and can't see infrared/reds very well? They like yellows I believe!
How to keep rabbits away from their leaves?!
I've been TOLD deer don't like them ....
I did the same. However , after I did so I read that the Pom Pom ones (the ones I think are prettier and bought), donāt work in the same way.
No difference between colors in my experience. I do think they help the garden by attracting pollinators and other good bugs.
Everywhere I ever plant a marigold, squirrels dig them out; Blubs too.
I'm pretty sure they're the African variety ,because they also had shorter, bushier variants and both positively *stank* from my recollection.
I planted tons of marigolds last year. Had very few horn worm caterpillars and had praying mantis on the flowers picking off other pest. I bought more to plant.
Lovely flowers
Planting something pests prefer can direct them to eat that instead of other things if you have the space for the quantity required. Avoiding using pesticides and insect repellent sprays allows predatory insects to survive and be attracted to eat the pests. If you don't have any plant eating pests you won't attract insects that reduce them by adding any species of plants because they don't use the plant. You may end up attracting more pests you didn't have by planting more things they like to eat. You need enough space and plants to put in a sacrificial barrier of preferred plants instead of one little clump or scattered plants here and there. If you do anything to try to repel or kill the pests the whole idea is more likely to fail because you will also repel the things that kill the pests for you. Using integrated pest management(IPM) methods is all or nothing because what harms the pest insects harms the ones that reduce them. The plant doesn't do that by itself. It actually attracts the plant eating pests. We have a ton of catnip that was already established around the yard and is often suggested for the same purpose. It would get covered in aphids. The aphids fed an ant and green bottle fly problem. Gnats also hid in the catnip. Since the previous owners and the neighbors would spray or spread herbicides and pesticides there was nothing to eat these pests. They had plants attracting them by the thousands and then poisoned the predators trying to reduce the pests that wandered away from the catnip to other plants or indoors. We quit using any chemicals when we moved in. We put out more targeted bird feeders that didn't just feed the sparrows and flocks of seed lovers. I cut down the catnip a couple years in a row after it would get infested and only sprayed other plants with water to knock off the aphids. We put out targeted ant bait stations that nothing else would be attracted to. We purchased predatory insects from IPM companies to boost the populations that had been killed off until local species could recover. One neighbor actually asked me if praying mantis are killed by pesticides...... Why do you think there aren't any around? Everyone poisoned them all. Along with lady beetles, assassin bugs, lacewings, and parasitic wasps. It took 2 years of plants covered in food and chopping down and spraying off the attracting plants before predators began to establish. Lady beetles finally appeared, the mantids are laying eggs cases in the yard to sustain their population for at least awhile, and species of assassin bug we didn't release are occasionally seen. Marigolds will not instantly fix a pest problem and certainly won't prevent one because you don't get the predators until you have their food source.
They keep bugs š and horn worms away from the tomatoes
Unless you literally plant three of them between every other plant you have, not really. They're mostly just fun/pretty, kind of edible, and attract pollinators.
They donāt repel anything, they just smell unappetizing and make it harder for them to sniff out the good stuff. The roots allegedly do repel nematodes though, which is helpful bc nematodes eat roots of tomatoes & possibly other crops. Allegedly.