Article 13710 of rec.gardens:
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
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From: psmith@alfred.carleton.ca (Peter Smith)
Subject: Re: marigolds that repel pests?
Message-ID: <psmith.729871683@cunews>
Keywords: marigold
Sender: news@cunews.carleton.ca (News Administrator)
Organization: Carleton University
References: <2B7F78AC.27297@ics.uci.edu>
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1993 14:08:03 GMT
Lines: 28

In <2B7F78AC.27297@ics.uci.edu> mnaka@buckaroo.ics.uci.edu (Merri L Naka) writes:

>Hi and happy seed starting to all!

>I read somewhere that some "modern" marigolds may have had the
>scent bred out of them, and that the scent is part of what repels
>pests.  (modern was not defined and I'd probably use odor, not scent!)

>Could anyone tell me either which ones are good at repelling pests
>or which ones are worthless for repelling pests?  I'm especially
>interested in smaller ones since they won't shade out my crops.

According to Roger Yepsen Jr. (Organic Plant Protection), French and
African marigolds are both effective.  French are the shorter of the
two.

Note that marigolds are not just for repelling surface insects by
scent.  They have properties that repel nematodes in the soil.  I have
read that, for instance, strawberries interplanted with marigolds do
much better than strawberries planted alone.

Surface bugs repelled include:  White Fly, Tomato Hornworm, Mexican
Bean Beetle and (I think) either the corn earworm or European Corn
Borer.

Hope that helps



