Sunflower sacrificial plant?

KCMO_Don · July 31, 2008

Amongst my 60 tomato plants I have a rogue sunflower with HUGE leaves about 6 feet tall.
This sunflower looks like HELL, with yellowing leaved and so many aphids the plant actually sags under the weight.
This plant is actually IN the tomato plants as in ... touching them, yet my maters do not have a single aphid, worm or flea beetle. We are 100% organic.
along with the aphids there are lady bugs and their larva in numbers too great to count.
Are sunflowers usually used for this or is this just a fluke?
I will try and get picts in a few days.

**Lee** · July 31, 2008

Sounds cool! With a year flooded with aphids, glad to hear you have a
trap in your tomato patch to capture them all. And the lady bug larvae are
a major bonus!

Lee

tlcmd · July 31, 2008

Keep the sunflowers. They are good to attract ladybugs, the T Rex of the evil beasties in your garden. They are also great to plant near cucumbers and beans since they can climb on the sunflowers. I've also got a row of sunflowers near my tomatoes and cukes (also in NC, zone 7)

duajones · July 31, 2008

I have a couple giant sunflowers in my yard and they have been covered with stink bugs lately.

tlcmd · July 31, 2008

Some species of "stink Bugs" can resemble some species of soldier bugs. You want the soldier bugs, they're beneficial but not the stink bugs.

Start at this link: http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/c.../stinkbugs.htm

hald · August 2, 2008

What kind of sunflower is it? I'd like to try planting one in my garden next year.

KCMO_Don · August 3, 2008

My 5 yr old planted it from a seed out of some bird food.

elkwc36 · August 3, 2008

I know a truck gardener on the Arkansas Rive Valley in CO who leaves the wild sunflowers in his fields and says it really works. Guess he has done this for several years. This year we have been so dry I had no sunflowers to try it. JD

July 31, 2008	#1
KCMO_Don Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: KANSAS Posts: 223	Sunflower sacrificial plant? Amongst my 60 tomato plants I have a rogue sunflower with HUGE leaves about 6 feet tall. This sunflower looks like HELL, with yellowing leaved and so many aphids the plant actually sags under the weight. This plant is actually IN the tomato plants as in ... touching them, yet my maters do not have a single aphid, worm or flea beetle. We are 100% organic. along with the aphids there are lady bugs and their larva in numbers too great to count. Are sunflowers usually used for this or is this just a fluke? I will try and get picts in a few days. __________________ GIGGITY - GIGGITY

July 31, 2008	#2
Lee Tomatopalooza™ Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NC-Zone 7 Posts: 2,188	Sounds cool! With a year flooded with aphids, glad to hear you have a trap in your tomato patch to capture them all. And the lady bug larvae are a major bonus! Lee __________________ Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put one in a fruit salad. Cuostralee - The best thing on sliced bread.

July 31, 2008	#3
tlcmd Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Greensboro, N.C. Posts: 132	Keep the sunflowers. They are good to attract ladybugs, the T Rex of the evil beasties in your garden. They are also great to plant near cucumbers and beans since they can climb on the sunflowers. I've also got a row of sunflowers near my tomatoes and cukes (also in NC, zone 7) __________________ Harmmmmmmmmmoniously, Dick "If only Longstreet had followed orders......" "Show me something more beautiful than a beautiful woman and then I'll go paint it." Alberto Vargas

July 31, 2008	#5
tlcmd Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Greensboro, N.C. Posts: 132	make sure they're stink bugs, not Soldier Bugs Some species of "stink Bugs" can resemble some species of soldier bugs. You want the soldier bugs, they're beneficial but not the stink bugs. Start at this link: http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/c.../stinkbugs.htm __________________ Harmmmmmmmmmoniously, Dick "If only Longstreet had followed orders......" "Show me something more beautiful than a beautiful woman and then I'll go paint it." Alberto Vargas

August 3, 2008	#7
KCMO_Don Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: KANSAS Posts: 223	black oil sunflower My 5 yr old planted it from a seed out of some bird food. __________________ GIGGITY - GIGGITY

July 31, 2008	#4
duajones Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Corpus Christi,Texas Z9 Posts: 1,996	I have a couple giant sunflowers in my yard and they have been covered with stink bugs lately.

August 2, 2008	#6
hald Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Fresno, CA Posts: 23	What kind of sunflower is it? I'd like to try planting one in my garden next year.

August 3, 2008	#8
elkwc36 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: SW Kansas Posts: 339	I know a truck gardener on the Arkansas Rive Valley in CO who leaves the wild sunflowers in his fields and says it really works. Guess he has done this for several years. This year we have been so dry I had no sunflowers to try it. JD