Using Morning Glories to Fight Pests (& mildew?)

[John310]

Greeting fellow Tomato Growers!

Just found the Tomatoville forum today... Tons of great info! Thanks!

I hope my first post will add to it!

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Last year I was growing some tomatoes near a fence that had morning glories growing on it, so I decided to try and use the existing morning glory vines to hold up my tomato plant. I just wove the tomato in and out of the morning glory vines as it grew along the fence. The tomato plant ended up getting about 12 feet long and never got choked by the morning glory! Using morning glories as a trellis seemed to work pretty well, but what was even more interesting was that while the leaves on morning glory got munched on by pests, the tomato leaves were hardly touched.

This year I decided to take my experiment to the next level and planted morning glories in between four tomato plants on the side of my house.


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In this same plot last year my plants got devoured by cabbage looper worms, but this year only the morning glories seem to be getting eaten! As you can see in the photo below, the morning glories on the left are heavily eaten while the tomatoes are pretty much untouched. My guess is that it's because the morning glory leaves are much more tender and easier to eat than tomato leaves.


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I also ended up with a SEVERE powdery mildew problem last year, probably a result of the BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) I sprayed on the leaves trying to battle my looper worm infestation. This year I have some mildew on the plants in the front of my house (which have tons of sun and great airflow), but the plants next to the morning glories have ZERO mildew. Perhaps it is the morning glories sucking up any extra moisture???
I'm not sure why it is but I LIKE IT!

I also experimented using a coiled part of morning glory vine as a splint to support an accidental break of my main stem. It healed up great!


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Please note, I didn't just let the morning glories grow wild; I cut back the new shoots and kept them from growing directly on the tomatoes for the most part. I did however let them grow wild with one plant; a cherry tomato, which is now over 10 feet tall and very happy!


Besides the benefits listed above, my morning glory method is also 100% organic AND you get beautiful morning glory flowers!!!

Happy Growing!!!


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