Planting Borage with Maters?

[danielnc84]

Have any of you planted Borange with your tomatoes? did it really keep the aphids and other pests repelled? Is it worth the time to add these in with your plants?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by danielnc84

Have any of you planted Borange with your tomatoes? did it really keep the aphids and other pests repelled? Is it worth the time to add these in with your plants?

Yes, I've interplanted with the blue version of Borage and never again. it attracts insect pollinators and I save lots of seed so it's the last item I want around my tomatoes.

Carolyn

[ArcherB]

I've done it, but I don't recall it helping at all. It was a while ago when I knew less about what I'm doing than I do now. I may do it again just to have nice flowers around my tomatoes.

[Vespertino]

I have some! but so far they're not old enough to flower, so I'll keep you posted on how things progress. I just found a leafcutter worm living in one of them.

[bughunter99]

Yes, always?

Pests repelled? No clue. I haven't yet had an aphid problem though.
Pollinators attracted? No clue if they go from the borage to the tomato blooms but they sure like the borage.
Bed beautifier? Definitely
Edible? Yep its a bonus.

Stacy

[Tracydr]

I planted it this spring but it doesn't take the heat at all so it's pretty much gone by May. It also takes a lot of space so if I plant it again it will be in my little wasted areas outside the garden. I had to have the gardeners pull them yesterday when they were weed eating because they have stalks the side of okra!
I really prefer radishes gone to seed, dill and or fennel for the same use. I feel they work better for attracting beneficials.
Some long beans or southern peas do well for the heat of the summer, especially if they happen to get a few aphids. I've never seen so many beneficial insects as when I had some southern peas with aphids.
The artichoke gets aphids and attracts lots of lady bugs and wasps but they don't want to leave the artichoke for other plants.
Not sure why the kale isn't getting any help with it's aphids. Lady bugs don't seem interested in the kale for some reason.

[habitat_gardener]

Borage self-seeds in my garden. I let a few plants grow until they get in the way of other plants. They get up to 4 ft. high and 3 ft. wide in my good soil. Early in the season, they're bee attractants. In my garden, honeybees like borage best, and bumblebees like cerinthe (another early self-seeding annual) best. I trim back branches as needed and pull them out when the tomato plants no longer need protection from the wind, or when the tomato plants need more space.

[Redbaron]

I had borage in one section of my tomatoes last year. I had a tomato vine 20 foot tall. and the vine that went crazy happened to be the one closest to the borage. I also had one especially productive plant. It was 2nd closest to the borage. Both plants grew so vigorous they ended up killing the borage...choked it out. I had another borage in my cabbage. the closest to the borage was by far the biggest cabbage. It also grew so big it choked out the borage beside it.

A few other places I tried it, showed no differences.

Was that coincidence or the borage? I really cant say. It was impressive enough for me to start playing around with it though.

[greentiger87]

For some reason my attempts at borage companion planting have always gone terribly wrong. Instead of repelling pests, they seem to be a magnet for aphids and spider mites. In a couple cases, the undersides of the leaves were completely covered with them, even though the tomatoes a foot away were just fine.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by greentiger87

For some reason my attempts at borage companion planting have always gone terribly wrong. Instead of repelling pests, they seem to be a magnet for aphids and spider mites. In a couple cases, the undersides of the leaves were completely covered with them, even though the tomatoes a foot away were just fine.

And that is a bad thing because........?