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Organic Agriculture and Companion planting

Key words, tags- Organic Agriculture, Companion planting, organic essential oils

Compiled by Gurpreet Singh at earthyflavorance.biz

Abstract

Companion planting is based on the idea that certain plants can benefit others when planted in near
proximity. Thus, its implication for ORGANIC AGRICULTURE needs to be well understood for its
incorporation.

My last blog detailed the salient features of ORGANIC CERTIFICATION.

Companion planting can be described as the establishment of two or more plant species in close
proximity so that some cultural benefit (pest control, higher yield, etc.) is derived. The concept
embraces a number of strategies that increase the biodiversity of agro-ecosystems, on the theory that
they assist each other in nutrient uptake, pest control, pollination, and other factors necessary to
increasing crop productivity.

Companion planting is used by farmers and gardeners in both industrialized and developing countries
for many reasons. Many of the modern principles of companion planting were present many centuries
ago in cottage gardens in England and Home gardens in Asia.

Companion planting is considered to be a form of polyculture.

Companion planting has applications to commercial horticultural and agronomic crops, specially,
organic agriculture systems, where-in, there is a restriction on use of chemicals insecticides.

History

In China, the mosquito fern has been used for at least one thousand years, as a companion plant for
rice crops. It hosts a special cyanobacteria that fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere, and also blocks out
light from getting to any competing plants, aside from the rice, which is planted when tall enough to
stick out of the water above the azolla layer.

Companion planting was practiced in various forms by Native Americans prior to the arrival of
Europeans. One common system was the planting of corn (maize) and pole beans together. The
cornstalk would serve as a trellis for the beans to climb while the beans would fix nitrogen for the corn.
The inclusion of squash with these two plants completes the Three Sisters technique, pioneered by
Native American peoples.

Companion planting was widely touted in the 1970s as part of the organic gardening movement[citation
needed]. It was encouraged for pragmatic reasons, such as natural trellising, but mainly with the idea
that different species of plant may thrive more when close together[citation needed]. It is also a
technique frequently used in permaculture, together with mulching, polyculture, and changing of crops.

While companion planting has a long history, the mechanisms of beneficial plant interaction have not

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always been well understood. some of the recommendations for companion planting, made around the
middle of this century, were based on the results of sensitive crystallization tests.

Originally developed by Dr. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, sensitive crystallization testing entails the mixing of
plant extracts with select salt reagents like sodium sulfate or copper chloride. The resulting solution is
placed in a controlled environment chamber and allowed to evaporate slowly. The process results in a
precipitate that often takes on beautiful geometric forms and patterns. The characteristics of the pattern
are studied and interpreted to establish whether the plants are likely to interact well with each other (1).
Sensitive crystallization appeals to practitioners of Biodynamics™ (BD) and others who take a more
metaphysical approach to nature. Conventional science is much more skeptical of this process as a
means to evaluate plant associations.

Host-finding disruption

Recent studies on host-plant finding have shown that flying pests are far less successful if their host-
plants are surrounded by any other plant or even "decoy-plants" made of green plastic, cardboard, or
any other green material.

The host-plant finding process occurs in phases:

* The first phase is stimulation by odours characteristic to the host-plant. This induces the insect to
try to land on the plant it seeks. But insects avoid landing on brown (bare) soil. So if only the host-plant
is present, the insects will quasi-systematically find it by simply landing on the only green thing around.
This is called (from the point of view of the insect) "appropriate landing." When it does an
"inappropriate landing," it flies off to any other nearby patch of green. It eventually leaves the area if
there are too many 'inappropriate' landings.
* The second phase of host-plant finding is for the insect to make short flights from leaf to leaf to
assess the plant's overall suitability. The number of leaf-to-leaf flights varies according to the insect
species and to the host-plant stimulus received from each leaf. The insect must accumulate sufficient
stimuli from the host-plant to lay eggs; so it must make a certain number of consecutive 'appropriate'
landings. Hence if it makes an 'inappropriate landing', the assessment of that plant is negative, and the
insect must start the process anew.

Thus it was shown that clover used as a ground cover had the same disruptive effect on eight pest
species from four different insect orders. An experiment showed that 36% of cabbage root flies laid
eggs beside cabbages growing in bare soil (which resulted in no crop), compared to only 7% beside
cabbages growing in clover (which allowed a good crop). Simple decoys made of green cardboard also
disrupted appropriate landings just as well as did the live ground cover.

The Scientific Foundations for Companion Planting

While conventional agriculturalists and BD practitioners may disagree over the validity of sensitive
crystallization research, there is general agreement today on the validity of several mechanisms that
create beneficial plant associations

Trap Cropping

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Sometimes, a neighboring crop may be selected because it is more attractive to pests and serves to
distract them from the main crop. An excellent example of this is the use of collards to draw the
diamond back moth away from cabbage (2).
Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation

Legumes—such as peas, beans, and clover—have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen for their own
use and for the benefit of neighboring plants via symbiotic relationship with Rhizobium bacteria. Forage
legumes, for example, are commonly seeded with grasses to reduce the need for nitrogen fertilizer.
Likewise, beans are sometimes inter-planted with corn.

Biochemical Pest Suppression

Some plants exude chemicals from roots or aerial parts that suppress or repel pests and protect
neighboring plants. The African marigold, for example, releases thiopene—a nematode repellent—
making it a good companion for a number of garden crops. The manufacture and release of certain
biochemicals is also a factor in plant antagonism. Allelochemicals such as juglone—found in black
walnut—suppress the growth of a wide range of other plants, which often creates a problem in home
horticulture. A positive use of plant allelopathy is the use of mow-killed grain rye as a mulch. The
allelochemicals that leach from rye residue prevent weed germination but do not harm transplanted
tomatoes, broccoli, or many other vegetables.

Physical Spatial Interactions

For example, tall-growing, sun-loving plants may share space with lower-growing, shade-tolerant
species, resulting in higher total yields from the land. Spatial interaction can also yield pest control
benefits. The diverse canopy resulting when corn is companion-planted with squash or pumpkins is
believed to disorient the adult squash vine borer and protect the vining crop from this damaging pest. In
turn, the presence of the prickly vines is said to discourage raccoons from ravaging the sweet corn.

Nurse Cropping

Tall or dense-canopied plants may protect more vulnerable species through shading or by providing a
windbreak. Nurse crops such as oats have long been used to help establish alfalfa and other forages
by supplanting the more competitive weeds that would otherwise grow in their place. In many
instances, nurse cropping is simply another form of physical-spatial interaction.

Beneficial Habitats

Beneficial habitats—sometimes called refugia—are another type of companion plant interaction that
has drawn considerable attention in recent years. The benefit is derived when companion plants
provide a desirable environment for beneficial insects and other arthropods—especially those
predatory and parasitic species which help to keep pest populations in check. Predators include
ladybird beetles, lacewings, hover flies, mantids, robber flies, and non-insects such as spiders and
predatory mites. Parasites include a wide range of fly and wasp species including tachinid flies, and
Trichogramma and ichneumonid wasps. Agroecologists believe that by developing systems to include
habitats that draw and sustain beneficial insects, the twin objectives of reducing both pest damage and
pesticide use can be attained.

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Security Through Diversity

A more general mixing of various crops and varieties provides a degree of security to the grower. If
pests or adverse conditions reduce or destroy a single crop or cultivar, others remain to produce some
level of yield. Furthermore, the simple mixing of cultivars, at times can reduce pest infestation.

Options For System Design

Agronomists use the term "intercropping" to describe the spatial arrangements of companion planting
systems. Intercropping systems range from mixed intercropping to large-scale strip intercropping.
Mixed intercropping is commonly seen in traditional gardens where two or more crops are grown
together without a distinct row formation. Strip intercropping is designed with two or more crops grown
together in distinct rows to allow for mechanical crop production. No-till planting or transplanting into
standing cover crops can be considered another form of intercropping

Other Miscellaneous Benefits

Flavor enhancement — some plants, especially herbs, seem to subtly change the flavor of other
plants around them.

Hedged investment — multiple plants in the same space increase the odds of some yield being given,
even if one category encounters catastrophic issues.

Increased level interaction — plants that grow on different levels in the same space, perhaps
providing ground cover or working as a trellis for another plant

Pollinator and predator recruitment — The use of plants that produce copious nectar and protein-
rich pollen in a vegetable garden (insectary plants) is a good way to recruit higher populations of
beneficial insects that control pests. Some insects in the adult form are nectar or pollen feeders, while
in the larval form they are voracious predators of pest insects.

Positive hosting — attracts or is inhabited by beneficial insects or other organisms which benefit
plants, as with ladybugs or some "good nematodes"

Protective shelter — one type of plant may serve as a wind break or shade for another

Pattern disruption — in a monoculture, pest spread from one plant to the next, is interrupted by
companion plants

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