Controlling pests with flowers

Many researchers, including us (and more specifically: Ben), have been studying ways to control pests by attracting natural enemies to crops. Ben has tested floral strips which he planted next to his pumpkin plots, and one of the flowers he tested was sweet alyssum. While Ben has been busy writing his thesis...a study came out of Washington State University that tested the effect of sweet alyssum placed next to orchards. They found a significant decrease in the number of aphids in plots with the flowers compared to plots without flowers. For more info check out the article: www.sciencedaily.com: Controlling aphids with flowers

Ben will be presenting his results soon, and we are excited to see if he had similar results!