Greetings Permies,
I thought some of you might be interested in an observation I have made in my garden, pertaining to apparent differential treatment by pest insects toward red-fruited tomato varietals and yellow-fruited tomato varietals, respectively.
Namely, the fruit-eating pest insects I have, (blister beetles, stink bug nymphs), seem to favor yellow fruited tomatoes over red ones. Anecdotally, I would estimate that about 80% of my red tomato fruits have no visible evidence of pest pressure at all, while close to 100% of my yellow tomato fruits are damaged. An heirloom breed called 'Cherokee Purple' seems to
experience the least pest pressure of all, but for purposes of this post, I lump it in with the red varietals.
As pest damage often occurs while the fruits are unripe, (and therefore green,) I do not think this phenomenon, assuming I have correctly identified it, is based on the color of the tomato fruit.
Some details to consider:
- I am located in central Texas on a rural parcel surrounded by mixed chaparral and horse pasture
- My garden is a polycuture ~40, including various
native volunteers
- My tomato plants are spaced an average of 4' apart with various plants growing in between; red and yellow varietals are intermixed randomly
I have not properly experimented in order to obtain any quantifiable data to accurately demonstrate this tendency, but I suspect this may have some useful applications in companion planting.
- CV