Are marigolds good for pest control? Let’s find out.

Marigolds have come to be known for their brilliant colors and are widely used grown for a wide range of uses.

Marigolds Pest Control

Over the years, the use of the name marigold has extended to include other similar-looking ornamental plants within the same family.

Lower classifications of the marigold plant include the French Marigold, Mexican Marigold, Southern Cone Marigold, Signet Marigold, and the Red Crescent Marigold just to name a few.

Here, our focus is more on finding out if marigolds can be used for pest control.

Benefits Of Using Marigolds For Pest Control

In a bid to provide real insight into the use of this plant for pest control purposes, let’s first consider its benefits. Are there any health benefits? Apart from being grown as an ornamental plant, marigold has a wide range of applications.

First off, they’re edible.

Yes! Marigolds are among edible flowers grown for their petals. These are added to a wide range of dishes such as salads. The naturally occurring chemicals or compounds in marigolds serve to repel nematodes.

What more?

These plants attract beneficial insects such as bees among other pollinators.

Asides from bees and other beneficial insects, marigolds also attract predators. These predators prey on pests like aphids, thus reducing damage to crops and flowers around your home.

We won’t be going into all the details on the benefits as there are several.

Let’s get back to the topic under discussion, shall we?

Best Marigolds For Pest Control

When it comes to what works best for pest control, you’ll need some knowledge about the varieties.

Some of them include French marigold, Mexican Marigold, Safari tangerine marigold, Queen Sophia marigold, Hero orange marigold, and Little hero marigold.

Other popular varieties include lemon gem marigold, Spanish tarragon marigold, Irish lace marigold, pot marigold, and Zenith lemon marigold among several.

Now the question is; do all marigold flowers have the same effect on pests?

Not at all! Certain marigold species such as the French marigold is known to be among the most effective for pest control.

With this established, it’s necessary to focus on the pest repellent properties of marigolds.

Marigolds In Garden For Pest Control

If you have a garden, the presence and effect of pests should be well known. These destructive pests mostly consist of aphids and nematodes. They cause havoc to plants by feeding on plant roots and juices.

Due to such destructive activity, it becomes necessary to adopt preventive control.

  • French Marigolds Pest Control

This is where the introduction of marigolds (French marigolds) into your garden tilts the balance in your favor. So, what happens when you introduce marigold flowers?

As discussed earlier, it attracts beneficial insects to your garden in addition to predators.

When these predators arrive, they don’t do damage to your plants, rather, they feed on destructive pests like squash bugs, tomato hornworms, as well as whiteflies.

Others include thrips and cabbage worms.

Every gardener will want to have such beneficial predators around. What more? Pollinators are attracted which helps improve your plant crop yield.

Other Pest Control Benefits of Marigolds

Apart from attracting beneficial predators and pollinators, marigold plants help to minimize pest presence in the soil by killing knot nematodes? How does this happen?

The French marigold plant secretes toxic chemicals into the soil.

These chemicals aren’t toxic to other plants or beneficial insects but to harmful nematodes feeding on plant roots. With this characteristic, it’s easier to see why you should have marigolds grown in your garden.

The more marigold flowers there are the better.

Is There A Scientific Proof Backing this Claim

Unfortunately, there isn’t! Most of the accounts about the effects of marigolds on pests come from anecdotal evidence.

This creates a little bit of confusion for persons seeking to apply the marigold treatment to their pest issues. However, the truth is, there’s no harm in trying.

You can grow marigolds simply for the benefits the plant offers.

While doing so, you can also observe. Marigolds beautify your garden while serving a variety of other uses as mentioned earlier. So, it’s up to you.

You have stories from seasoned gardeners who attest to the efficacy of this plant for pest control.

Can I Grow Marigolds Alongside other Garden Plants?

Excellent use for marigold is to have it planted with other garden plants. It hardly affects them in any way. Plus, it serves to protect the same from damage by pests.

Examples of plants grown alongside marigolds include tomatoes, strawberries, roses, and potatoes among several.

Why Use Marigolds Over Chemical-Based Pesticides?

A little reflection on the use of marigolds for pest control should reveal why it’s preferred over other methods. In most situations, a lot of people settle for chemical-based pesticides for treating their pest issues.

The problem with those is that while they give results, toxicity is an issue you have to deal with.

Sometimes, pests won’t be killed because resistance is built. Pesticides will have to be used in rotation to prevent pests from developing resistance.

With marigolds, all that stress is eliminated. You won’t have to figure out how to go about preventing resistance because there’s nothing like that with natural pest control.

As a natural solution to pest issues, you won’t have to deal with toxicity. Marigolds get rid of pests naturally with no adverse effects resulting.

Other Plants For Pest Control

If you’re wondering whether combining other pest repellent plants with marigolds will be a great idea, the answer is a definitive yes! Apart from marigolds, there are several other plants with pest repellent effects.

These can either be grown alongside marigolds or in place of marigolds.

Such pest repellent plants include basil, Artemisia, catnip, bee balm, borage, chrysanthemums, chives, and dill. Others are dahlias, garlic, four O’ clocks, lavender, hyssop, sunflowers, nasturtiums, and petunias.

How are they grown? In much the same way as marigold! You only need to have these strategically located within your garden to have the best result.

The natural approach offers a whole lot of benefits as beneficial insects are attracted to your garden.

What more? You get to benefit from a non-toxic solution to your pest issues.

With pests gone, there’s no need to worry about damage to crops.

The use of marigolds for pest control is quite popular with gardeners. Although there’s no scientific evidence backing it, anecdotal evidence from seasoned gardeners is being relied on.

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