Companion Planting VS. Interplanting: Differences, Examples, and Strategies for Both

foreign [Music] [Music] ERS farmer Jesse here today we're going to break down some of the basic strategies for intercropping for companion planting we'll also Define those terms because there is a difference and outline some strategies for each and at the very end of this video I will give you some preliminary updates on possibly my weirdest inner planning to date so let's do it [Music] so first inner planting versus companion planting is there a difference is that difference important what does the science say who even asked the science anyway how about that guy's super annoying to hang out with oh it's me yeah I stand by what I said so is there a difference well uh it kind of depends on who you ask and I know that people do use those terms somewhat interchangeably and other people probably have very passionate feelings about those terms but at least for me and for many other Growers there is a difference uh companion planting is the act of planting two or more species together in the same area or bed or Row for identifiable benefits to one of the crops like planting a certain flour such as marigolds around your tomatoes to deter a particular pest like white flies the goal in this companion planting is to improve the health of the tomatoes not necessarily the health and production of the marigolds although there are certainly some pretty wild claims out there about certain plant combinations for companion planting some like marigolds with tomatoes actually do have at least some research on their side and we'll talk about some other combinations that do as well a bit later in this video but how does that idea of companion planting contrast with inner planting sometimes called inner cropping uh well in companion planting you are typically sacrificing at least to some extent one crop to benefit the other for instance you're not really getting a great crop off the Marigolds in our tomato example in general at least not a substantial crop the goal of that particular pairing is not the marigolds necessarily but it's the successful tomato plant with inner planting by contrast the goal is to successfully produce two or more crops without damaging yields on either of them at least not to any great extent so set another way companion planting is using one crop to benefit another and inner planting is trying to successfully produce multiple crops in the same growing space without losing production on either of them on our farm we do significantly more inner cropping than companion planting because space is so valuable but we do do a little of both is there some crossover absolutely but I find differentiating them that way is helpful and to explain uh how to do both because planting beets with I don't know lettuce or whatever is good for the soil but not necessarily directly helping one crop or the other thus intercropping and not companion planting so anyway first I'm going to give you the basic strategies of inter-planting and then we will talk about some companion planting options that actually have a little research to back them up I also discussed these things in really extensive detail in the living soil handbook which if you don't have it already you can pick it up at notailgros.com if this is something in which you're interested in really geeking out on uh it's there and I applaud you thanks all right so inner planning strategy number one fill space while crop is maturing if you're just getting started in inner planting the easiest place to begin is with crops like tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers and longer season stuff these are crops that are in the ground for well over a month in most cases before they actually start producing anything so a quick round of something like beets or lettuces or radishes or green onions or something else fast growing in that vein planted beside the tomatoes for instance is a good way to maximize that space and add a little biodiversity to the bed that way you can harvest the faster crop out of that bed before the tomatoes eggplant cucumbers peppers have matured and started producing in a planning strategy number two filling in gaps the primary way I utilize this idea is when maybe like a thin planting of carrots in the early spring we usually put our first round in March and sometimes one of those crops or some of those crops don't germinate very well for one reason or another so we may end up with awkward gaps in the carrots so instead of just getting rid of the whole bed and sacrificing all those carrots we just plant into the carrots we can fill those with things like beets or lettuces or maybe even green onions just making sure that we're not wasting that perfectly good growing space but we're also not getting rid of all those carrots you could also do that with directly sewn beets or other 60 to 70 a day crops like that or maybe a dog or something digs up a couple squash plants fill that space with something we always keep lettuce and beats and sometimes green onions on hand to fill unused space throughout the year we always have an extra tray in the greenhouse I point over that way because that's where it is inner planning strategy number three structural benefits uh what does one crop need physically that another crop provides like we often need a little bit of shade for our summer lettuce which can come from a lot of different crops corn Tomatoes tall basil plants cut flowers anything that will Tower sort of slightly above the plants and cast a light Shadow at least for part of the day usually the latter part I'm not going to talk about perennials too much in this video but this is obviously one way that small fruiting shrubs or trees would come in really handy by providing shade or diffuse light I'm a big fan of diffuse light when sunlight hits something like the surface of a leaf it sort of shatters and goes in a bunch of different directions and having tall plants diffusing light for smaller plants helps the lower leaves on those smaller plants and other taller plants to receive more or sunlight thus making it easier to achieve robust photosynthesis remember that basically any non-woody part of the plant is capable of photosynthesis so getting the light to Bounce Down onto those lower levels as opposed to just hammering the satin and saturating the top of the leaves with sunlight is ideal for growth all right inner planting strategy number four root complementarity that's a fun one to say basically different root systems prefer to occupy different levels of the soil oh I like using that word preferred it always drives scientists nuts when I anthropomorphize but you know honestly it always drives me nuts when scientists kind of in their quest for Perfection refuse to analogize at all and it also sort of plays into this this sort of hubris that plants can't possibly have emotions or intelligence just because we can't measure it return to making what video so some plants are shallow rooters like lettuces or squash and others send down deep tap Roots like parsnips or tomatoes and Etc so pairing crops based on their ability to complement or more specifically not interfere with each other's root structures can and be fun essentially the plants are gathering the bulk of their nutrients from different places this amazing site was recommended by no-till Growers Forum genius David Blanchard I'll put a link in the show notes and you should come join us on the Forum at some point it's nerd Central inner planning strategy number five relay cropping uh years ago I proposed this idea of everbed farming where beds were never out of production or at least never not growing something like at minimum a cover crop so essentially you would be planting the next crop into the existing crop called relay cropping but I've cooled a little bit on talking about everbed farming only because it's exceedingly complicated and I'm not sure it's as productive as I want it to be in the long run of course our beds are rarely ever out of production for any amount of time it's just that they do occasionally go out of production so that I can simply you know get them ready for the next crop weeding or fertilizing or whatever that said I still do a fair amount of real cropping especially in our tunnels like the winter crops are rarely done by the time I want to put in my spring tomatoes and cucumbers Etc so I just put those crops right into the winter crops these little Peppers that you can see here for instance were planted into this lettuce bed that is slowly finishing up the tomatoes were planted into the winter leaks and last year they were planted into the radishes and carrots radishes and carrots that were notably specifically planted with enough room to plant the tomatoes garlic that you see here was planted into red romaine's last fall the Cucumbers went into some lettuce mix as well so essentially those crops were not done and I just went ahead and put in the next crop another easy one is planting squash into radish beds I always find that one works out the radishes come out pretty easily and the Squash take over you get the idea I generally recommend getting really good growing each crop before trying to combine them in this way or really in any way honestly that just goes for all inner planting it's good to know how the crops grow before you start trying to pair them together number six split bed interplanting without question this is the easiest of all inner plants basically half of the bed is planted to one crop like lettuce and the other half is planted to a similar crop in terms of days to maturity like spinach or green onions or something this provides a little bit of diversity to the bed below ground but in easier planting and harvesting system for when the crops are ready than like a really complicated inner cropping generally speaking we want to split those beds in half one pseudo version of this or version of sort of like the green onions into the lettuce thing also is like planting carrots and radishes together sometimes people will plant like a row of carrots and a row of radishes Etc and then try and pull the radishes and let the carrots grow up I'm not going to get into critical periods of competition in this video like I do in my book but basically carrots do not do well with early competition even if the radishes come out early the carrots tend to have long greens and short carrots [Music] thank you [Music] okay there are some other inner planning strategies out there which you can flesh out in the comments section if you'd like and like I said I'll leave one more for the very end of this for the super nerds but let's move on to companion planting strategies again unlike inner planting where the goal is both crops succeeding the goal with companion planting as I'm using that term here is companionship as the scientists would say no the goal is actually for one crop to provide something to the other crop so more like support planting but whatever companion planting fine companion planning strategy number one attract beneficials really what we're talking about here is mostly integrating flowers into your garden I mentioned in a recent video probably that we're planting sweet alyssum into our cucumbers this year instead of our Tomatoes but the goal there is to encourage pollinators and also the brachnoid wasps that lay eggs in hornworms on the now nearby tomato plants enhancing beneficial insects through a variety of flowering plants is very very well studied like this three-year study in Spain that demonstrated increases both in the number of species and the number of individual insects over time by planting a mixture of native and non-native flowering plants in between Vineyard rows now I point out that study just to say that sometimes companion planting does not necessarily need to be in the space itself like in the bed but in in some cases and arguably should be in most cases be done around your farm and garden for us that's things like clovers in our Pathways or for our Hedges it's things like tithonia sunflowers milkweed and it's hyssop yarrow and other flowers we also have a whole ecological area in the back of our farm that we're setting up dedicated specifically to wildflowers also some garlic and other stuff that we're just allowing to flower back there practically any flowering native plant that you can have around your garden is going to be super helpful insect populations are absolutely crashing and so do what you can to feed and house them unless you're looking forward to hand pollinating everything which I'm gonna be honest I'm not my back isn't really tolerating me farming anyway so yeah not not super looking forward to that companion plant and strut companion planting companion planting strategy number two deter pests and disease uh now at the beginning of this video I mentioned the tomato and Marigold combo I think I mentioned it like 10 times which is one example of deterring pest with companion planting backed up with some research when used preemptively marigolds may help deter white flies indeed and maybe some other pests though notably marigolds are not as effective according to this study when used after bigger infestations but anyway I was a little surprised to find research that suggests deterring pests with smell is actually not all that reliable because insects use many mechanisms to find plants including visual cues and Discord groups so although anecdotally we've had good results planting nasturtiums with cucumbers to ward off cucumber beetles I could not find research to back that up of course that doesn't mean it doesn't work but it could mean that there is something else at play or that it just needs to research so hi hi after I recorded this I felt like this following section was a little thin so I'm going to flesh it out a bit more and just rapid fire some other interesting things I found in the research it's such a loud Farm about companion planting uh like this two-year study here that found that inner cropping green garlic in cucumbers increased nutrient levels and biomass and continuously cropped tunnel cucumbers uh in fact there are many studies on the disease and sometimes pests suppressing abilities of alliums when intercropped with various things as well as one study which found improved photosynthesis from intercropping peppers with garlic I have to try that one this year I've read this interesting meta-analysis that found significant decreases in nematode and soil-borne diseases in a wide variety of inner cropping papers so essentially they examined a bunch of papers and found a lot of benefits to Inner cropping then there are studies that show at least some disease reduction when intercropping cereals with fava or fava beans I know flea beetles are one that a lot of people have interest in and most studies are about trap crops which is coming up presently but I did find this small Nigerian study that demonstrated a reduction in flea damage to Okra when transplated with sorghum so perhaps there are more flea Beetle deterrent options with cereals like that I don't know and so on basically if you have a disease or pest you're trying to get around someone has probably put some energy into finding plant combinations that help combat it all right back to me companion planting strategy number three trap crops so this is sort of the opposite of the last strategy where the goal is to plant something that actively attracts a pest instead of deters them we call these trap crops and I have to be honest I've been pretty cold on this idea for a really long time assuming that trap crops more or less just propagate the species you don't really want and that certainly can happen but I was surprised in reading through the research at some of the interesting things that can be done with trap crops organically of course I'm not just talking like plant a crop let a bunch of bugs come to it and then spray it with pesticide for one some trap crops may not only attract the undesired pests but also that pests Predators I found this study on board for instance a delicious cucumber e tasting edible flower that showed it attracted aphids but also its flowers were attracting aphid Predators for us we founded it sweet alyssum attracts the Harlequin Beetle so we try and keep it away from our like fall brassicas but it also apparently attracts a wide range of insect predator species so it may not attract a harlequin Predator necessarily but it attracts a lot of good bugs now I don't have any great advice on this I would still personally prefer to just plant flowers for beneficials rather than sacrificial crops but if you're having a specific and serious pest issue year after year I wouldn't hesitate now to look into trap crops for that species there's a good amount of helpful research out there on the subject especially on things like flea beetles and Etc so look into it anyway I gotta get to work but I wanted to give you at least a little glimpse into an inner crop that I'm working on that sort of belongs in the don't try this at home category so don't try this at home maybe but it may have some potential at least with a little more tweaking if you follow our Instagram and you should it's a riot then perhaps you've seen me playing with this idea but I call it double seeding because I'm creative which is basically what it sounds like I am double seeding certain crops into the same soil block and planting that block out this started as an accident when we we accidentally sewed lettuce blocks with fennel seeds one year and we were just like well we have to plant these and see what happens and it kind of worked where when the lettuce heads were done we cut them out carefully and then we harvested the fennel like two or so weeks later so now we're playing with this idea on purpose the one I'm working with most in these trials is seeding cilantro into head lettuce blocks the idea here is still very much in its infancy and I'm not necessarily actually I'm directly not recommending you try this um that's why I put it at the end of the video for the super nerds but I'm basically planting them both and then comparing the weight of the head lettuces and the cilantro with the pet lettuces that are just planted on their own the idea being to see if I lose yield how much is it is it substantial or is there an economic benefit to having both in the same block cutting them out at the same time separating the cilantro and the head lettuce and then I get two crops at once instead of having to plant two different crops at two different times I'm planting two crops at one time and harvesting two crops at one time at least that's the idea we'll see if it works out so I'll keep you updated on those trials and otherwise I'll just say that plant diversity has far more benefits to soil health and crop productivity and ecology than I could ever possibly get to in a video so pick up a copy of the living soil handbook from notokros.com if you have not already for more all and all that and anything you get at notelgros.com including a hat or merch or whatever that supports this work become a patron if you have not already at patreon.com no-till Growers that's the biggest way to make these videos keep coming if you are not subscribed to this channel make sure to hit the Subscribe button and if you are subscribed you're awesome switching it up this week that subscribe button is intercropped with the super thanks button I can't get to every question on here but I will always tend to those super things because I'm super thankful so leave one of those if this video has been helpful like this video If you like this video thanks for watching we'll see you later bye no I mean plants did not choose to stay where they are it's in more like an evolutionary outcome yeah we try not to anthropomorphize them right oh my kids they're doing great yeah sprouting right up growing like weeds yeah yeah we're really happy to be rooted here though um Bloom where you're planted am I right foreign [Music]

Channel: No-Till Growers

Views: 318,163

Keywords: trap crops, intercrops, interplanting, companion planting, pests, disease, ideas, examples

Id: MvzQKEa2z_A

Length: 19min 4sec (1144 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 30 2023