Companion Plant Categories
Companion plants can benefit each other in a number of different ways, including:
- 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
- Nitrogen fixation — plants that fix nitrogen in the ground, making it available to other plants
- Pest suppression — repelling pest insects, weeds, nematodes, or pathogenic fungi, through chemical means .
- 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
- Trap cropping — plants that attract pests away from others
- Pattern disruption — in a monoculture, pest spread from one plant to the next, is interrupted by any surrounding plants.
Read more about this topic: Companion Planting
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