[tomato] Beneficial Insects.

Paul Reynolds (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Mon, 15 Mar 1999 09:06:58 -0600

Doreen,

Reading your post has jogged my memory about a few things.  When I had
my tomatos planted around the drip line of an Oriental Pear tree, I
recall that there were hoards of stink bugs on the lot where my garden
was planted.  However, I had few problems with them.

In reading your post, I got to remembering that the stink bugs were
attracted to the fruit on the pear tree.  I would not have problems with
them until all the fruit on the tree were gone, completely.  Even if
they were rotting on the ground, there was no harm to my tomato plants.

And during the fall, the same thing happened with a persimmon tree right
next to the pear tree.  The birds would damage the persimmons and the
beetles would literally swarm the fruit where the damage had occured.

Also, I had less bird damage to my tomatos when I started placing my
plants in the vicinity of these two trees.

You folks might give that some of this some thought if you are having
probs with birds and insects such as beetles.  Would be worth a try
anyway, right??  :-))

Thanks

Paul Reynolds
Environmental Agronomist
Austin Texas.