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Ecological engineering taps into flower power to control pests
17 Aug 2004
Planting wild flowers around an orchard or marigolds among the onions to ward off pest insects and attract good ones may not just be old wives' tales. According to a researcher at the University of Sydney, companion planting , or ecological engineering, is a blossoming science which is helping to fight insects as they become resistant to pesticides. Geoff Gurr said he's looking into which insects are worth using in broadacre agriculture or in intensive horticulture.
Professor Gurr said there's lots of research going into genetic engineering, but that's not the only option. With ecological engineering relatively simple techniques can be used that are both inexpensive and low-risk to the environment.
Results of projects at the university's Orange campus are encouraging so far. In one program, borage flowers were planted in the margins of potato crops. Flower nectar sustained parasitic wasps, which lived five times longer than normal and produced 10 times as many eggs. The wasps lay their eggs in the bodies of potato moth caterpillars. When hatched the maggots consume the moth caterpillars from within.
Sydney Morning Herald, 17/8/04.
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