Cauliflower Companion Planting
Brassica oleracea var. botrytis
Mustard (Brassicaceae) -- cool season
Good Companions for Cauliflower
Sweet alyssum living mulch attracts hover flies and parasitoid wasps that control cabbage aphid (Brevicoryne brassicae) on cauliflower. Same documented mechanism as cabbage-alyssum and broccoli-alyssum pairings.
Undersow alyssum at transplant. All brassica-alyssum pairings follow the same research base.
- Flower power: promoting pest natural enemies of key brassica pests with sweet alyssum -- HortScience (2013)
Flowering dill attracts Cotesia glomerata and other parasitoid wasps that parasitize imported cabbageworm (Pieris rapae) larvae on cauliflower. Same mechanism documented for cabbage-dill.
Allow dill to flower among cauliflower. Cauliflower is particularly sensitive to caterpillar damage on developing heads.
- Effects of floral provisioning on parasitism of imported cabbageworm -- Environmental Entomology (2001)
Onion volatiles reduce cabbage root fly (Delia radicum) oviposition through olfactory masking. The same mechanism documented for cabbage-onion intercropping applies to all brassicas.
Alternate rows of onion and cauliflower for best protection.
- Intercropping cabbage with onion reduces cabbage root fly incidence -- Journal of Applied Ecology (1991)
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