Companion planting or repellent planting means mixing plants in a row so that plants with odors, tastes, or other characteristics repellent to pests are planted next to host plants that they like and damage. The insects find the mix of plants not to their liking and leave the garden for a better place to feed.
Try interplanting radishes and squash to repel squashbugs
Suggested Companion Plantings
Pests | Plant Repellent |
Ants | Spearmint, tansy, pennyroyal |
Bean Leaf Beetle | Potato, onion, turnip |
Colorado Potato Beetle | Green beans, coriander, nasturtium |
Cowpea Curculio | Garlic, cloves, radish |
Cucumber Beetle Flea Beetle | Radish, tansy |
Harlequin Beetle | Garlic, onion, mint |
Imported Cabbage Worm | Radish, turnips, onion |
Japanese Beetle | Mint, sage, rosemary, hyssop |
Leafhopper | Garlic, larkspur, red buckeye |
Mexican Bean Beetle | Geranium |
Root-Knot Nematodes | Potato, onion, garlic, radish |
Spider Mites | French marigold |
Squash bug | Onion, garlic, cloves |
Stink Bug | Radish, marigold |
Tarnished Plant Bug | Radishes |
Trips | Garlic, pepper |
Tomato Hornworm | Spearmint, tansy, pennyroyal |
Whitefly | Potato, onion, turnip |