Painted Daisy repelling pests in your garden?

[Curlygirl27]

I just found a beautiful plant called "red Painted Daisy" (Tanacetum coccineum Pyrethrum) that is advertised to keep pests out of your garden. I know pyrethrum is used in some insect repellants. I prefer organic gadening when I can and planting this seems to fit the bill.

Has anyone tried planting these in their garden and does it work? Does it work with those tomato worms? How much area does one plant protect?

Thanks for your input.

[rainbowgardener]

Painted daisies and their relatives tansy, feverfew, etc are sources of pyrethrins which are insect repellant, insecticidal. I grow tansy and sometimes have feverfew come up as a weed. The leaves are aromatic and are insect repellant when crushed.

I'm not sure any plant works real effectively as an insect repellant just by growing there. I'm sure I've seen insects around my tansy. It is in a flower bed that bees visit.

It isn't going to bother the tomato worm any, but the question is can you keep the moth away that lays the eggs that become the tomato worm. To do that, I would try crushing the leaves a bit and scattering them around (and maybe in) your tomato plant. If you want to go more high powered blend them up in your blender, let sit for awhile, strain and spray on your tomato plants.

But I have tried rubbing my skin with crushed yarrow and tansy leaves as mosquito repellant. It works some, at least slows them down a bit, but has to be renewed frequently. So don't be thinking your garden is going to be magically free of mosquitos and other six legged pests just because you planted a few painted daisies!

[stryper]

so then it would seem that variety would work best?

IE pansy, yarrow, borage, basil, etc scattered through out the garden rather then just say one.

Also it seem that there should be a healthy "balance" of pest, plant and predators.

I am new to all this. After my last experience of black aphids and stripped cucumber bug invasion, I am trying to do something different.

Prevention works in medicine why not in gardening.

[rainbowgardener]

@ stryper: yes, yes, yes! to all of that. Absolutely!

[vebyrd36]

I tend to stay away from tansy, cuz it can be toxic to cattle.

[rainbowgardener]

I live in the city - no cattle for miles around!

[Black River]

We planted tansy, marigolds, and nasturtiums last year among our squash, and only once did I see any squash beetles, although we did have a few plants that had squash vine borer, I'm still battling this pest!

[soil]

Stryper another benefit to ployculture(growing more than just one veggie crop) is as you mentioned the plant chemicals the plants release, as well as bringing beneficial insects around. With a healthy balance like you also mentioned. There will be some pests but they will never be allowed to run wild. If they do it will be followed shortly by a boom in predators. I don't use any pest control sprays or treatments, but my polyculture garden keeps themin check. Good luck.

[mygarden1]

I know this is an old thread, but I came across it while looking up the pest problems I'm having with my painted daisies.

Thought I'd chime in and state that I don't find them to be pest repellants at all. Not only are my painted daisies an apparent haven for snails (I find them all over the my poor plants), but during the spring I found the daisy plants covered with spittle bug foam every morning and just this week I found that the topmost leaves of the plants were all folded over...upon investigation I found that each folded over leaf was covering a tiny worm or some kind of larva (some are wrapped in silk). That's what led to my google search for answers.

In light of all this, I'd have to say that these plants are not pest repellants! Unless my garden would've otherwise been completely overrun by a multitude of other bugs. However, my dahlias appear to have no pests. They are still relatively small (about 1' high), but they have developed flower buds and I've seen no evidence of pests on them.

If anyone knows what the little worms are and how to get rid of them, please share!

For the record, I'm located in the San Francisco, CA bay area.

Thanks