{"id":168420,"date":"2025-04-02T15:00:47","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T15:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/agriculture\/choose-your-banker-crops-well-and-you-will-laugh-all-the-way-to-the-bank-urban-ag-news\/"},"modified":"2025-04-02T15:00:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T15:00:47","slug":"choose-your-banker-crops-well-and-you-will-laugh-all-the-way-to-the-bank-urban-ag-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=168420","title":{"rendered":"Choose your banker crops well and you will laugh all the way to the bank \u2013 Urban Ag News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Banker<\/a> plants provide an alternative food source, habitat and often a reproduction site for natural<\/a> pest enemies. Banker plants can be particularly useful during periods of high nitrogen boosted growth i.e. when the apices are actively growing like the tomatoes above.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even though we operate in controlled environments, working with the natural ecosystem in a greenhouse could help to cheaply and efficiently control pests alongside trap tapes and other biocontrols.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tansy is just one example of a useful banker crop in controlled hydroponic greenhouses.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Tansy<\/a> flower or \u2018Yellow Buttons\u2019 as it\u2019s more commonly known could be a great banker crop to protect more valuable plants from pests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tansy (Tanacetum Vulgare<\/em>), is of the genus Tanacetum in the Aster family. The leaves and flowers are irresistible<\/a> to ladybirds who lay their eggs on it. They will hatch and enjoy an aphid banquet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Tansy will host beneficials such as braconid parasitoid<\/a> wasps and minute pirate<\/a> bugs. These predators will gobble up aphids, mites and thrips in the greenhouse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tansy can be easily grown in hydroponics, and is cold hardy under natural light and can grow 2-3 ft in summer. Growing Tansy in hydroponics is easy with low EC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Tansy also grows well in full sun, here seen in full bloom on a rooftop terrace in Edinburgh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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If banker plants are grown in soil, they can provide a safe haven for parasitic wasps to emerge from chrysalis in a natural order to keep aphids and thrips in check. Parasitoids lay their eggs in or on a target insect. The eggs hatch into larvae and devour the host.<\/p>\n

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Before (left) and after (right) effects of parasitic wasp (Aphidius colemani) <\/em>mummification of the green peach aphid (myzus persicae)<\/em>. The wasp\u2019s life cycle requires soil for hatching and the tansy provides its first food source so wasps multiply to hunt down every single aphid they detect. Hint: identifying your specific pest is important in biocontrol.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other production horticulture banker crops\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Aside from our suggestion of Tansy, there are many more common banker plants which include:-<\/p>\n