Protect Fruit Trees From Pests With This Popular Spring Bulb

Fruit trees are a lovely addition to any landscape or garden. What's more fun than picking fruit directly off the tree? However, when your fruit tree falls victim to pests, it can be discouraging, annoying, and negatively impact your harvest. Whether you're dealing with deer or insect pests, planting daffodil bulbs around your fruit trees is a great way to build up their defenses. Plus, in addition to the added pest protection, you can enjoy the stunning and vibrant beauty that daffodils offer each spring. It's a win-win

Before you start planting, it's essential to consider the best time of year for planting daffodils to ensure their success. In short, you should plant your daffodil bulbs in the fall. This allows them to establish a root system before the ground freezes, which is vital if you want to see spring blooms. Come springtime, your fruit trees will be surrounded by a gorgeous display of pale yellow blooms that will send pests running in the opposite direction. Known in permaculture as a "tree guild", planting certain plants around fruit trees is a great way to create a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship between the soil, the fruit tree, the understory plants, and beneficial insects.

Creating fruit tree guilds is one of the best ways to encourage biodiversity in your garden and create self-sustaining ecosystems that require less work on your end. Tree guilds are a grouping of plants that support a central element, usually a fruit-bearing tree. The plants beneath the tree can provide various benefits, such as reducing pests, attracting pollinators to aid in pollination, leading to a more fruitful harvest, fixing nitrogen, and so on. In the case of reducing pests, daffodils are an excellent understory plant for a fruit tree guild since they're toxic to most animals and pests. 

They often bloom before fruit trees since they are the first flowers to emerge in spring. This means they attract early-season pollinators that will stay in the area when your fruit tree blooms. A good practice is to plant the daffodils or understory plants in the drip line of the tree (where rainwater drips off the branches and leaves). Aside from daffodils, marigolds, chamomile, dill, rosemary, and comfrey are all lovely additions to a fruit tree guild. This permaculture technique is a great way to repel pests while witnessing the interconnectedness of nature and ecosystems. Recreating this symbiotic interdependence in your garden will reduce your inputs and allow you to learn how plants can interact and support one another. Cultivating biodiversity and a living ecosystem is essential to growing a healthy garden.