Effects of farmscaping plants on the abundance and diversity of arthropods in organic tomato fields

Field tests were conducted on organic tomato fields in the summers of 2008 and 2009 testing the effects of flowering farmscaping plants on the abundance and diversity of arthropods in the tomato fields. The following farmscaping plants were evaluated: sunflower, sweet alyssum, licorice mint, and buckwheat. The variety of tomatoes was amelia, a tomato spotted wilt virus resistant variety. The farmscaping plants were planted along the border of the tomatoes. The plants were sampled using yellow sticky traps, an insect vacuum, and visual sampling on a weekly basis. Early results appear to show lower number of herbivores and higher numbers of predators and parasitoids around the farmscaping plants than on control tomatoes.