I’m growing tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers for my first time not on a balcony, and I’m a tad concerned about caterpillars, squirrels, and other wildlife finding their way to my crops; that said, I would like to keep my space as earth friendly as possible, so chemical pesticides are out. I’ve read blog articles about trimming the lowest branches to prevent disease and planting trap crops such as nasturtiums and marigolds to lure pests away from the tomatoes. Do these techniques actually work? How do other gardeners handle this situation?
I usually do nothing really complicated to deal with pests. Unless you are trying to optimize yields to the nth degree it won’t really affect it too hard. I would trim the bottom branches from my tomatoes (this helps for pests and mostly for keeping tomatoes off the ground). Peppers need something similar. Cucumbers work best on some kind of trellis so the vines stay off the ground.
I have never really had too much issues with these plants doing nothing preventative. I did have some racoons eat my corn before (that sucked). I would plant marigolds or nasturtium but that’s because I love them both.