Mbombo

Pests & beneficial insects

🐛 Prone to: Aphids

Aphids

Aphididae

Curled leaves, sticky honeydew and ants on patrol — usually with something already eating them.

, Spider mites

Spider mites

Tetranychidae

Fine pale stippling in hot, dusty, dry weather. Visible webbing means you are already late.

, Cutworms

Cutworms

Noctuidae

A seedling lying beside its own stump in the morning, cut clean through at soil level.

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Attract Hoverflies

Hoverflies

Syrphidae

The adults only drink nectar. It is the larvae that eat the aphids.

, Lacewings

Lacewings

Chrysopidae

Golden-eyed adults that mostly drink; larvae that hunt like small alligators.

, Ladybugs

Ladybugs

Coccinellidae

The one predator here where the adults hunt as hard as the larvae do.

, Parasitic wasps

Parasitic wasps

Braconidae, Ichneumonidae and relatives

Pinhead-sized, stingless, and lethal to aphids and caterpillars from the inside.

, Predatory mites

Predatory mites

Phytoseiidae

Too small to see without a hand lens, and the main thing holding spider mites down.

, Minute pirate bugs

Minute pirate bugs

Anthocoridae

Two to three millimetres, and both stages hunt — thrips and spider mites, thirty a day.

, Ground beetles

Ground beetles

Carabidae

Night-active ground hunters, taking slugs, cutworms and leatherjackets at soil level.

to keep them in check — plant African MarigoldGreat, French MarigoldGreat and CosmosGood nearby.

Growing from seed

Direct-sow Mbombo outdoors about 1 weeks after your last frost, keeping seeds in warm soil (around 20–25 °C). Seeds usually come up in around 8 days. Grow in full sun, spaced about 15 cm apart. Expect to harvest in roughly 95 days.

Mbombo seed rarely stays viable beyond 3 years — track what's still worth sowing.

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  Growing Beans: Bush or Pole, Snap or Dry

  Beans are the crop most likely to be called easy and most likely to be grown wrong. Almost every decision — where they go, what you feed them, when you pick — follows from two questions you answer before you sow: how tall does this one get, and are you eating the pod or the seed?

  Read the guide

Companion Planting

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  Lungwort
  

  LungwortExcellent pair

  • ❧Lungwort attracts Hoverflies and Lacewings and more, which prey on the Aphids and Spider mites that attack Mbombo
  • ❧Mbombo fixes nitrogen in the soil that Lungwort feeds on
  • ❧Mbombo draws Bees and Bumblebees that improve pollination for both
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  African Marigold
  

  African MarigoldGreat pair

  • ❧African Marigold attracts Hoverflies and Lacewings and more, which prey on the Aphids and Spider mites that attack Mbombo
  • ❧Mbombo fixes nitrogen in the soil that African Marigold feeds on
  • ❧African Marigold suppresses pests that trouble Mbombo
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  Alpine Strawberry
  

  Alpine StrawberryGreat pair

  • ❧Alpine Strawberry attracts Minute pirate bugs and Ground beetles, which prey on the Spider mites and Cutworms that attack Mbombo
  • ❧Mbombo fixes nitrogen in the soil that Alpine Strawberry feeds on
  • ❧Alpine Strawberry acts as living mulch, keeping soil moist and weeds down around Mbombo

How to grow Mbombo

1. Sow1 weeks from frost
2. Germinates8 days
3. Space15 cm apart
4. GrowFull sun
5. Harvest~95 days

Water: Medium · Height: 250 cm · Soil: Well-draining, fertile