What is intercropping?

Intercropping (also known as mixed cropping) is another way to reduce pest populations by increasing environmental diversity. In some cases, intercropping lowers the overall attractiveness of the environment, as when host and non-host plants are mixed together in a single planting. But in other cases, intercropping may concentrate the pest in a smaller, more manageable area so it can be controlled by some other tactic. Strips of alfalfa, for example, are sometimes interplanted with cotton as a trap crop for lygus bugs (Miridae). The alfalfa, which attracts lygus bugs more strongly than cotton, is usually treated with an insecticide to kill the bugs before they move into adjacent fields of cotton.
Safe planting dates for winter wheat In some crops, it is possible to create discontinuity in the pest's food supply simply by altering the time of year for planting or harvesting. This strategy, often known as phenological asynchrony, allows farmers to manage their crop so it remains "out of phase" with pest populations. Sweet corn, for example, can escape most injury from corn earworms (Helicoverpa zea) if it is planted in early spring and harvested before larvae mature. In the Midwest, farmers delay planting winter wheat until after the "fly-free date" to protect their crop from injury by the Hessian fly (Mayetiola destructor). These planting dates are calculated to ensure that wheat is not mature enough to attract egg-laying flies, yet still has enough warm weather to grow sufficiently before winter. Careful timing of harvest dates in alfalfa can cause high mortality in populations of alfalfa weevil (Hypera postica) and alfalfa caterpillar (Colias eurytheme) by removing edible foliage before the larvae have completed development. Harvest timing is often the most practical method available to foresters for controlling bark beetle (Scolytidae) infestations in pine plantations. Since trees become more susceptible to beetle outbreaks as they grow older, good management dictates that timber stands be harvested for lumber before the trees reach full maturity