California Buckwheat

I'm thinking of planting some of this on my patio to draw some beneficial insects. The patio will have a clear polycarbonate roof over part of it, that will overhang a plywood roof over the far back of it. There will be some airspace at the overhang.

Do the insects navigate by smell to these plants, or sight? If by smell, there should be no problem. If by sight, they might be dive-bombing the plastic kamikaze style.

Reply to
doofy
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I've never heard of insects hitting a stationary window (or clear roof) as being a problem. Birds, yes. So I can't speak with any authority, or real knowledge, but if it were me I wouldn't worry about it.

Reply to
Jim Kingdon

I was sort of kidding about the dive bombing. Mostly was just wondering if they navigate by smell, and can figure the location of something. Given the nature of flies, for instance, they're probably quite good at it.

Reply to
doofy

Well, my brain is starting to engage, and since you mention flies, the Paw Paw (Asimina triloba) is pollinated by flies, and farmers used to hang rotting meat in the orchards to attract flies. So in that case I think we can clearly say "yes" to navigation by smell.

I don't know, my favorite book about insect biology is "For the love of insects" (by Thomas Eisner) but that one is almost exclusively about chemical defenses, not about attraction. I don't know if someone has written something similar about the latter.

Reply to
Jim Kingdon

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