Michigan State University

Return to home

About the project

Why native plants?

Which plants are best?

Create your own native planting

Plant fact sheets

Biological control &
Natural enemies

Pollination and bees

Field days

Publications and teaching tools

 What do "small," "medium" and "large" numbers mean?
They refer to how many insects were collected per meter square in a 30 second sample. Small means less than 2 insects; medium indicates 2 to 10 insects, and large suggests greater than 10 insects.

home> native plant fact sheets> buckwheat

Enhancing Beneficial Insects with Native Plants
Buckwheat
Fagopyrum esculentum Moench

Group: Dicot
Family: Polygonaceae (dock, buckwheat)
Growth Habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Introduced

Natural Enemies Attracted: Medium numbers of Orius insidiousus, Chalcidoidea and Nabidae, small numbers of Empididae, Thomisidae, Cynipoidea, Coccinellidae, Dolichopodidae, and Braconidae, Syrphidae, Salticidae, Aeolothripidae, Chrysopidae and Sphecidae.

Pests Attracted: Large numbers of lygus bugs. Medium numbers of Japanese beetles. Small numbers of leafhoppers, aphids, thrips, froghoppers and leaf beetles.

Bees attracted: Moderate numbers (between 1-5 bees per meter square in a 30 second sample) of bees including yellow-faced bees, Andrenid bees, and sweat bees.
Species Notes: Clusters of white blossoms formed a carpet from 1-2 ft tall on this species. When seeded in mid-May this plant bloomed from mid-July through early August. Buckwheat may be used as a cover crop and harvested as a field crop. Its triangular seeds are ground to make buckwheat flour. This plant species was the fifth most attractive to natural enemies of the mid season plants, with twice as many natural enemies as the grass control.
About the Plant Species Graph: Average number of beneficial insects collected at each plant species the week before, during, and after peak bloom, for plant species blooming from mid-August through early October (+ standard error). Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) boxed in red. Bars for natural enemies are in green, bars for bees are in yellow. Bars for native plants are solid and nonnative plants are striped. The black line on the top graph shows the number of natural enemies in grass with no flowering plants (grass control). Plants are listed in order of peak bloom.

 

graph
Habitat: Native to central Asia, requires full sun to partial sun. Grows quickly in heat, and tolerates dry periods. Volunteers in agricultural fields, successional fields, and developed land.

Cultivation and Management: As an annual, flowers from seed in the first growing season. May be fall sown for earlier summer bloom. Buckwheat re-seeds, so must be mown before going to seed or will become established in the area. Although it does escape from cultivation, it is not long persistent as an escape. We saw no evidence of deer or other vertebrate browsing on this species.

Availability: Species is available as seed from some seed catalogs.

For more information: USDA-NRCS PLANTS database
This fact sheet prepared by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Please note: The information presented at this web site should be considered a guideline to be adapted for your situation. MSU makes no warranty about the use of the information presented here. Read disclaimer.
Web site information prepared by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler, Rufus Isaacs and Julianna Tuell, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Funding support: USDA SARE with Project GREEEN, the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU Extension, and the MSU IPM Program.
Web developer: J.N. Landis, MSU IPM Program. Updated: 11/21/06