banker plant with ornamental pepper plants
In this setup, Black Pearl ornamental pepper plants are the crop targeted by aphids, while a wheat plant (center) is the banker plant that hosts an alternative species of aphid that doesn’t feed on the pepper plants but does serve as an alternative host for parasitoid wasps—and those wasps will also target the aphids on the pepper plants. (Photo credit: Tracey L. Payton Miller, Ph.D.)