Gardening Problems Archives - Robinson Love Plants!

How to Identify Good and Bad Bugs in Your Garden

For new gardeners, seeing bugs in their garden can cause panic. Often, they try to destroy and eliminate them. However, this should not always be the case. The first course of action should be to identify the bugs you have in the garden. According to some research, we have close to 10 quintillion insects globally, and a massive percentage of them are beneficial to gardens or do not inflict much damage to crops and plants. In fact, some of them are considered to be beneficial insects.

Beneficial Insects

These good bugs provide various advantages to the garden. They are responsible for making some of the crops healthy enough to produce flowers. As much as 75% of crops rely on bugs to distribute their pollen. Butterflies, moths, bees, and beetles help in the plant pollination process.

Some insects are also responsible for breaking down materials and aerating the soil so the plants can remain healthy. Ladybird beetles and lacewings are often distributed in greenhouses to reduce the number of harmful pests to keep the balance.

Given this information, how do you manage insects and identify whether they are good or bad for your garden?

Getting to Know the Good and the Bad Bugs

Ladybugs and beetles are easy to spot. But, what do you do when you come across a “stranger” bug inside your garden? Here’s how you can identify them:

Observe Its Behavior

When you come across a new insect in your greenhouse, before you do anything, take the time to observe it first. Take a picture if you have a camera available. Observe if the bug is eating. Check what it is eating and if it causes any damage to your plants. If it does, then it is most likely a pest. If you notice that a particular plant has a congregation of insects, then it could mean that the parasite is infesting your garden.

Do Your Research

If you took a picture of the bug, do your research on it. Compare your photos with those that you can find online. Various sites can help you identify if these bugs are indeed pests or beneficial insects. Some of the sites you can visit include the Agricultural Research Service Image Gallery and The Bugwood Insect Images. You can also search for several entomology galleries maintained by universities to help you in insect identification.

Should your research confirm that you have an invasive pest in your garden, contact your local agricultural agent to identify the insect.

Control the Spread

Once you have identified that the insect is bad for the garden, you should find ways to control its spread. It should be done the earliest time possible to ensure that it does not affect the rest of your plants.

There are times when you feel like beneficial pests like wasps are a pest, especially when they have created their home in your garden. Wasps can be territorial and may attack when approached. They should be taken care of by experts like Corpus Christi wasp exterminator so they cannot cause harm to anyone in the garden.

The Bad Bugs

Some of the bad bugs that you should immediately remove from your garden are as follows:

Scales
Japanese beetles
Mexican bean beetles
Flea beetles
Colorado potato beetles
Cutworms
Aphids
Cabbage maggot
Caterpillars
Tarnished plant bug

Final Thoughts

Maintaining a garden involves carefully minding the soil and checking for any bugs that may affect plant growth, especially if you plan to have a self-sustaining garden. Removing the bad bugs should be carefully done, so you don’t accidentally kill the good ones that are beneficial for your plants.

How to Save your Garden when Flood Damage Occurs

Do you experience frequent floods in your region? This can be frustrating, especially when you're an avid gardener. Protecting your garden can be difficult when floods occur.

Cleaning up the damage can also be a tricky task, particularly when you have sensitive plants that need special care.

If you've recently taken an interest in gardening and your backyard has been damaged by a flood, take a look at the short guide below to help you restore your garden. You'll see some damage won't be visible immediately, so it's important that you keep a close eye. After all, a garden can make any home look inviting, so you want to maintain the aesthetics of your landscape regularly.

How Floods can Destroy Your Garden

High standing water can damage your garden in the following ways:

Suffocate the roots of your plants and kill them

Expose your plants to chemical compounds that can saturate the soil

Dirty water produces fungal growth in your garden that can be toxic to you and your plants

The amount of damage you have to repair will depend on the type of plants in your garden. If you have succulents and shrubbery they can be more resistant to flood damage. But vegetable patches may need to be replaced as the dirty water can sap the nutrients out of the soil.

It’s important that you don’t plant vegetable seeds right away after you’ve removed flooded water as the soil may be toxic. Instead, fill your garden with clean soil before planting seeds so they can thrive.

Clean Up and Restoration Services

Water damage can be difficult to clean up yourself so using restoration services can be a lifesaver. A restoration company has professional teams with specialized equipment that make short work of removing large amounts of water at a time.

If your garden is flooded, read more at https://www.asaprestoration.net/water-damage-restoration-gilbert-az/ about cleaning up after water damage and reconstructing landscapes.

How to Clean Your Plants after Water Damage

If you have potted plants they’ll be easier to clean than flower beds or vegetable patches. Remove the plants from the pot and throw away the saturated soil. Clean the plants' roots with warm water and place them in clean pots with new soil.

To save your vegetable patch, dig ditches and burrows to drain some of the standing water out of the beds. After you’ve removed most of the water, wash any mud off of your plants thoroughly. Dry weather will be beneficial as it will evaporate excess water from your plants.

Watch your plants for any die-back so you can prune them to allow new growth to occur. Then sprinkle some fertilizer into your garden to restore nutrients.

Final Tips

If you experience frequent floods, then you’ll want to take preventative measures. Install a proper drainage system in your garden so water can flow out of the beds during floods.

Protect your garden against floods and opt for high rise garden beds instead of flat landscapes. High rise garden beds can improve the aesthetics of your garden and increase your curb appeal.

So don’t let a flood stop you from enjoying your gardening. Simply take precautions and know how to protect your plants during storms and floods.

Why You Need To Shop For A Homeowners Insurance That Covers Gardening Equipment

Having a garden is a great thing, but tending to it is another thing. Do you love gardens? Are you shopping for a home with a garden? Whether you plan to plant flowers or simply cactus or some kales, the point is you need to plan on insuring your yard.

A lot of time and money usually goes into tending your garden and the equipment you need also need money. In the case, your equipment breaks down does your homeowners’ insurance cover the repair or replacement costs?

When shopping for home insurance, you need to talk to your agent for the tiny bit details you think you need to address. Ask them if the insurance covers gardening equipment. In most cases, your garden is considered a permanent feature in your home and is, therefore, part of the coverage area.

In most cases, home insurance covers occurrences that are out of your control, such as floods. Maintaining your garden is not just about tending to it but ensuring it is covered together with the equipment you use.

Most equipment you use in your garden should be covered in your insurance. They are under personal property coverage. The limit set is usually between 50% -70% of your dwelling coverage limit. However, if they are not, you’ll need to take a home warranty to cover the costs of repair and replacement when your garden tools spoil. If you are taking a home warranty, you need to check if garden equipment is included if not, you need to add it to your home warranty.

The Type Of Insurance You Need To Protect Your Garden

Contents insurance

Contents insurance is sold hand in hand with homeowners insurance. It covers the items in your garden that are not permanent structures. In this case, your garden equipment falls under this category.

For such items to be covered, they need to be included in the contents list in your homeowners’ insurance policy. Talk to your agent about adding them in this cover.

General homeowners insurance

As mentioned, some policies will term your garden as a permanent feature in your home; hence, it will be included in your homeowners’ coverage.

Mostly, this coverage applies to when ‘acts of God’ occur, such as floods, winds, storms, and earthquakes. Such occurrences may lead to damages of your garden and equipment which may need replacement or repair.

Liability insurance

What happens when somebody trips on your rake or lawnmower and gets hurt? If you don’t have proper insurance, you’ll be forced to get money out of your pocket and pay for their hospital bills.

They could even sue you for the damages which could see you immerse yourself in debt. Homeowners insurance helps you get through such incidences.

In the case that you hire somebody to tend to your garden, you’ll need liability insurance to cover any of your workers.

There are two types of liability insurance: personal liability and medical payments coverage. For personal liability, it will help cover court costs in case the affected person sues you. Medical payments coverage covers the costs incurred on medical bills in case your worker gets injured by any of your equipment when working in your garden.

Always know what is and what is not covered in this particular cover because you have to disclose any hazardous items that could cause accidents.

Home Warranty

Aside from insurance, you may need a home warranty. Home warranties are annual contracts that cover the repair or replacement costs of appliances that are susceptible to wear and tear. Regardless of whether the specific items are new or not, they qualify for a home warranty.

Some companies give you the freedom to customize your plan to include only the things you need to be covered. It’s quite essential to include your gardening equipment in the warranty. If you are somebody who takes gardening seriously and you plant produce commercially, you may want to take a home warranty.

Some necessary gardening tools may include a coil garden hose, shovel, pruners, rakes, etc. Sometimes, these items may eventually give way and may not be up to the task again. They may not be repairable. If you have a home warranty, it’s easier to get a replacement depending on your service provider.

Just as you cover indoor appliances such as microwaves and refrigerators, you need to cover the risks involved in your gardening equipment as they are equally as important. Many companies offer home warranties you just have to look into what suits your needs.

Gardening is exciting, and you should be able to enjoy every bit of it. Getting options to cover some gardening costs is a great idea to reduce the weight of having to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars replacing or repairing.

Top Tips & Suggestions for Cutting Down a Tree

There are some rules to follow when it comes to the cutting down the trees. We will provide you with some suggestions and top tips here. India is comprised of 29 states in total. In the context of the Forest Research Institution of India, every state has its own rules. Each state has its own regulations to cut down the trees. And you will be surprised that to cut down the trees we need permission as well. But here we will give you some tips and suggestions for to cut down the tree. We will tell you some saftey measures and sugggestions to consider.

Safety measures

When we make a choice of cutting down a tree we must make a plan and then precautions for it too. Running the saw is not easy as well. the equipment we need to make sure is of good quality. safety gears are important in order to take the tasks of cutting down the trees though. Following are the important things:

Helmet: while you cut down the tree and helmet will help you from becoming injured. The helmet will prevent any injuries to head to brain. In case you fall from the tree, any logging injuries or anything can hit to the head. So Helmet is very important to carry out these tasks.

It is very important to protect the eyes and of course face and ears as well. the glass masks can be bought and wore while carrying out this task. The heavy noise can ruin the eardrums. So earmuff can be worn. Then while cutting down the tree, bits and pieces can go in the eyes and hit the face. SO a glass mask is important to use.

Kevlar chaps for you not to drop against the legs.

Gloves are important too. Right gloves will help to get a grip to hold the saw. Saw sometimes can bruise the hands.

We come across so many incidents when people are working in the wood s for cutting down the tree. It is very common people take their jobs in an easy way and think nothing will happen to them while they cut the tree. The tree is a big living thing. But when you cut them into logs it is a big job. It is important to us the precautions while you cut the tree in order to prevent any injury. People sometimes go through serious head injuries or sometimes they get fractures working cutting down the tree. some people get the ear or eye injuries too. It is definitely not an easy job.

Trees which we are allowed to cut down

Among hundreds or trees and their breeds, there are 7 potential trees that we can cut down. Tut, Guava, Ailanthus, Bakain and Bamboo trees can be cut down by normal people as well. You do not need government officials to come down and cut down the trees for you. But again safety is very important when you cut down a tree.

Suggestions when cutting a tree

It is very important to take the feeling of cutting down the tree. Before yous tart to cut the tree, it is important to analyze how you will cut and which side the tree will fall. You must take measures what if the tree falls in the wrong direction and how it will affect the surroundings. So taking a feel, making an estimate of the fall of the tree is very important before even cutting down the tree.

When you cut the tree it is important you know if the will fall at the right place and direction. You must have an alternate route for the tree to fall. there should be enough space.

Also, the branches of the tree need to be restored and cut down too. They should be cut off before or after in order to take the downfall of the tree. Depends if you want to take a tree as it is, then more room or space needs to be offered. Having a perfect notch is important. Then the cutting will start and you will have an idea where the tree will fall and in which direction.

Effects of Cutting down the trees:

• Increase in Pollution

• Global Warming

• Harmful and Toxic gasses in the air

• Acid rain

Conclusion

When we cut down the tree, we need to prepare ourselves. Apply the security and safety measures that will help not to get any serious injuries while cutting down the tree. a perfect hinge and notch are important as well which helps the tree to fall on the right place and spot. There should always be an alternative route in case the cutting down the tree and its directions went wrong. It is important to keep measures when we cut down the trees how it will affect its surroundings. Also, the person cutting the tree must make sure he/she uses safety precautions. Once the tree is cut down, the tree trunks can be used and cut down into firewood forms. That way when the tree is cut down it can be cut down into small pieces and can be used as firewood. That way a tree will be easy to transport and carry in a big truck. Canopy tree services are very famous for providing their services to cut down the tree. they have a great team and they are experts. Their workers take the job very seriously. So if you have any tree clocking your home or you do not need it around you. Canopy Tree services are good to call and ask for help. In the end, one can always follow the guide to follow how to cut down the tree and what measure to look for.