Common Vegetable Garden Insect Pests

These tiny pests cause damage by sucking the juices from the leaves and stems of plants, and spreading disease while they do so. They are fairly easy to get rid of -- sometimes all it takes is a strong blast from your hose to knock them off of the plant.

Get Rid of the Most Common Vegetable Garden Insect Pests - Without Poisoning Your Garden

When I wrote my post about summer vegetable gardening, some of the most common feedback I got was "this is great -- but how do I get rid of whatever's chowing on my zucchini plant?" It's true that insects, including insect pests, are part of gardening. However, the vegetable garden is definitely not the place to use harmful chemicals in the name of bug control.

With that in mind, I hope this post helps you identify and eradicate (in an Earth-friendly manner!) any pests you come across in your vegetable garden.

Cures To Common Tomato Plant Problems

Home gardening is a favorite hobby for millions of people around the world. Tomatoes are one of the most popular fruits (or vegetables if you want to engage in that argument) people grow. They are not very expensive, easy to grow and produce a bountiful harvest of fresh, juicy tomatoes that are a summertime treat.Unfortunately, tomato plant problems are very common. Problems may include harmful insects, diseases and fungus that can be caused by severeweather conditions, inconsistent watering, nutrient deficiencies or inherent genetic factors bred into the seeds or plants.

We will explore some of the more common problems home tomato gardeners might face and provide tips on how to prevent or cure most of them.Brown circular spot on the blossom-end of the tomato.Symptom: This is a common issue with homegrown tomatoes. It initially appears as a small, depressed, leathery, brownish area on the blossom end of the fruit and grows in size as the fruit ripens. The spot may end up being as large as a dime or half-dollar if left unchecked.

Cause: Blossom end rot is caused by a calcium deficiency coupled with wide fluctuations in available moisture. Training and pruning the tomato vines may also increase blossom end rot.Remedy: Remove the affected fruit so other fruits on the plant will develop normally. Keep the plants well watered. Mulch around the base of the plants to maintain a more uniform moisture supply. Avoid cultivating or hoeing near the roots of tomato plants. Some gardeners also add crushed eggshells to the soil before planting seedlings to fortify calcium availability.Flowers form but drop before tomatoes develop.

Cause: “Blossom Drop” is usually caused when the tomato plant experiences a sudden change in the weather, typically earlier or later in the season when night temperatures are lower than 55 degrees F. The heat of the summer is also a common time when this occurs, when day temperatures are higher than 95 degrees F or when night temperatures remain above 75 degrees F. Hot drying winds and a sudden lack of moisture for the plant may also intensify the problem.

Remedy: Add mulch around the plant to retain available soil moisture. You can also use a tomato blossom set spray, available from your local garden store. It is an all-natural plant hormone that helps blossoms set fruit in spite of poor weather conditions, producing larger, meatier tomatoes with fewer seeds. Improving weather conditions may also solve the problem without any further action.

Cause: Splitting or cracking typically happens when the fruit experiences accelerated growth which can be brought on by a sudden increase in moisture after being too dry, like a sudden summer rain after an extended dry period. Cracking also may occur when the fruit is overripe.

Remedy: The good news is that splitting or cracking does not affect the flavor and the tomato can still be eaten, however unsightly it may appear. To avoid the problem, provide consistent moisture to the plant or research and select varieties that are resistant to cracking. With cherry tomatoes, pick ripe or nearly ripe fruit right before a forecast rain storm to limit the risk of cracking.

Tomato plants have a stunted appearance

Symptom: Nematodes live in the soil and cause swelling of the plant root which, in turn, causes stunted plants and discolored plant leaves. The only way to confirm diagnosis is to pull the plan and inspect the roots.

Cause: Root-knot nematodes are soil-born microscopic eelworms.

Remedy: The bad news is there is no treatment for an existing nematode infestation. The good news is the affected plants can still grow and produce edible fruit. Preventative measures to stop nematodes in the future include selecting varieties labeled with “N” and planting marigolds with your tomatoes. Many varieties of marigolds, including’ Nema-gone’, ‘Golden Guardian’, or ‘Tangerine’, release a chemical into the soil that kills nematodes.

Visibly chewed leaves and tomatoes

Symptom: Chewed up plant leaves and damaged fruits that are still unripe are clearly visible.

Cause: Tomato hornworms are large, green-grayish caterpillars that feed off tomato fruits and plants.

Remedy: Although they can blend very well with surrounding foliage, once discovered, they can be easily picked off by hand and disposed of.

Although some of the more common tomato plant problems have been highlighted, it is important to remember that there are many more diseases and pests that may affect your plants. If you have a problem that you can’t easily diagnose, please check with your local extension agent or garden center to learn what treatment is best for your specific problem.Visit the author’s detailed, illustrated article Preventing and Solving Common Tomato Plant Problemsfor more information about preventing, diagnosing and fixing tomato plant problems… and make sure you spend a little time in Suzy’s Garden – a great place for more gardening and crafting information and fun !

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TOMATO TIPS

If you are starting your first tomato garden, or are an old pro at it, there are always tips that can make your enterprise easier, and more successful. Following are 5 tomato growing tips that I found make the greatest difference in the health of your plants. When buying tomato plants always look for plants that have not begun to flower or fruit, that have straight sturdy stems and dark leaves. Also, give them time to harden off before you plant them. This will avoid any shock transplanting will have on them. Wait until the threat of frost has past.

It is important to always plant tomatoes as deep as possible. Because tomatoes can grow roots all along their stem, you can either bury them up to the top leaves, or plant them horizontally. The extra roots that will grow will make your tomato stronger. Staking your tomato plants is very important. Since tomatoes are a vine they will not grow upright on their own. Having the vines lay on the ground will make them more prone to insect attacks and disease problems. Do not skimp on the stakes, as your plants will get tall and heavy. You should stake the tomatoes when you plant in order that you don’t damage their roots. Maintenance of your tomato plants is critical. Watering your plants regularly will avoid splitting of the tomatoes, as well as blossom drop. As your tomato fruit begins to ripen you can reduce the amount you are watering. By reducing your watering at the fruiting stage your tomatoes will concentrate sugars in the fruit. Don’t hold back to much on the water though because the plant will stress and wilt. If the plant becomes stressed it can cause it to drop blossoms and possibly it’s fruit.

Always prune off any suckers that are growing between the branches. These only use energy that could be going into growing bigger plants. Removing some of the leaves will help the fruit ripen by allowing the sun to reach it. Just make sure that you don’t remove to many leaves. The leaves are what provide sugars for the roots and fruit, if you remove to many your tomatoes will suffer. If you love tomatoes, caring and nurturing your plants will give you higher yields of fruit and make your tomato garden the envy of the neighborhood! These are just a few tomato growing tips I hope will help you have your best tomato crop ever.

Reasons to Save Tree

• Trees are Effective Sound Barriers: Trees are as effective as stonewalls in stopping sound. They muffle urban noise almost as effectively as stonewalls. Trees, planted at strategic points in a neighbourhood or around your house, can mitigate major noises from crowded roads, railway stations and airports.
• Trees Produce Oxygen: A mature leafy tree, in a few months, produces as much oxygen as that required by 10 people for one year.
• Trees become dustbins for harmful gases: a tree absorbs and locks away carbon dioxide, and other harmful gases which warm the environment. An urban forest is a carbon storage area that can lock up as much carbon.
• Trees Shade and Cool: Shade from trees reduces the need for fan, coolers and air conditioning in summer. Studies have shown that parts of cities without cooling shade from trees can literally be "heated islands," with temperatures as much as 4-6 degrees Celsius higher than surrounding areas. In winter, trees break the force of winter winds.
• Trees Act as Windbreaks: trees break the force of the wind. This protects houses, farmland and vegetation.
• Trees Fight Soil Erosion: Trees fight soil erosion, conserve rainwater, and reduce water runoff and sediment deposit after storms.
• Trees help in lowering the dust levels and pollution levels in the cities.
• Trees decrease respiratory problems: Children staying in areas and localities with trees have much less breathing problems that children staying in localities which have no trees.

Nature Conservation

Nature conservation issues, the welfare of the natural world and the wildlife, plants, and animals that we share this planet with are connected to our everyday lives in many different ways. Yet modern society is set up in such a way that we are often not aware of this reality.

For the most part in the Western world, our technologically advanced lifestyles alienate and disconnect us from our natural environment. We often do not know where the food we eat comes from or how it is grown. We are not aware of how the earth’s weather patterns, forests, and oceans have an impact on things we take for granted, such as the water we drink, and the air we breathe. We are so plugged into the latest technologies that we have forgotten that we are a part of the earth and its living ecosystem, not outside of it or separate from it.
The truth is that the state of our planet has an impact on human survival, global and local economies, community life, and human health and well-being. Yet many of our natural resources are at risk more than ever before.
Most of us are already aware that pandas and tigers and polar bears are threatened. We know that forests and natural habitat areas are vanishing due to human encroachment, development, and urban sprawl. We know about the threat of global warming. Yet, amazingly, the situation is a lot deeper and more serious than most of us probably realize. The good news is that with awareness and nature conservation efforts, we can reverse the situation if we get involved.

This section gives an overview of nature conservation issues and the status of the planet in the main areas which are threatened: wildlife, forests, oceans, and wetlands. You will also find a list of different conservation organizations to support in each category and ways in which we can all help...and be a part of the solution.

Through the jungle

The 5km walk through the semi-virgin forest reserve proved to be a lot more challenging than any one of us had expected.
The three-hour hike was no piece of cake as we had to continuously trudge up steep hills and down slippery slopes, manoeuvre around thick, snake-like buttress roots of the gigantic Dipterocarp trees, cross rivers by walking on shaky fallen tree trunks and be constantly vigilant of where we plant our feet on for muddy ground.
The air smelled of a potent mixture of insect repellents, lotions and other chemicals at the start of the journey, but still, all of that was no match for the little inhabitants of the jungle. Shrieks and squeals were heard as the blood-sucking creatures were discovered in the most unexpected of places on the bodies of the BRATs.
So, it isn’t a surprise to hear the sigh of relief on everyone’s face when the specks of red tiles of the roof from the building we were headed towards were sighted among the green of the forest.
Yet, the journey ended with a note of triumph and left a sense of achievement in everyone as 31 young mostly-urban teenagers had successfully undertaken the challenges and the trials posed by the jungle and its inhabitants ... and survived!
There is more than what meets the eye with the journey through the forest, though. Personally, I feel that it was a great way for us to learn new things about ourselves.
In the course of our trek, we passed many big trees which tops seem to be out of sight no matter how hard we craned our necks and squinted to try to see it. Even though most of the time my eyes were fixed on the ground trying to avoid the hungry clutches of the leeches, I couldn’t help but look in awe when I stood between the roots of a huge tree. The roots itself was as tall as me.
Together with the luminous mossy-green glow of the tree as the rays of sunshine shone on it through the layers of the canopies, they made me see the wonders of the rainforest.
The journey also forced us to push ourselves and it was a trying test of our strength, both physically and mentally. The temptations to just give up on the journey was great, when we were drenched in sweat and our muscles felt as if they weighed heavier than our backpacks.