Biofloris is pleased to announce its entirely revamped website just in time for spring! Here are a few of its many new features:

• Faster page loading
• Easy to find products organized by category
• History of your orders in the Customers’ section
• Order follow-up by emails including shipment tracking number
• A pest encyclopedia which allows you to readily identify, for example, what aphids look like and what harm they can do to your plants, along with tips as to how to get rid of them
• Customer surveys to give us your feedback

Now that winter is almost behind us and spring is in the air, make sure that you make the most of this time to make a ‘to-do’ list:

• Take stock of your garden tools and vow to replace or sharpen old or damaged tools
• Determine which trees and shrubs will require spring pruning
• Look through garden catalogues for new plant introductions
• Finally – take a deep breath and put a smile on your face – winter will soon be a distant memory!

Did you know that in addition to keeping an organic gardening blog, we are also on Facebook and Twitter?… not only to keep you informed of timely and valuable organic gardening information but also to allow us to hear back from you, our customer.  We also use Facebook and Twitter to tell you about our special promotional offers. 

Speaking of which, the first ten people who join us on Facebook or Twitter starting today will receive a 10% discount on their next biofloris.com purchase. We will notify you by email (Facebook) or direct tweet (Twitter) with your discount code if you are one of the lucky winners.

Check out our new website now by clicking here!  You can meet up with us on Facebook and Twitter by going directly from our home page.

 The Biofloris Team

By Terrie Greco, B.A.; HLT Dip.

Terrie Greco, B.A.; HLT Dip.

Great garden soil is more critical to overall plant health than anything else.  Soil is a living complex teeming with micro-organisms just ready to do their jobs.  A healthy soil can contain millions of beneficial bacteria, funguses, protozoa and nematodes – you get the picture. This complex food web is responsible for making nutrients more available to plants – and we all want healthy plants! How do we get and maintain a strong soil food web?  Adding organic amendments such as compost or manure is the key. Soil is composed of sand, silt and clay in various amounts – in other words – mineral components.  The addition of organic amendments pushes mineral soil particles apart to create pore spaces; increases moisture retention, encourages the growth of beneficial micro-organisms and helps transfer critical nutrients to root systems. If your soil is compacted, the roots have a tough time moving through the soil to access water. Adding soil amendments to your garden beds in the spring and fall creates an environment for your plants that encourages strong root systems, increased plant vigor, and reduces the incidence of pests and diseases.  Top dress flower beds with 1” to 2” of organic matter, or aim to have a ratio of 1/3 organic matter to 2/3 soil in shrub beds.

Remember – your plants can’t pick themselves up and walk away if they don’t like where they live – it’s up to you to provide a healthy environment – and it starts with your soil.

We are very excited to introduce Ms. Terrie Greco, who will be a regular guest writer to the Biofloris blog.  Ms. Greco is a horticulture instructor at Humber College in Toronto and an avid environmentally friendly gardener (brief bio below).

We are certain you will appreciate her expert gardening advice. Ms. Greco has asked that we strongly encourage you, our readers, to write and ask her questions.  We want to continue to engage in an ongoing organic gardening conversation with you and we hope you will keep those questions and emails coming.

Terrie Greco,  B.A.; HLT Dip.

Ms. Greco holds an Honours Diploma in Horticulture from Algonquin College and a B.A. in English from Carleton University.

Ms. Greco is a horticulture instructor and administrator with eighteen years of experience at both Humber College in Toronto, Canada and Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada. One of her most recent accomplishments consisted of the coordination and organization of two horticulture pre-apprentice programs in the summers of 2008/09.

Her areas of expertise include:

• Plant Science, Botany
• Pest & Disease identification & management
• Plant Identification
• Horticultural Skills (practical and lecture)
• Turf Management
• Manage coop and job fair for students

Ms. Greco also owned and operated a Design/Build Landscape firm in the Ottawa, Canada area from 1988 to 2000.

If you notice a little ball of white fluff on one of your plants, take a closer look. You may have a mealy bug problem. There are many kinds of mealy bugs but the one that seems to be most common in houseplants in North America is the citrus mealy bug.  In as far as your houseplants are concerned, the name has nothing to do with citrus fruit, nor with the fact that you may enjoy eating oranges and grapefruits.

Adult citrus mealy bugs are not very mobile and especially like to congregate tightly in protected parts of the plants such as in the crevice where leaves join the stem. You will also find them on leaves, especially young tender ones. The adults are covered in a hairy waxy coating that has a slight pinkish hue. Younger mealy bugs are very mobile, darker, not covered in hairy wax, and can easily move from one plant to another in search of tender leaves and stems where they latch on and start draining fluids from the plant.

Mealy bugs are difficult, but not impossible, to get rid of.

The first thing you should do is isolate and treat the infected plant. You should also isolate the neighboring plants as they may be infected too. Be sure to wipe down any surfaces like window ledges in between the plants to kill any stragglers with insecticidal soap.

To get rid of mealy bugs, be sure to wet all surfaces of the plant including any crevices or cracks in the stems where they may be hiding with insecticidal soap. Be sure to retreat again with insecticidal soap after 3 or 4 days.  One of my biologist friends dabs the mealy bugs he find with a Q-Tip dipped in rubbing alcohol.  This is VERY labor intensive and, he says, has never helped him to completely get rid of the problem completely.  In a recent blog post, I recommended neem oil as an alternative to insecticidal soap. Several people wrote to me to suggest that a combination of insecticidal soap and neem oil works best.  I.e. apply the insecticidal soap, repeat the application a few times and then take the neem oil approach.  The advantage of neem oil is that it stays on the plants and makes them unpalatable to new croppings of mealy bugs or other pests as they hatch. Soap is generally not effective once it has dried up.

In my blog last week, I closed off by saying that the best types of fertilizers for indoor plants are those which come in liquid or powder form.

Of course, to choose a fertilizer, you must take into account your plant’s needs. For example, if your plant is about to flower, then a fertilizer with a stronger concentration of potash will encourage plant vigor. On the other hand, if you find that the leaves of a given plant are beginning to look anemic, a fertilizer with a stronger concentration of nitrogen would be better.

Also, of course, organic fertilizers are what I recommend.

Fertilizers which come in pellet form, used for outdoor gardening, are not recommended for indoor plants because they take too long to dissolve.

There are no strict rules when it comes to the frequency at which you should fertilize indoor plants, except in those cases when artificial lighting is widely used. Because plants exposed to artificial light are constantly exposed to light, they cannot really differentiate between seasons and/or day and night. Therefore, they can be fertilized once a week; however, be sure to water them with clear water at least every four to six weeks in order to get rid of excess fertilizing matter present in the soil.

Plants exposed to natural (sun) light do not need to be fertilized as often. A good time to fertilize is when you start noticing that your plant star to form new leaves. It is not always necessary to follow product instructions. Many times, you will be the best judge of when it is opportune to apply fertilizer. It is a good idea to fertilize a flowering plant repeatedly when buds start to show, right until the actual appearance of the flower. Plants with large leaves tend to grow more slowly and require fertilization only about every three months or so. However, the sudden yellowing of these plants’ leaves may be a signal that fertilization is called for.

For more information on fertilizers, simply click here.

The contents of this blog were inspired by a section in a book written by Joan Lee Faust given to me as a birthday present some years ago.

We often tend to think of fertilizers as being important for outdoor plants without taking into consideration that indoor plants too need to be “fed”.

 Watering plants allows nutritional elements inherent in the soil to dissolve in water and be absorbed by the roots.  These nutritional elements come from a wide range of sources, including the water itself, organic material, the air, etc.  These elements are important for plant growth. However, after a while, these nutrients run out and need to be supplemented with the help of fertilizers.

 Certain plants require large quantities nutrients while others require less; in fact, too much fertilization can sometimes be harmful. Those nutrients which are not absorbed immediately by a plant’s roots tend to accumulate and become toxic and in some cases burn the roots. Excess fertilizers leads to an accumulation on flower (plant) pot walls of the salts filtering through the pot pores.  These salts are also often seen on the sides of plastic pots or on the surface of the soil.

 Such accumulations of fertilizers in fact demonstrate that the plant did not need them and that over feeding is of no use. 

 In general, plants require three main nutritional elements: nitrogen, phosphorus and potash.  Different fertilizers contain different amounts of these elements, the percentage of which is often indicated in three numbers on fertilizer containers.  The first number indicates the percentage of nitrogen (N), the second of phosphorus (P) and the third of potash (K).  Certain fertilizers also contain small amounts of other elements not included in the numbering such as calcium, copper, or zinc.

 Nitrogen is absorbed very rapidly and enhances the green coloring of a plant’s leaves.  Phosphorus helps develop the strength of a plant’s stem and it encourages healthy roots.  Potash, in turn, encourages flower formation and ensures vigorous plant growth.

For indoor plants, the best fertilizers are those which come in liquid or powder form and dissolve in water. Often, positive results can be seen within days.

 In my blog next week, I will describe how to choose the best type of fertilizer for indoor plants.  

 The contents of this blog were inspired by a section in a book written by Joan Lee Faust given to me as a birthday present some years ago.

Just a quick reminder to those who are planning their seed purchase…don’t forget to include on your list seeds of plants and flowers which are popular amongst lady bugs. For those gardeners who plan to buy ladybugs as a natural, organic insecticide against a bunch of common pest insects (including aphids, mites, scales, thrips and small insect larvae) that can literally ruin plants, it is important to “welcome” your gardening ally appropriately. Plan now to ensure that the ladybugs you will purchase will feel at home. Remember: if they feel at home, they will stay in your garden rather than fly off to the neighbor’s and they will be of more use to you. The following plants are some which supply ladybugs with pollen:

 Sweet alyssum
 Golden rod
 Daisies
 Yarrow
 Dill
 Mint

Certainly there are other plants ladybugs like. Feel free to add to this list and….thanks in advance!

In certain parts of the northern hemisphere, the early signs of spring are here. Crocuses and snowdrops have been spotted blooming on the Canadian West Coast. One of our readers in BC noticed slugs eating his iris rhizomes, which means now’s probably a good time for him to start laying down Snail Bait. Of course, if you live in the northeastern parts of the continent, you still have a few months before you need to start worrying about slugs….

In the fall, one of my blogs covered the beautiful song about the environment and the importance of protecting and loving it, by Michael Jackson, the Earth Song. Did you happen to catch the beautiful rendition of the Earth Song on Sunday night’s Grammy Awards? Usher, Carried Underwood, Céline Dion, Jennifer Hudson and Smokie Robinson performed Earth Song as a tribute to the late Michael Jackson. The performance was without a doubt one of the best parts of the show, and yet another universal reminder of the importance of treating our physical surroundings well.

Recently, I’ve been carrying on about the advantages of insecticidal soap for plants, with a focus on indoor plants during this post-holiday period.

Someone suggested to me that neem oil may be a viable alternative to insecticidal soap because “it clings to the plants and remains effective”. This is such a good idea!  As it is, biofloris markets neem oil to maintain and enhance leaf appearance.

The suggestion to use as a pesticide led me to check out Wikipedia for more details and share them with you.  Neem oil is a vegetable oil extracted from the fruits and seeds of NEEM, an evergreen tree which is native to the Indian subcontinent and is now being grown in many other areas in the tropics. The oil is perhaps the most important of the commercially available products of neem for organic farming and medicines.

The color of neem oil tends to be light to dark brown; it has a bitter taste and has a rather strong odor, something like a blend of the aromas of peanuts and garlic.
Neem oil is used for several purposes, including cooking, medicinal, cosmetics.  And of course, it is used as an insect repellent and a natural insecticide. 

According to Wikipedia, certain formulations made of Neem oil make it an effective repellent against numerous pest insects such as ants, houseflies, snails, termites, mosquitoes, mealy bugs, aphids, cabbage worms, thrips, whiteflies, mites, fungus gnats, beetles, moth larvae and caterpillars. Neem oil is not known to be harmful to mammals, birds, earthworms or beneficial insects such as buuterflies, honeybees and ladybugs.  Neem oil is also not known to cause any harm when applied on fruits and vegetables.

Someone once told me that neem was also effective against squirrels.  I would appreciate any additional information or suggestions to this effect.

Another advantage of neem oil is that it greatly improves and preserves leaf appearance of plants, shrubs and trees.

For more information on the neem oil sold on the biofloris web site, simply click here. For more details on the properties, uses and history of neem oil, click here.

Just before Christmas, I got a telephone call from a woman looking to purchase diatomaceous earth. She claimed her indoor plants were affected by some kind of small insect and she wanted to apply the product to the base of her plants in order to get rid of the problem and prevent total contamination.

For some reason, during the telephone conversation, she mentioned she had a sniffing dog. I informed her that diatomaceous earth could be dangerous for her dog, seeing that it could seriously irritate its respiratory tracts. At first the woman seemed a bit discouraged because she really wanted to use diatomaceous earth. However, I took a few minutes to explain the advantages of insecticidal soap to her – the fact that it was user and environment friendly, harmless for pets and humans, not to mention efficient. I also reminded her that repeat applications were necessary for best results and that, once her pest problem solved, she should regularly apply the soap as a preventative measure.

Well, she ended up ordering a couple of bottles and actually called me back to let me know how pleased she was with the outcome and with her decision to protect her dog from harmful irritants.

To learn more about the insecticidal soap available on my website, simply click here.

Now that the holidays are over and you are rearranging your house a little after getting rid of all the holiday ornaments, Christmas tree, and relatives, it’s a good idea to tend to your indoor plants.

I have a really close friend who is a biologist.  When he comes for a visit, he usually examines my house plants. When I say “examine”, I mean he turns the leaves over and inspects them for tiny little moving spider mites, which upon inspection with a magnifying glass, have the appearance of spiders. They can be red, yellow, black or green in colour.

He warns me that, though minuscule, they can multiply rapidly and cause tremendous damage. Once established, spider mite colonies will produce fine webbing between leaves and stems, and leaves will start to turn yellowish-grey and drop off.

Spider mites congregate in colonies on the underside of leaves. They feed by piercing the cells of plants to suck out their sap. Affected plants will have discolored leaves—usually grey or rusty—with telltale speckling. Leaves will eventually dry out and fall off. The needles of affected conifers will also dry out and fall off. Certain species of spider mite produce a webbing that can be seen around the dying leaves.

My buddy suggests I use a dilute soap solution to get rid of them. Bioprotec sop, a ready-to-use insecticidal soap made with fatty acid salts of potassium, is particularly effective for controlling spider mites. Because it does not contain alcohol, Bioprotec sop minimizes leaf burning. You need to reapply the product several times to prevent the reestablishment of colonies, since single treatments will miss a few eggs from which new bugs will emerge.

I think I’ll make it a regular habit to check my indoor plants more frequently during the winter months as some pests such as spider mites thrive in dry conditions. My friend also reminds me to be sure to check any newly purchased houseplants as they often arrive from the greenhouse with these unwelcome passengers.