Don't Get Bugged Over Christmas Plants

Welcome back. This is a Christmas topic you may not find discussed anywhere else but here. It can be very important. Insect pests in your Christmas plants. Generally, your houseplants are pestered by only 6 or 7 types of insects. Of this small number, one in particular makes a sudden appearance this time of year - during the Christmas season.

Fungas Gnat

     The fungus gnat (when outside the home they are called mushroom flies) is a soil borne plant pest that can be laying in hiding in your new plant's potting soil just waiting to erupt into a cloud of nuisance. They will come into your home in the potting mix of a new plant. They may come in as eggs waiting between the pot and the soil. They may come in as hatched larva crawling around within the top inch or so of the potting soil. They may be in your potting mix in the pupa stage. They may come in as fully developed flies, as seen here. They may come in as all 4 stages at the same time.
     Because most Christmas plants are grown so quickly and in large  numbers in the greenhouses, they are more susceptible to disease and insect infestation. It is easy for a few (or a lot) of plants to escape the growers' efforts to control problems. The fungus gnat fly will stay close to the plants. The fly itself is not only annoying but will lay more eggs. Herein lies the real danger. They will quickly infest any nearby houseplants. If left undetected and untreated, fungus gnats will soon be in all of your plants. It is the larva living in the top inch or so of the soil that causes the damage to your plants by eating away at the plants' fine root hairs. Slowly but surely your plants will begin to suffer.
     So look for this pest. Check the foliage area for the fly and lightly cultivate/disturb the top inch of soil looking for more flies and larvae. Should you find any, quickly quarantine the infected plant(s) from the rest of your plants.  The fungus gnat looks very similar to a fruit fly but it will be smaller and darker and they fly very fast. Should you find them, you can

• quarantine the plant until after Christmas
• discard the plant
• install yellow sticky traps to catch flies and measure the extent of the problem
• repot the plant with complete new soilless potting mix
• treat the plant with the right insecticide.

     At Plants For All, we are licensed by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment to sell Class 6 and 7 insecticides. We can help. Well, that turned out to be more information than I initially anticipated. If it was too long, let me know. I appreciate all of the feed back.
   

Plants For All retail store at 

  66 Dawson Road in Guelph will now be open Saturdays until Christmas from 11am to 3 pm.


 Exclusive Save 15% Blog Offer - Plants For All is a small independent plant shop and we would like a chance at your tropical plant-buying business. From now through to Christmas, I'll be updating this blog frequently to discuss Christmas plant topics and feature some of our products. When you come into our store, mention this exclusive blog offer and receive 15% off of your entire purchase - now through to Christmas.  We would love to see you.

Here is a quick peek - Christmas at Plants For All. Check out this short video. I will be in the store this Saturday, December 22 from 11am to 3pm. I would love for you to come and visit. Directions are here. 

One Last Thing - I have been venturing more into the Twittersphere lately and I am enjoying the conversations and wide range of topics. Please join me to get the frequent updates and valuable info from like-minded followers. Find me at www.twitter.com/BrianOsmond1

 As always, your comments and criticism will be appreciated.

Have a joyous holiday and Merry Christmas to all.

Brian Osmond  

Plants For All 

Continued - Christmas 2012 at Plants For All

Another day and lots more stuff. How is your preparation for the Christmas season coming along? You still have lots of time - don't you?
Before getting on with it, I was advised of a couple of points to make about the last post -

Anthurium - Christmas Plant?

1. when talking about Poinsettias, I mentioned a few other plants that want to be considered 'Christmas plants'.  I should have added the Anthurium. With their blazing red flowers, they can attract the eye of the Christmas colour conscious consumer. We have Anthuriums in stock in 4" and 6" pot sizes.
2. Under One of Our Favourites section, I was telling you that our Atlantean products, Specialty Fertilizer Concentrate is mixed at the rate of 7 drops per litre of water. I should have mentioned that to make measuring easier and messless (I think I just created a new word) we include a special flip-top cap that can dispense the concentrate one drop at a time. 

Rosemary Cone form - 6" pot

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is another plant that gains popularity at this time of year. It is quite simply my most favourite herb. Besides its many culinary, medicinal and cosmetic uses, Rosemary is a symbol of friendship, loyalty and remembrance. A sprig of Rosemary is often carried by mourners at funerals and the bride at her wedding. Greek scholars wore garlands or sprigs of Rosemary when sitting their exams to improve their memory and concentration.

Rosemary 4" pot

     When my grandchildren were younger, I would add ground dried Rosemary leaves to scrambled eggs to offer them green eggs (refer to Dr.Seuss - Green Eggs and Ham); both delicious and fun.
     Rosemary are very hardy to grow indoors year round or to plant outside in the Spring. It will not tolerate our cold. Treat it to bright light, warm temperatures and not too wet.  
    Rosemary is only available at certain times of the year and we have it now in the 2 sizes pictured here at $4 for the 4" pot and $35 for the big Cone form. Come in for a smell - excellent.

Plants For All retail store at 

  66 Dawson Road in Guelph will now be open Saturdays until Christmas from 11am to 3 pm. 

Exclusive Save 15% Blog Offer - Plants For All is a small independent plant shop and we would like a chance at your tropical plant-buying business. From now through to Christmas, I'll be updating this blog frequently to discuss Christmas plant topics and feature some of our products. When you come into our store, mention this exclusive blog offer and receive 15% off of your entire purchase - now through to Christmas.  We would love to see you.

Spring Leafshine

  One of Our Favourites - whether it's plants going into our office maintenance accounts or a plant going home with you from our retail store, we want that plant to shine. We sell a few different kinds of leafshine; but our favourite to use is Spring Leafshine. We sell one size - the big 600ml aerosol spray can. The propellant is Ozone Safe. Just spray your foliage plants lightly and that's it. No need to wipe off. I can clean a 6' ficus benjamina in less than a minute. Clean the plants in your home now for just $17.25 per can.

Come in for a demonstration and pick up a can of Spring Leafshine. 

One Last Thing - the 2013 Goldbook telephone directory was distributed today. Check out our ad under "Plants-Indoor-Retail & Maintenance" , we're the only ones listed. It is on page 150. The ad includes a handy QR code that you can scan with your smart phone to get quick contact information about Plants For All. You can also jump to the ad on our Goldbook web page here. Please let me know what you think of this QR code feature. Thanks.

Until next time, keep the Christmas Spirit.

Brian Osmond

 

 

 
      

Christmas 2012 at Plants For All

Plants For All store is ready

We are getting geared up in the store for the Christmas season. 
     Linda has done a fantastic job of filling the store with the reds and greens. OK - a lot of green was already here because of all of our tropical plants.  We have a nice selection of poinsettias, tropical plants, bonsai, air plants, baskets, plant foods & fertilizers, leaf shine, insecticides, pots, artificial trees, bushes and stems and on and on.....
     One thing that sets Plants For All retail store apart is the personal attention that you will receive because we are a small independent plant shop and we'll make everyone of your custom plant arrangements uniquely yours..
     I said that we are getting geared up. That's because we won't be done until Christmas. Things are always changing - we keep adding new items. So, do stop in often to see what's going on.

Poinsettia Standard Red

The Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is the king of Christmas plants, and solid red is still by far the favourite colour. Each year some other plant comes onto the scene to try and make a claim at being the Christmas plant - Christmas cactus, cyclamens, assorted ferns, violets; but the Poinsettia is the Christmas plant. Also each year, the topic of Poinsettia toxicity comes to the forefront.  Poinsettia are not poisonous. However, you should discourage your child or pet from eating any of your plants because the plants are fibrous and could easily become a choking hazard. Furthermore, being a Euphorbia, the poinsettia, when a stem or leaf is broken, will 'bleed' a white sap that many people do find irritating. (Check out the 'Plant Toxicity' page at the top of this blog for a bit of common sense on this subject).
    The Poinsettia has an overall rating of 5.1 (out of 10)in the EcoFriendly House Plants book by B.C Wolverton. Ratings are based on a plant's comparative analysis regarding the removal of chemical vapours, ease of growth and maintenance, resistance to insect infestation and transpiration rate.

Exclusive Save 15% Blog Offer - As I noted above, Plants For All is a small independent plant shop and we would like a chance at your tropical plant-buying business. From now through to Christmas, I'll be updating this blog frequently to discuss Christmas plant topics and feature some of our products. When you come into our store, mention this exclusive blog offer and receive 15% off of your entire purchase - now through to Christmas.  We would love to see you.
   

Specialty Fertilizer Concentrate

One of Our Favourites - The main part of the Plants For All business is our contract maintenance of live tropical plants in offices. What, when and how we feed and fertilize our clients' plants is very, very important. You can download a free pdf of the Nutrient Application that we use by going to www.plantsforall.ca/information-downloads.php   One of Our Favourites is the Atlantean products, Specialty Fertilizer Concentrate. This product contains molasses, calcium, seaweed, phosphorus and vitamin C. We mix just 7 drops per litre of water and water it into our plants. Download the aforementioned pdf for application details. We carry 2 sizes in our store - 300g bottle for $10 and a 1.1kg bottle for $20. Check it out.

That's it for now. As always, I would welcome your feedback and/or questions. Check the Contact Us page at the top of this blog and we would love to see you in the store.