Last week we took the opportunity to reintroduce ourselves, for the benefit of first time readers.  As promised in that blog, today we are posting a brief overview of the five most popular beneficial insects for your garden. The text was actually published last July on our blog site and we are reproducing parts of it here today:

“Introducing beneficial insects to the garden to keep insect pests in check is the best way to becoming more environmentally friendly.  Biofloris is committed to providing the highest quality beneficials for the garden as well as educational support for release and establishment in your garden.

Quick reminder:

• A predator in this context is an insect that catches and consumes other insects (prey). Please click here for more information on pest insects.
• A parasitizer in this context is an insect that inserts it’s own eggs into the larva or egg of another host and consumes the host internally

Convergent Lady Beetles, Lady Birds, Lady Bugs (Hippodamia convergens)

Convergent Lady Beetles, Lady Birds, Lady Bugs

Of all the beneficial insects around, the convergent Lady Bug is probably the most familiar to homeowners and children alike as a friend to your garden.  Both the larva and adult have a voracious appetite for many different species of aphids; so encouraging these pretty little beetles in the garden makes good sense. The only drawback is that it is often difficult to find them in local stores or garden centers…

Beneficial Nematodes (Steinernema carpocapsae & Heterohabditis bacteriophora)

Beneficial nematodes

…to control various lawn grubs such as Japanese Beetle, June Beetle and European Chafer.  These microscopic worms are a powerful tool to grub control if released under the right conditions. …

Brown Lacewings (Hemerobius spp.)

Brown Lacewings

Unlike the more familiar green lacewings, brown lacewings are active at night.  They control numerous garden pests such as mites, leafhoppers, mealybugs, thrips and whitefly.

Parasitic Wasps (Trichogramma spp.)

Parasitic Wasps

This is one of the smallest parasitic wasps around, and the best thing about this wasp is that it parasitizes over 200 different spp. of moth and butterfly eggs before the larva emerge and damage plant foliage.

Praying Mantis (Mantis spp.)

Praying Mantis

A fascinating appearance and front legs that strike with lightening speed, these highly predacious insects feed on flies, moths, crickets and grasshoppers, to name just a few.  They generally are more easily established in gardens using organic practices…”

http://www.biofloris.com/blog_en/2010/07/beneficial-insects-for-the-garden/

Next week, we’ll provide a brief reminder as to how to ensure proper application of beneficial insects in your garden.

Then, welcome!  The biofloris blog has been in existence for some two years now.  In case this is the first time you are reading it, today’s post is to tell you what it’s about, to “introduce ourselves”.

Biofloris Blog

In a nutshell

Environmentally friendly gardening is what this blog is mainly about. It is punctuated with a few recipes here and there, with garden pictures sent in by readers and with links to terrific articles. While most of our articles tend to be of the “how-to” variety, we like to think that our posts provide a nice blend of “personal experience” and useful information – in three languages: English, Spanish and French.

The Biofloris Blog seems to be the perfect medium for the kind of messages we are seeking to convey. “How can I get rid of those nasty bugs that are bothering me so much?” “What should I do so that my basil leaves don’t have all those holes?” A blog specializing in organic solutions to gardening problems helps spread the word: how to care for your garden without using chemical pesticides.

Pests Insects

After all, it hasn’t yet been that long since regulations prohibiting or limiting chemical pesticides were imposed (2007 for the province of Quebec in Canada for example). Our blog offers readers details to the advice provided by our web site, http://www.biofloris.com/ and by our pest encyclopedia. What’s more, and this is of undeniable value, the blog allows biofloris to gather and share comments and suggestions from our readers.

The kind of advice we provide

• Beneficial insects are an extremely efficient way of controlling and even getting rid of pest insects
• When used properly, non chemical, natural pesticides, such as neem oil or insecticidal soap, tend to be very effective
• It is important to properly assess the damages to plants in order to correctly identify which pest insect or which disease is causing the problem. This, in turn, allows to choose the most efficient solution more easily, i.e. pesticide product or beneficial insect, to remedy the problem.
• Different gardening problems occur at different times of year. Keeping a vigilant eye is key.

Stay tuned for next week’s blog in which we will provide an overview of beneficial insects to use in your garden.

Photos: http://www.biofloris.com/

One of our readers, Trevor Thomas of Burnaby, British Columbia, recently sent us this text about Neem oil. 

“I was first introduced to Neem oil through the Vancouver Orchid Society as an insect repellent. Neem oil is derived from a tree that grows in India. It is a brown oily substance and from what I know, it is extremely bitter, hence its insect repellent qualities. It is non-toxic which makes it ideal for indoor plants.

Pure or mixed?

You can purchase Neem oil in its pure form and mix this with liquid soap or you can purchase it in a mixed concoction. In the past, when I’ve looked for Neem oil, it was hard to find in its pure form. I have seen it sold and marketed as a spray that you can use to enhance the texture of the leaves on your plants.

Desirable effects

A desirable side effect of Neem oil is that it leaves a shiny waxy texture on the leaves of plants that you spray it on. However, I find it is best suited as an insect repellent. If your plant is infected with mealy bugs or aphids Neem oil may not be your best bet in killing these pests, but once you’ve eradicated the bugs then I would definitely recommend a weekly regimen of Neem oil.”

Neem Oil

Write to us

Let us know when, how and in what form you use Neem oil.  We’d love to hear more on the topic!  Also, you can read or re-read or post from last year:

http://www.biofloris.com/blog_en/2010/02/neem-oil-for-indoor-plants/

Amaryllis

An Amaryllis. Such a nice flower to have in the winter!

The Amaryllis plant (Hippeastrum), originally from South Africa, produces large, lily-shaped flowers.  The latter are white, pink or red and grow at the top of a long stem. It is a tropical plant.

Here’s how to get the most out of these beautiful flowers:

• plant the bulbs (making sure that one third or half of the bulb is outside of the soil) in a good potting medium and place the pots near a window, facing South;
• at the beginning, water lightly;
• once the flower stem appears, increase watering;
• after it has flowered, fertilize the Amaryllis for three months, to nourish the bulb’s reserves (but use only half of the recommended amount of fertilizer);  http://www.biofloris.com/fertilizers/seaweed-extract-1l.html
• when the leaves start turning yellow, start watering less;
• when the leaves have completely dried up, store the pots in a cool place;
• resume the growth cycle in December;
• be sure to repot every three years.

Amaryllis

Source:  Joan Lee Faust, LE GUIDE COMPLET DES PLANTES D’INTÉRIEURES

Photos: Wikipedia

For further reading, we suggest the following websites :

http://organicgardening.about.com/b/2010/12/16/og-tip-of-the-day-growing-happy-healthy-amaryllis.htm?nl=1

http://houseplants.about.com/od/foliageplants/p/Amaryllis.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaryllis

Earwig/Perce-oreille/Tijereta

Biofloris is pleased to use today’s blog to announce that its Pest Insect section has been translated into Spanish and is now a permanent part of our Spanish blog page. 

Photo: Wikipedia

 http://www.biofloris.com/blog_es/insectos-daninos/ 

White Grub/Ver blanc/Gusano Blanco

The page presents a series of pest insects and diseases (with pictures), the damage they can do along with suggestions on how to control and even eliminate them.

http://www.biofloris.com/pests/?___store=default&SID=e31a9fc3dcfb610780db2bb3ce77f624 

Our many readers know our blog is in three languages, English, French and Spanish.  Our store is in English and French.  Our Facebook friends are from all over the world (check us out http://www.facebook.com/pages/biofloris-organic-gardening-jardinage-biologique-jardineria-ecologica/233231454061) and a great number of them are Spanish-speaking.

Mildew/Mildiou/Mildiu

Biofloris’ passion is organic gardening and we thought it important to communicate efficiently with our Spanish-speaking followers. With the Spanish Pest Insect section, many more people around the world will be able to fully understand the different pest-insect problems we address in our blogs and the solutions we recommend.

Many thanks to our Spanish translator for doing such a terrific job!

By the way, do you know of a pest insect, and a solution to get rid of it organically, that is not in our Pest Insect section? Please write to us (in the “Leave a reply” section below) and we will add it in!

Rust/Rouille/Moho

Poinsettia at Botanical Garden of Montreal

Before Christmas, we posted a blog on the history of the poinsettia plant.  Today, we’re going to address the dilemma of whether or not it’s worth keeping this plant or it should simply be discarded.

The following paragraphs are but general guidelines.  At the end of this post we suggest a couple of very good links with more detailed instructions on how to treat a poinsettia during the year in order to get it to bloom again.

A poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is particularly beautiful when its red bracts (a leaf with a flower in the angle where it meets the stem) appear, around Christmas time.

These bracts are not flowers, but leaves.  Its real flowers, are clustered structures (type of seeds) located in the center of the bracts.  The plant blooms for a longer period when placed in sunlight, away from wind draughts.  Water it well.  After it blooms, the poinsettia loses many leaves and tends to become less attractive.  Because it is rather difficult to get it to bloom a second time, many people prefer to simply get rid of it once it has bloomed once. 

If you do, however, decide to keep it, keep watering it well after it has bloomed.  Be sure to prune it a lot, in the spring, and plant it in the garden in the summer.  Around September 1^st, bring it back indoors. From the beginning of October through the end of November, make sure it gets very long nights (complete darkness from 5 PM until 8 AM), in order to allow new bracts to form.

Source: Joan Lee Faust, Le guide complet des plantes d’intérieures

Poinsettia in Oaxaca, Mexico

Please let us know how you have fared with poinsettia plants.

The following websites provide step by step instructions on what do to get your poinsettia to bloom next Christmas time.

http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/jardin/en/info_verte/poinsettia/refleurir.htm

http://gardening.about.com/od/winterinthegarden/a/Poinsettia.htm

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/flowers/poinsettia.html

…and to let you reap the benefits of organic gardening when it comes to herbs.  This recipe highlights the succulent aroma and taste of rosemary.  Enjoy! 

Rosemary Plant

Rosemary Pork Tenderloin

Rosemary Pork Tenderloin

• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) canola oil
• 1 pork tenderloin, 12 ounces to 1 pound (375 to 500 g)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ¼ heaping teaspoon (1.5ml) finely chopped fresh rosemary (or thyme)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200^o C)

Using a large, heavy, heatproof frying pan, heat oil over medium-high heat and brown meat on all sides, about four minutes.

In a cup, combine mustard, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Remove meat from pan and spread with rosemary mixture.

Return meat to pan and place in oven preheated to 400 degrees F (200^o C).

Roast uncovered for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted in centre reads 160 degrees (71C) for medium doneness.

Remove pan from oven, cover loosely with aluminum foil and let stand for a few minutes.

Slice meat into for medallions.  

Bon appétit!

Source :  THE GOOD FOOD BOOK by Brenda Bradshaw and Cheryl Mutch

Rosemary Flower

Here are some links:

http://organicgardening.about.com/b/2010/11/18/plant-of-the-week-rosemary.htm

http://herbgardens.about.com/od/culinary/a/Rosemary.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary