"SEC | S20W5:"Planting & Care"

Greetings and welcome to my blog. Glad to participate in this weeks class. It’s been an exciting season of back to back learning. Thanks for these great lessons.

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Which season does your region/country falls; and what are the best planting times and why are these times the best?

My country Nigeria experiences two major seasons namely the rainy season and the dry season otherwise known as the harmattan season. The rainy season is usually between the months of April to October.

April to June being the early rains and not too heavy downpours while from July to October is when we usually have the heavy downpours with a break in the month of August usually called the August break.

The dry seasons comes from November to around march with December and January being the peak of the dry season. I feel it’s called harmattan because of the harshness of the weather those season as you could literally feel the weather hammering on you, Hahahaha and that’s on the lighter side.

The best times for planting is usually the early rainy season as stated above. We know that plants needs water for survival hence there would be availability of water and even more during its peak for the plants to survive in without having to go through the hassle of artificial irrigation.

What is the importance of planting trees in the right place and in which places can trees be planted?

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Importance of planting trees in the right place:

• Trees helps to bring about ecological balance in our environment through purifying our air as they take in carbon dioxide and releases oxygen.

• They help in the reduction of flooding effects, reduce erosion and probably reduce water way pollution.

• Trees provide habitat for wide life and some birds in our immediate environment.

• Trees adds esthetic beauty to our environment when planted in the open spaces and they serve as shields for outdoor activities.

• Trees are a source of food for man kind.

• They also help to fight change in climate and support biodiversity.

Where trees can be planted includes;

In planting trees we must ensure that the trees are planted in a place where they would have adequate exposure to sunlight as this would help in their growth.

Hence we should consider places like River banks, roof tops, back yards, parks for children, bare lands in urban or suburban regions forests and even deserted regions as a means to curb desertification.

What kind of fertilizers or organic fertilizers should be used to prepare the soil before planting?

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Fertilizers are divided into organic fertilizers and synthetic fertilizers. The organic fertilizers contain organic matters or are gotten from natural sources and helps to improve the fertility and structure of the soil.

The organic fertilizers we can use for tree planting includes;

• Compost manure; Compost is the organic fertilizer gotten from the mixture of decomposing plants and food wastes, manure and organic materials that are being recycled.

• Bone meal: This type of organic fertilizer is gotten when animal bones gotten from slaughter houses are grounded into powered form and used as fertilizer and this has immense benefits to the plants and soil as it a rich source of phosphorus and low in nitrogen and potassium.

• Blood meal: This is made through dried cattle blood gotten from the abattoir. It’s very effective as organic fertilizer and encourages foliage growth.

• Fish emulsion. This organic fertilizer is gotten when fish waste is heated at a temperature above 80% which extracts oils from the waste and also reducing the putrefying bacteria.

Chicken manure, wood ash can also be used. Organic fertilizers are slow fertilizers hence they improve soil fertility gradually, making it rich in humus, improves soul microbial activity and also reduces soil acidity.

What is the correct method of using pesticides and fungicides for gardening and which pesticides/fungicides can be used?

Pesticides and fungicides must be applied with causation to avoid damage to plants and also to increase their efficiency. The applier must have been trained to do so and Pesticides instructions on their labels must be followed on how it’s to be mixed and applied.

It’s necessary to test the PH of the water before mixing the pesticides in connection to some pesticide that are sensitive to water PHand should be mixed with the indicated amount. PH of water should be neutral or slightly acidic. It should be used immediately after mixing and should not be allowed to stay overnight before application.

Pesticides and fungicides which can be used includes; organophosphates, copper oxychlorides, Bordeaux mixture and pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB) among many others.

Pesticides is best applied during the cool time of the day either in the early mornings or late evenings before the weather becomes hot, it’s should be used during hot weather to avoid burning of the foliage.

What home remedies can be used to protect plants for the roof or back garden?

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For home remedies , we are looking at pest control means that is safe for the home and they include:

• Neem oil spray: Neem oil is gotten from the Neem tree and can be used as a natural remedy for pesticides when it’s sprayed on the plants. Azadirachtin is the active ingredient in it and it kills and repels insects.

• Soap spray: Soap spray is also a good form of pest control by simply mixing soap and water, Castille soap preferably and spraying on the crops. This should be done in the cool part of the day.

• Garlic and pepper spray. Garlic and pepper known for their strong or pungent smell can be used to repel insect from our roof top garden.

• Tomato leaves spray: Cut tomato leaves and soak overnight in water and spray it on the crops. Tomato leaves contain Tomatine which is an alkaloid and can be used to controls insects and amphids in the garden.

There are so many other home remedies for pest control for our gardens and roof tops and I would be stopping here. Thank you for reading through as I ask @jobita30, @ngozi99, and @divinelife to participate in this contest.