How To Prepare Garden Soil For Planting

Insecticide

An insecticide is a pesticide used against insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against the eggs and larvae of insects respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and the household. The use of insecticides is believed to be one of the major factors behind the increase in agricultural productivity in the 20th century.[1] Nearly all insecticides have the potential to significantly alter ecosystems; many are toxic to humans; and others are concentrated in the food chain.[citation needed]

Classes of agricultural insecticides

The classification of insecticides is done in several different ways:[citation needed]
Systemic insecticides are incorporated by treated plants. Insects ingest the insecticide while feeding on the plants.
Contact insecticides are toxic to insects brought into direct contact. Efficacy is often related to the quality of pesticide application, with small droplets (such as aerosols) often improving performance.[2]
Natural insecticides, such as nicotine, pyrethrum and neem extracts are made by plants as defenses against insects. Nicotine based insecticides have been barred in the U.S. since 2001 to prevent residues from contaminating foods.[3]
Plant-Incorporated Protectants (PIP) are insecticidal substances produced by plants after genetic modification. For instance, a gene that codes for a specific Baccilus thuringiensis biocidal protein is introduced into a crop plant's genetic material. Then, the plant manufactures the protein. Since the biocide is incorporated into the plant, additional applications at least of the same compound, are not required.
Inorganic insecticides are manufactured with metals and include arsenates, copper compounds and fluorine compounds, which are now seldom used, and sulfur, which is commonly used.
Organic insecticides are synthetic chemicals which comprise the largest numbers of pesticides available for use today.
Mode of action—how the pesticide kills or inactivates a pest—is another way of classifying insecticides. Mode of action is important in predicting whether an insecticide will be toxic to unrelated species, such as fish, birds and mammals.
Heavy metals, e.g. arsenic have been used as insecticides; they are poisonous and very rarely used now by farmers.

Plant Care & Gardening : How to Grow Fruit Trees in Containers

green house

A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse) is a building where plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings. A miniature greenhouse is known as a cold frame.
A greenhouse is a structure with different types of covering materials, such as a glass or plastic roof and frequently glass or plastic walls; it heats up because incoming visible solar radiation (for which the glass is transparent) from the sun is absorbed by plants, soil, and other things inside the building. Air warmed by the heat from hot interior surfaces is retained in the building by the roof and wall. In addition, the warmed structures and plants inside the greenhouse re-radiate some of their thermal energy in the infra-red, to which glass is partly opaque, so some of this energy is also trapped inside the glasshouse. However, this latter process is a minor player compared with the former (convective) process. Thus, the primary heating mechanism of a greenhouse is convection. This can be demonstrated by opening a small window near the roof of a greenhouse: the temperature drops considerably. This principle is the basis of the autovent automatic cooling system. Thus, the glass used for a greenhouse works as a barrier to air flow, and its effect is to trap energy within the greenhouse. The air that is warmed near the ground is prevented from rising indefinitely and flowing away.
Although there is some heat loss due to thermal conduction through the glass and other building materials, there is a net increase in energy (and therefore temperature) inside the greenhouse.
Greenhouses can be divided into glass greenhouses and plastic greenhouses. Plastics mostly used are PEfilm and multiwall sheet in PC or PMMA. Commercial glass greenhouses are often high tech production facilities for vegetables or flowers. The glass greenhouses are filled with equipment like screening installations, heating, cooling, lighting and may be automatically controlled by a computer.

Panagbenga 2010 Flower Festival, Baguio City, Philippines