Dealing with pests on houseplants can be a challenge for any indoor gardener, but it's important to address the problem as soon as possible to keep your plants healthy. Here are some tips to help you get rid of pests and keep them from coming back.1. Inspect your plants regularly: Keep a close eye on your plants and inspect them regularly for signs of pests, such as discolouration, holes in the leaves, or sticky residue on the leaves or surrounding surfaces.2. Identify the pest: To effectively deal with pests, you must first identify what kind of pest you're dealing with. This can be done by observing their physical appearance, their behaviour, and the damage they cause. Use the bug identifier below to...
February can be a challenging month for houseplants, as the days are still short and the temperatures can be chilly. However, with a little extra care and attention, your plants can thrive during this month. First and foremost, make sure your plants are getting enough light. During the winter months, the days are shorter, so it's important to place your plants near a window that gets a lot of natural light. If your windows don't get enough light, consider using grow lights to supplement the light your plants are receiving. Next, make sure your plants are being watered properly. It's easy to overwater plants during the winter, as the air is typically dryer and the temperature is cooler. Be sure...
Peatlands only cover ~3% of the Earth’s land area, with a large proportion of this located in Northern Europe and Western Siberia (shown above). These areas of the world have been perennially frozen for tens of thousands of years, where permafrost peatlands have developed, locking up almost 40 billion tonnes of CO2 (twice the amount held by Europe’s forests). Due to the effects of global warming, the permafrost is in danger of melting, which would therefore allow the organic matter within the frozen peat to decompose, releasing the billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, further exacerbating global warming. This relationship between climate change and environmental effects is called ‘positive climate feedback’, where an initial change in...
Houseplants, like every other living thing in your home, need feeding. Left to their own devices, they will turn sunlight into energy and feed off the nutrients in the soil in their pots. However, unlike plants in your garden where there is an abundance of new nutrients regularly available, houseplants are limited to what they find in the pot in which they are growing. And they don’t take long to deplete that source. They may well survive without additional food but it’s unlikely they’ll thrive. No one who has invested in houseplants to brighten up their home wants to see them under the weather. It’s over to us then to supplement their diet. That’s why we at For Peat’s Sake...
In 2021, the UK government introduced a ban on burning peat deeper than 40cm in some protected areas of England. This was in response to the traditional practice of setting fire to peatlands to create and maintain habitats for grouse shooting. But, according to the RSPB and Greenpeace, some shooting estates in England are ignoring the ban and are still burning deep peatlands in protected areas.Due to the amount of carbon that they store, the UK government has called peatlands our ‘national rainforests’. But despite the crucial environmental role they play, campaigners say these ‘rainforests’ are still being illegally burnt. Estate managers set fire to peatlands to encourage the growth of green shoots that grouse like to eat, but in so...
