Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 10 Mar 2021

PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Cat of the Month: Sonya growing indoors

Sonya, the Co-Author of our columnist Alex Butova, this year can't wait for the Spring to begin. Sonya is a True Tropical Cat, enjoying sunny hot days, and she hates cold and snow in spite of her beautiful fluffy coat. Together with Alex, she grows tropical flowers in their apartment in Riga, Latvia. The countdown to True Spring has just begun, and Sonya promises warm weather to start by hers and Alex's birthday on March 16.
Aren't we lucky to live in Tropics!

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Date: 5 Jan 2021

People of TopTropicals. Dog of the Year: Tilda, the Assistant Photographer

Today is a sad day. Our Editor and Photographer assistant Tilda left us for her last trip to Eternity... to the Dog's Paradise. For many years, Tilda has been helping Top Tropicals Editor and Plant Expert Marina Rybka to take pictures of beautiful plants from all over the world. We can often see Tilda's tail, paws, ears or eyes in many photos of our plant catalog. With Marina's and Tilda's help, our catalog today has 4900 tropical plant profiles with 53989 photos!
Tilda, you will always stay with us. You will follow us in every shot you made with your Mom. Thank you for being there for Marina and her TopTropicals. Thank you for making life of tropical gardeners happier! You made the difference. We love you forever.

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Thank you for supporting us in helping PeopleCat Community!
Make your kind donation today and receive a surprise gift from us! Every little bit helps. Thank you and God bless you and your pets!

Date: 10 Oct 2020

Healthy Plants: Q&A from Mr Booster

How to keep bugs away naturally?

Q: I started moving my tropical plant collection indoors as it's getting colder... And all of a sudden, I noticed bugs on leaves! I know for sure all my plants were bug-free when I kept the pots outside in my lanai. What happened? And how can I keep them clean and healthy without using any harsh chemicals? I have many edibles and herbs that I use in my cooking and prefer to stay away from insecticides. Any suggestions?

A: It is very common when healthy looking plants, once moved indoors for the winter, get insect infestations. The main reason is change of environment that puts a plant into stress and makes it susceptible to parasites and diseases. Just think about what a plant is missing, a whole combination of necessary conditions that provided a good life:
- Bring light -> light level reduced, so beneficial UV spectrum is gone
- Air circulation -> less wind = more bugs thriving
- Warm temperature -> from upper 80's in summer to 70's in your AC room
- Air humidity -> although humid air is believed to be causing some issues (for example fungus), however, reducing humidity overall puts a plant into stress and makes it more vulnerable.

Many gardener prefer to avoid chemicals, especially when it comes to treating edible plants and indoor collections. The solution to your problems is - Organic Solution!

SUNSHINE NoBug - Natural Plant Protector.
Shampoo for Plants - for both indoors and garden

SUNSHINE NoBug - is a natural solution to keep your plants healthy and bug-free without harsh chemicals. It is great for organic gardening and edibles, eco-safe and non-toxic for humans and pets. It kills, repels and prevents: spider-mites, mealybugs, whiteflies, aphids and many more. No wait time required - spray and play! And it smells like jasmine, forget stinky insecticides!
How does it work? Just look at these ingredients: Kosher Glycerine, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Palm Oil, Oat Protein, Organic Soap, Horticultural Oil, Jasmine Oil, Water. Yum! But bugs hate it - they suffocate in it! This is why your plants will have NO BUGS with NoBug, that's it!

Directions are simple:

- Mix 100 ml (3-4 oz) with 1 qt (32 oz) of water, or 500 ml (16 oz) in 1 gal of water - for larger applications
- Spray foliage to drip point, including underneath leaves.
- Repeat the treatment in 7 days.
- As a preventive care, spray leaves once a month to keep insects away.
- You may use a paper towel saturated with this solution to wipe the leaves and remove residue from insects.
- Store at room temperature.

This poor Pepper plant was tossed into garbage can by a neighbor... it looked hopeless, infested with mealybugs. We saved it with NoBug ! In 2 days it perked up, and after 4 weeks its healthy and fruiting!

Date: 11 Sep 2020

PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Story of Raja: Love at First Sight and Survivor Spirit

The story below about Little Raja is heart breaking and yet teaches us many lessons of life. Since the first columns about Raja and her brother Abu were published in our Blog, we have been getting many letters from gardeners-slash-cat-lovers asking questions about those heroic kitties... what have they been through and what happened after?.. So we asked Kristi to tell us the whole story in full. Here it is, the Raja's lessons of Life... Part 1...

CONTINUE READING >>

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Make your kind donation today and receive a surprise gift from us! Every little bit helps. Thank you and God bless you and your pets!

Date: 26 Jul 2020

PeopleCats of the World. Cats of The Day: Theodor and Arthur from the Cat Cafe

We received many replies from Garden Cat Lovers to our previous Blog about Cat Cafe Nurri Kassikohvik. We continue introducing a few other PeopleCats from the Cafe: Theodor (pure black) and Arthur (tuxedo).
Theodor and Arthur are security guys. They sit at the front door and make sure everyone passes their face-control... while they take care of each other's faces...

TopTropicals PeopleCat Club and Zoo

Thank you for supporting us in helping PeopleCat Community!
Make your kind donation today and receive a surprise gift from us! Every little bit helps. Thank you and God bless you and your pets!