Reciprocal Linking is Bad for Your Business Website Health

As small business owners, we need to find traffic for our websites from wherever we can get it — assuming, of course, that the source is relevant traffic. Irrelevant traffic actually HURTS your website rank in the search engines so we don’t want that. For that reason, we are not fans of reciprocal linking schemes, link farms, etc.

Case in point. I recently met with a new client in Los Angeles who needed to market their small business website. They had previously enjoyed a Page Rank of 5 for their website. Over the past two years, it has dropped to a Page Rank of 3. This was due to a number of factors, but chief among those was the fact that they had been forced into a reciprocal linking arrangement with an unscrupulous vendor. It benefited the vendor tremendously, as they were able to show the search engines that their site was being ranked to from a PR5 website; it made the vendor’s site more “buoyant” (it made it rank higher) in the search engines. The moral of the story is, be very careful if someone offers to do you the “favor” of creating a link to your site, in exchange to linking from yours. It could be detrimental to your website’s Search Engine health.

Nevertheless, you should look for opportunities to receive links from relevant websites whenever possible. It might not seem fair to “take” a link without giving one back, but there are other ways you can help the linking website. If they have a satellite website, you could consider linking to that in the body of one of your posts — relevant topic / contextual link / deep link to the satellite site. Just be careful that the link partner understands that directly linking from the satellite site to their main site will not be nearly as good as if they link in a broad circle of 10 sites before returning to the main site. This is somewhat sophisticated SEO / linking strategy that we’re sharing, so it’s not for everyone to implement on their own. It also implies that you have up to 10 web properties that are all somewhat related that can be daisy chained together… Again, not for everyone. But definitely for businesses that want to insure being on Page 1 on Google. ;)

It requires a lot of time, attention and planning to implement a 10-site daisy chain strategy, and we encourage you to go into that with plenty of forethought. Take the time to not only analyze and eliminate any chance of reciprocal linking or neighbor linking possibilities in the chain, and also insure that whomever in your organization will be managing your website network understands this strategy. A small business SEO Policy is a very smart investment in resources. It takes relatively little time for a website to fall in page rank, and a significantly greater amount of time to gain rank — especially after it is lost.

The underlying issue of Page Rank has been said to be overrated, and it’s largely a symbol of the site’s overall bouyancy in the search engines… it’s not necessarily a goal for a web owner to achieve a particular page rank; it’s more of a barometer or guideline than a definitive benchmark or landing point. The website owner with a page rank of 0 would certainly agree that a page rank of 5 would represent that his/her traffic has achieved more traffic (visitors), more conversions and more leads & sales. That’s really the benchmark we’re aiming for.

Finding A Way To Stop Aging is Not A Problem With Facial Exercise

If there is one thing that women are scared of, it is aging. Aging becomes very evident on the face of the people through the appearance of wrinkles. This is why women have to take care of their face all the time. The most common remedy that women have for anti-aging is the use of expensive creams. There is really no guarantee that these will work to remove wrinkles from the face. The only solution to anti-aging is facial exercise since this works more efficiently than any other method used for anti-aging.

Facial exercise basically keeps your face looking healthy. This method is natural and risk-free so can be sure that there are no side-effects when you do your facial exercise. You just have to set 10 minutes everyday and perform these exercises. In just a few days, you will notice the instant glow on your face. The best part is that these facial exercises are easy to do. You can just sit in your room and start doing these exercises.

Before you understand why facial exercises are effective, you need to understand the arrangement of muscles on the face. The facial muscles lie directly below the skin of the face. It is very important to keep the muscles toned so that the skin on the face remains intact. This will lessen the appearance of wrinkles and facial lines. You can guarantee that you will look younger when you do the right set of facial exercises.

Facial exercise also gives you a certain glow after. Since the blood is able to circulate freely on the skin, it is able to deliver the nutrients that the skin needs. These nutrients fight of the free radicals that get trapped in the skin which work to enhance aging of the skin. With the right exercise, your skin will not only look younger but your skin will also look very healthy.

There is no specific age at which you can do facial exercise. No matter how old you are, you need to know the different facial exercises that will be beneficial for you. In fact, it is even better to start and early age so that you will be able to prevent aging. For those who see that there are already fine lines on the skin, there is no need to worry because these can still be removed with facial exercise. Women who want to look fabulous at any age must learnt facial exercise as soon as possible.

Facial exercise is very practical because it is free! You do not have to pay for anything when you do your facial exercise. Compared to the more expensive choices that you have, this is definitely a better choice. All that you need is discipline and patience so that you will be able to see promising results when you do the facial exercise.

Jen Hopkins has worked in the anti wrinkle skin care industry for years. She maintains websites about face exercises, and facial toning. If you want to contact her, you can use the contact form at one of her sites.

View To A Kill

Have You Ever Thought About Expensive Cleaning Services

It seems that more than ever our busy lifestyles require cleaning services to help keep things clean. Professional cleaning services free up your time so that you can pursue other activities. If you are considering choosing to use the services of a cleaning company, be sure to choose a cleaning service that is not incompetent. It’s important to select highly-skilled, competent individuals.

Perhaps using a cleaning service has already crossed your mind. If so, be sure to pick the one that is right for you. It is similar to cleaning service west hollywood. Picking a company with an impeccable reputation will be a very wise choice.

The first thing you must do is decide how much needs to be cleaned on a regular basis. Although it might sound good, it is not like cleaning service west hollywood. Some areas will need only minor cleaning, while others will require a complete cleaning. Some individuals will require work to be done daily or weekly, while others will only require cleaning services on a monthly basis.

A truly professional service provider should be able to provide fast and efficient service. This is similar to west hollywood. Since finding time to clean can be difficult it is always an option to use professional cleaning services. The cleaning service you choose should definitely be insured properly.

Omitting this step could yield serious consequences in the future. Also be sure that the company utilizes best practices including employees wearing uniforms and maintaining regular schedules.

You will find that many cleaning services also offer supplemental services. A competent cleaning provider will always ensure that you receive proper services that are always satisfactory. In addition to being more enjoyable, a clean area is also better for your health.

My Dell Inspiron 910 Mini Experience

Having been amongst the first to purchase the Dell 910 Mini I wanted to share my experience with others that might be thinking about acquiring this item or one of the other sub-notebook or ‘netbooks’ as they have become known. I manage a web design agency and I’ve been contemplating the idea of acquiring myself a more lightweight laptop as my old Dell Inspiron from 2003 is as heavy as a brick.

Shortly after having retired the old Dell to my girlfriends house (I couldn’t face lugging it back and forwards any longer so it just lives there now, I might well do the same with myself one of these days soon!) it stopped charging and wouldn’t run from the mains, so eventually when I gave it to my tech to repair he found out that it was one of the known faulty models, the 5150 which developed a problem with the motherboard overheating after prolonged use, this I found out about 2 years after they stopped replacing them as part of a class action lawsuit, shame I’m two years too late to get it replaced for free!

Ah well what’s 150 quid for a factory refurbished Motherboard off ebay, compared with years of loyal service in spite of being dropped a couple of times, spat on repeatedly, eaten over and all manner of other not recommended usage styles! I even used to have it hooked up to my TV via the onboard S-VHS port and watch films on it, so it has seen some action, oh yes!Not that I download movies off the internet you understand of course, oh no that would just be wrong, and illegal and I wouldn’t want to risk getting my broadband disconnected!

However, this was all inspired by my step dad who just bought a top of the range Toshiba Portege at around £1,200, but he’s at that time in life where 1,200 quid is affordable, where as I’m still in financial recovery from my last divorce (yes there was more than one!)! So I stumbled across an ad for the Dell Inspiron 910 Mini on the Dell website whilst looking at specs of notebooks for a customer, and there it was £299 inc VAT and delivery. What a bargain I thought!

Anyway there I was flexible friend on hot standby, wrist twitching ready to make a purchase, but wait a minute I thought, why am I buying this, do I really need it? No, I don’t NEED it I just HAVE TO HAVE ONE! So then some sensibility came over me and I put my credit card away, feeling all smug with myself at having managed to resist an impulse purchase!

However, the following day my step Dad needs me to investigate his new machine because he can’t get the printer to work and can’t get it to see the other machines on our network (this job for me, comes with the territory!) So I have to genuinely work on this ultra lightweight new laptop, wow I’m amazed at how small it is, especially compared to my old Dell 5150 which weighs in at about the same weight as two breeze blocks! I wish I could afford one of these I thought! I noticed he didn’t have my recommended security software installed though.I set him up with my usual internet security protection: Avast Anti Virus and Spybot Search & Destroy, both free for home use.

The following day I had to go to a customers and as the appointement was first thing in the morning I went straight from my girlfriends house and took the old 5150 with me (which gives me a great excuse to call in on my way back and drop it off, coincidentally around about lunchtime when there might be the chance of a ham, cheese and salad sandwich on the go! Yum, she is soooo good to me!) So anyway, I about put my back out trying to put this incredibly heavy laptop in the car passenger foot well whilst sitting in the drivers’ seat! One of those ‘put your back out’ manoeuvres. So having experienced the new lightweight machines first hand, and realised I do have a genuine NEED for the new Dell Inspiron mini after all, weighing in at around 1kg, you know I planned to get that credit card out again as soon as I was able!

So as I had a management meeting that afternoon I informed my Finance Manager I would be ordering one and that was that. It was Friday October 3rd when I placed the order on the Dell website, and on the 8th I got back from a client meeting to find a small cardboard box on my desk with the Dell log on the side, I thought it couldn’t possibly be the new mini as the confirmation email I got said it would be delivered on or around the 20th October, but sure enough it really had arrived! Just a 5 day turn around, wow!

So I’m like a kid in a sweet shop thinking “best day ever” (See Heroes Season 3), I was ecstatic and carefully unpacked it, tossing instructions and disks to one side of course, “read those later” I thought. I got it out and started setting it up straight away, you know remove Tiscali Free Trial and all the other junk software these things come with these days. Why they can’t just send you a blank windows installation I don’t know, more advertising!

As it has an integrated web cam I also downloaded Windows Live Messenger and had a quick video call with my fiancée whilst she was doing her house work, superb! What a great bit of kit!So next I Googled ‘mobile broadband suppliers’ and toyed with ordering the USB dongle from Three, as their 5GB monthly allowance is only 15 quid a month so the best looking deal, providing those coverage stories you hear about Three Mobile are not really the case! (Update: Yes the coverage is lousy in all the areas I want to use it, even at my desk I have to connect the dongle to a USB cable and hang it from my roof to get 1 bar signal strength, buy another brand!)

Anyway, it was soon time to go and get my daughter from school so I thought yeah I’ll take it with me and even though I don’t have the mobile broadband dongle yet I can continue setting it up in car park if I’m early. I was early, so I turned it on, it said:

Windows could not start because of an error in the software.

Please report this problem as :

load needed DLLs for kernel.

Please contact your support person to report this problem

As we say in England from the popular Catherine Tate sketch “Computer says no…”

Ah dear, it was great fun whilst it lasted, all of about 2 and a half minutes!Then followed a two and a half hour telethon with Dell support in India :-( Apparently they were so quick to ship it to me that my service tag isn’t on their system yet. Service Tag? What does that have to do with it not booting up?

I just didn’t get their refusal to send me a replacement, you would think I was asking about something complicated, like oh I don’t know, server virtualisation for example. It’s a brand new Dell 910 mini laptop that doesn’t work, send me a new one! “Sorry Mr Rogers we can’t do that until we can look up the service tag”, what a ridiculous situation!

They suggested I called back in 24-48 hours, well I explained to them exactly what I thought of their suggestion as I’m sure you can image, but to no avail. I did indeed have to call back today and they have agreed to send me a replacement unit as it is within 7 days of delivery.

I hope the replacement arrives as quickly as the original unit did…

So conclusion? Apart from the fact it doesn’t work (a faulty drive in my opinion) and for the life of me I can’t get it to boot from an external drive or USB key (it doesn’t have a CD or DVD drive you know) it feels really solid, looks lovely, and is nice to handle (sounds a bit like the ideal companion to an i-phone 2.0 doesn’t it!).

Like most reviewers have experienced, the keys are small (but blackberry users manage and they are larger than those keys) and the right shift key is tiny and means you can’t type an @ in the usual fashion. But the screen is nice, 3 USB slots, a monitor connector, Ethernet and earphones and mic connectors although it has both speakers and mic internally so you can video conference without having to plug anything in.

On the whole, I would recommend it, providing you get one that works ! I am also yet to try it with LogMeIn which is my preferred way of dealing with how to access emails, lots of passwords, specialist software and all that kind of thing when you are out and about. Possibly the screen is going to be too small to be able to work with for extended periods of time, but I’ll let you know when the replacement arrives and I have had chance to give it a proper testing, assuming that one doesn’t break on me as soon as I start urm ‘configuring’ it!

Further Update: So I have had the Dell Mini for about erm, wow nearly a year now! It would never work with LogMeIn over the 3 dongle. To be fair Three were very helpful, until we took the dongle out and used it in another one of my computers and were able to connect on LogMeIn without any problems, at this point they referred me to Dell, at which point I lost the will to live!

It is all to do with one of the browser settings, not remembering itself when you tick the check box and hit Apply. I can’t remember which one it was now, and maybe internet explorer 8 will have fixed the problem or it might work on Mozilla browser instead, I just never got round to trying to sort it out again and tend to use the Mini more now to read the news in bed with my cup of tea in the morning.

It is too fiddly to use for really extended periods but it is great for checking your email when you’re out and about, or for a quick impulse surf when you can’t be bothered to turn the main pc on and you want to remind yourself what other films that actor or actress was in!I don’t know much about lcd monitors but i reckon if you connected one to this externally it would work great.

It’s a cracking little machine though and also works quite well down the pub, because I can even fit it in the pocket of my big coat, and that is proper cool, except it doesn’t like beer puddles much so I tend to avoid taking it most of the time, unless I know I’m going to need to log on, but then the pub has got a sexy new Mac which is already covered in beer so I prefer to use that (any excuse to get behind the bar really!)

In summary though it has not had any hardware problems since the initial replacement was received. On the whole I have found that Dell kit tends to be pretty reliable anyway, especially when you are dealing with the more business based items whereas this is obviously more consumer focussed. With a Dell if they are going to go wrong they will usually do so within the first 6 months of use and generally after that they will keep going until recommended service intervals such as changing the disks after a couple of years and that kind of thing, assuming you continue to use them in the same fashion throughout their life spans.

It should be made clear though that these mini Dell laptops/netbooks, call them what you will, do not having a regular hard disk drive inside them. A normal hard drive has a disk inside it that physically spins round and a ‘head’ which moves backwards and forwards over the sectors quite like the relationship between the stylus and the tracks on an old fashion vinyl record(which being 40 next year I do remember from my childhood)!

The hard drives within the Dell mini, and other netbooks too I should image, are solid state, that is to say they are rather like USB flash drives or memory keys. In fact I think from a picture I saw they look more like RAM memory chips all joined together than a single physical device. The advantage of using solid state memory over traditional hard drives is that they use less power, they are not as heavy and they are quieter. Much quieter. If you’re like me you will have noticed how computers have got a lot noisier over the last 10 years, as they have got more powerful.

My machine is blissfully quiet in comparison to any of my other computers, desktops or laptops. Although if you are auditorily hyper-sensitive to noise like I am then you can notice a very slight hum or whine when you request a program that requires it to access the hard drive. Most people probably will never hear this but if you are familiar with the faint hum from your mobile phone charger or other devices of that ilk that transform power from one state to another then you might know what I am talking about. It certainly isn’t a problem though, although the power adapter for the machine itself does make some odd noises if you listen to it closely.

My favourite aspect of this machine is that in some it elicits the same response as having a small puppy or kitten out and about with you, especially down the pub where if you get it out to a bunch of girls you can hear the ooh and ahhh’s of girls who think something is cute! That is priceless!

Must I Check My Credit rating?

Did you know that if you have a bad FICO it’s possible you’ll be required to put up a huge deposit with a new cellular telephone company? You are in all probability already aware that your FICO scores can have effects on your credit card rates, your insurance rates, your home loan fees, plus the chances of safely you getting a opportunity in the investment services area. However the query happens to be should you observe your FICO score?

Based on the info in this article it is easy to see why you should keep an eye on your credit health.

Due to the proven fact that your FICO has effects on so much of what you can as well as can’t do it makes a lot of sense to observe what goes into your credit file that is the foundation of your credit score.

And many instances the main reason you have a bad credit report might be through no fault of your own. Based on who’s numbers you believe, there’s an 80% prospect that your credit file includes mistakes in it.

You might be the target of identity theft and an individual attempted to apply for a loan or even get a new bank card utilizing your information.

You could be the victim of a mistake made by a creditor to the credit rating agencies and this might lower your rating.

You may be the victim of an error made by the credit bureau itself.

Considering that banks, credit card banks, along with additional lending organizations might earn more money off of you when you have a reduced FICO rating it is not in the credit reporting agencies’ best interest to keep your credit reports error- free.

It is ultimately up to you to keep an eye on your FICO score regularly plus guarantee there isn’t a inaccurate info in your credit report which is adversely affecting you.

This is where credit monitoring can save you thousands. It could keep you abreast of some suspect activity that can badly lower your rating and also keep you paying high APRs as well as having to make a large fee for when you want to sign up with the new cellular phone provider and one of those new nice smart cell phones.

You can save money when you keep an eye on your credit score regularly.

Examine your credit report and credit scores online instantly for $0. Try Credit Score Monitoring.

Look through your credit reports and credit scores and prevent identity theft and get the cheapest interest rates on your charge cards, mortgage loans, personal loans, and cellphone plans.

Come by Free Credit Report And Score Right now.

Discover How To Create Fantastic Pleats On Drapes

If you are like me, you may think that gathered curtains or draperies seem so much superior if every fold is uniformly the same. Achieving that is easier than you may perhaps think. There are in fact three distinctive ways to handle the challenge and I assure that, one way or another, you can accomplish it. Sometimes even pleated drapes require coaxing if the textile is springy or stiff and, of course, the best technique is to pick a silky flexible textile in the first place. This is not at all times feasible so lets talk about how to form perfect pleats regardless of what textile is used even including waverly curtains or lace fabric or a firm antique satin.

In case the drape material is fairly flexible the easiest first attempt would be to put in the drape, draw each section to one side and actually place the pleats evenly. Next secure them back rather loosely together near the top and at the bottom hem. As soon as this is ready you can drench the front and rear  of the pleats lightly with a mixture of water with a small amount of alcohol added. Do this with a very fine spray devoid of soaking the material. You only want a spray on the surface. You could also rub your fingers lightly on each pleat while they are still damp forming them into a nice curved shape. Leave them for a couple of days. The shape of the pleats will very much get better, hopefully to the moment that they are satisfactory without additional fussing.

If the pleats are still flaring the next method is to have what in the long curtains trade is recognized as “shot tape” or in fabric stores as “leaded weight tape”. It consists of a extended, extremely tiny diameter cotton tube that is packed with a single row of about 1/8 inch lead balls to form a uninterrupted cord. Place this cord in the bottom hem from one side of the panel to the other. That adds mass to the drape. You can now organize the pleats a good deal more effortlessly. After you have arranged them equally they have a tendency to remain where you have placed them because of the additional mass and the comparative unwillingness of the cord to straighten out.

Tipdrop

Too cold in the UK – then jet off to Malta

A foot of snow, winds coming from Russia, sub zero temperatures what is the United Kingdom coming too I hear you shout? – winter thats what so my advice is get on line and seek out a warmer destination. And there is no better place than Malta, you can choose from an abundance of luxury hotels Malta, where you can enjoy amenities and services to help you relax rejuvenate and escape this cold and snowy English weather. 

So what luxury hotel in Malta should you go for ? well it depends what you want from your holiday, do you want to be close to the beach, do you want a choice of swimming pools, do you want a  huge choice of wonderful restaurants to diner in, do you want a spa where you can enjoy relaxing treatments for mind and body, most 5 star hotels in Malta offer in house spa and treatment centres where you can go to rejuvenate. Or are you looking for a more active holiday maybe you want to enjoy a choice of water-sports or land sports such as tennis or walking. Maybe you just want to wander about and take in the history and culture of the island.

Malta has a choice of luxury hotels that are suitable for both short and long holidays that have a wealth of facilities that can satisfy even the most discerning holiday maker. Choose from the Hilton, the Palace th Westin or maybe one of the Corinthea properties and many more, guaranteed there will be a luxury hotel to suit your requirements.

The great thing about Malta is its not too far away, is very good value and there is something to do for everyone.

A Tip For Your Fundraising Success

Fundraising has become an essential element to schools, scouts, sports and cheerleading teams, youth sports leagues, and other community groups in both small towns and major urban areas. The need for fund raising has become of greater importance than ever before for a variety of needs ranging from playground equipment, uniforms, and trips, to primary funding to support and maintain many types of programs and curriculum.

Fundraising used to be a means to offer or support for supplemental programs or activities, but in today’s world fundraising is being depended on more and more for the survival and primary support for more and more groups, activities, events and programs.

This importance of fundraising in today’s marketplace has created the need for stronger and more successful fundraising programs than can generate impact and results. Fundraising is no longer just a fun activity, but rather an entrepreneurial enterprise – a business.

Parents, students and community members are bombarded and approached with more fundraising solicitations than ever before. The one crucial element is to make sure your fundraising efforts do not get lost in the shuffle. You must make sure your fundraising campaigns are properly executed to position yourself to achieve the best results possible.

The good news, below is a tip you can implement to help insure your fundraising success.

Plan Your Fundraising Success

Many times the lack of proper planning is the reason behind a lack of expected results. Chart out your fund raisers from your first step through completion. By creating a plan to execute your fundraiser you and your entire team will be able to see the big picture.

Plan out all facets of your fundraiser including staffing, dates, times, promotion, product distribution, ticket sales, accounting, meetings, and any other pertinent details than may be included in your overall plan.

By following this tip your fundraising campaign will be managed properly and positioned for optimum success. While these steps may appear to be a more business like approach, this is how fundraisers must operate to attain your goals, succeed in todays potentially saturated market, and prevail even in difficult times. These steps work well with all styles of fundraisers and offer immediate and residual benefits.

How to Obtain Baseball Tickets

People have different interests; some go for books, while others would rather sports. For ardent sports fans, nothing gives them thrill than to be able to watch their favorite baseball teams battle it out. In a country where Baseball is worshipped and considered the National sport, the eagerness to watch a game is high. No other country is crazy about a game as Americans are. The Major League Baseball teams are all divided into American league and national League, with divisions in each of these leagues. 

The wait all year for the Major league baseball games to begin and then comes the issue of ticket availability. In most cases, people stand in long queues only to get back home dejected and disappointed due to non availability of tickets. Ticket America solves this problem for the sports enthusiast.

For example, New York Yankees are going to be playing against Houston Astros in March in their hometown Tampa, Florida. For this event, tickets are made available well in advance on the site, so fans can grab theirs with ease. Be it home games or away, there are plenty of tickets in stock. For someone living in another part of the country, but looking to buy tickets for this particular match, they could book tickets online, and it would be delivered to their door steps. 

Be it the Boston Red Sox, or the Detroit Tigers, the details regarding the games, location, and number of tickets available are all listed down. So, depending on which match you wish to watch, you need to make your choice. This is probably the only such company that allows you to sit at home and book your tickets. You could be the envy of your group, since you have the tickets in hand when they are still fighting for one.

Tickets are sold like hot cakes, which means, first come first buy is the only policy followed. Going to the stadium, standing in long queues filled for hours together is something that is just not possible for many. Through the www.ticketamerica.com website, they can get their hands on the very tickets they have been eying for sometime now. This works very well for people who are from other countries but curious to watch the “national pastime” of America and be a part of the excitement. Whatever be your needs, tickets are bound to be within your reach.  

If you are a hard core sports fan, you may have thought about betting on sports.  You may be interested in this website: Sports Betting Tips and Strategies

An Extinct Tool Soil Fungus Control

The age of “temporary soil sterilization” or “soil fumigants” which can be safely used by the home gardener has long passed. These chemicals were designed to make your gardening easier and more enjoyable by killing weed seeds, certain plant disease organisms and nematodes in the soil. However, this does not mean we cannot learn about the pests soil fumigants controlled.

Fungi

About 70 per cent of all plant diseases are caused by fungi. Fungi cause a large number of destructive diseases of roots, stems, leaves, bulbs, tubers, flowers and fruits of our garden plants and lawn grasses. Plant diseases caused by fungi are estimated to cost Americans over a billion dollars yearly. Many of these organisms live in the soil – free, or attacking decaying roots, leaves and other plant debris.

Fungi are generally microscopic, filament-like organisms that usually reproduce by spores (seeds) which are commonly blown or splashed about. Fungi lack chlorophyll, the green coloring matter in higher plants, and are hence unable to make their own food. Fungi, like animals and man, are dependent on green plants – either living or dead – for their food. When conditions of temperature and moisture are favorable, fungi attack living plants and cause disease.

The spores of fungi produce germ tubes that may penetrate directly into a plant through natural openings or through wounds, causing infection. These organisms are present everywhere. In the old days applying a soil fumigant as a pre-planting treatment would help considerably in preventing such common diseases as damping-off, root rots, crown rots and certain leaf blights to garden plants and lawn grasses, by killing the causal fungi in the soil before infection occurs.

Nematodes

Nematodes are minute, generally microscopic, eel-shaped organisms that inhabit the soil in tremendous numbers. Water is required for them to move around. Nematodes have been estimated to cause a yearly loss of at least ten per cent of the farmer’s gross income. Very few home gardens or house plant pots in mid-America are entirely free of these pests, although in many cases populations are not large enough to cause severe injury.

Most nematode problems are caused by their feeding in or on the surface of roots, stems, bulbs and tubers but some leaf nematodes can infect the upper part of the plant. They reproduce by eggs or living young. Nematodes are not commonly transported by wind as are the spores of fungi. Numerous species have been shown to be parasitic on roots or other underground parts of all common flower and vegetable garden plants as well as lawn grasses. Nematode injury can easily be confused with drouth or fertilizer injury, a soil deficiency, disease, insect and possibly other types of injury.

Parasitic nematodes on plants like the zz plant can only be identified by taking the soil from several pots or areas in the garden or lawn containing suspected plants and subjecting the samples to a rather complicated laboratory soil examination.

A great many garden sites in the southern states have been abandoned and many others have become almost unproductive because the soil has become so heavily infested with the root knot nematode.