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  • The Way to Eliminate VCT Tile Adhesive

    The Way to Eliminate VCT Tile Adhesive

    After pulling up your old vinyl composition tile floors, you are very likely to be left using VCT adhesive residue all over the subfloor. This adhesive may appear easily or might be more stubborn, based on which kind of adhesive you have. To make the project manageable, determine which kind of paste remover will work on your distinct adhesive, either by requesting the manufacturer or using trial and error.

    Precautions

    Before you begin scraping at the adhesive or trying to dissolve it, then be sure that it doesn’t contain asbestos. In case the adhesive is out of the 1970s or earlier, it might be poisonous, and you shouldn’t do anything to it till you’ve had it tested by professionals. In case you haven’t eliminated the tile however, have these tests done before you begin. If the tile was set up after the 1970s, the adhesive ought to be safe, and you may begin experimenting with solvents or less toxic alternatives.

    Solvents

    Paint thinners, industrial adhesive solvents and mineral spirits can dissolve many kinds of VCT adhesive. Because solvent-based adhesive removers produce toxic fumes, ventilate the area as well as possible, wear protective gloves and clothing and do not pose any open flames to the room. Apply a solvent into a cloth, and sponge it over the adhesive. Allow the solvent to dissolve or soften the adhesive, then scrape up the remnants using a hand scraper. Although solvents are generally the fastest way to remove old adhesive, they are also the most poisonous, so if you have the time, think about using a different system.

    Alternative Strippers

    Many manufacturers of adhesive strippers also make environmentally friendly, less toxic alternatives. Some of the products use citric acid, which gives them an orangelike odor and makes them relatively safe to use. Other products use soy derivatives to dissolve adhesive. These alternative strippers work more gradually than the solvents, so check the labels to ascertain how long to allow them to work before scratching off the adhesive. Though these products release milder fumes, then you should still ventilate the room as you work.

    Heat and Elbow Grease

    Some adhesives do not need any kind of chemical stripper in any way. If you’re fortunate enough to have a glue that dissolves under heat, you can just blast the ground a section at a time using a hairdryer or steamer and then scrape up the resulting mess. This technique might require more physical effort on your part since the scratching might be harder work. However, you’ll avoid any potential toxic effects of chemical fumes, along with a hairdryer will not leave the area smelling funny for times how a commercial stripper can.

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  • Wood Finishing Tips for Painting

    Wood Finishing Tips for Painting

    Wood looks great in any color with correctly applied paint. Painters learn the secret to a fantastic paint job is prep. The current finish and the kind of wood ascertain what preparation is essential before painting wood. Plywood, particleboard and walnut walnut want more prep that quality hardwoods, but all kinds of wood can appear equally smooth under a painted wood finish.

    Safety First

    Wear a dust respirator and safety goggles or safety glasses with side shields while cleaning and sanding. Use a compound respirator when working together with the solvents on sealers, primers and naphtha. Wear rubber or plastic gloves for all wood finishing tasks, not just for the sake of your palms, but also to safeguard the wood surfaces from the natural oils of your palms. Keep the work area clear of debris, tools and cords.

    Filling

    Fill nail holes with wood putty. Avoid overfilling since putty expands. Squeeze extra filling off the surface of the hole with a putty knife. Fill large knot holes on flat surfaces with spackling compound and a putty knife. Use the spackling to create smooth edges and sharp corners on manufactured wood products and plywood. Use a gloved finger to disperse spackling over router-beveled edges. Allow to dry for a hard surface.

    Sanding

    Sand wood down to a smooth surface in stages, with a development of coarse, medium and fine sandpaper. Sand with the grain to prevent visible scratches from the painted wood finish. Sand fillings flush with the surfaces. Use a router with a matching bit to sand the spackling onto a beveled border. Use a vibration breaker or random orbital sander for flat surfaces. Sand hard to reach crevices with an oscillating tool fitted with wood sand paper attachments.

    Finishing

    Scrub new wood with naphtha to take out resin prior to finishing wood. Seal all surfaces with a shellac sealer to prevent oils and resin from soaking through the end. Allow to dry to touch and sand smooth before applying another coat. Apply a primer on the sealer and let it dry thoroughly before painting wood. Apply a couple of coats of paint allowing each to dry before applying the next.

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  • The Best Way to Clean Drapes with a Rubber Backing

    The Best Way to Clean Drapes with a Rubber Backing

    Drapes using a rubber backing can provide your utility bill with a slight reprieve. In the summer, the curtains protect rooms from sunlight and heat to keep them cooler, while during colder months that the drapes block drafts and supply an extra layer of insulation to maintain a house warmer. The most element that offers these benefits, however, requires extra care and gentle treatment when you wash the drapesthe plastic backing.

    The Washing Machine Method

    Set your washing machine into the gentle cycle, then fill it with cold water and add the appropriate amount of detergent. The packaging to the detergent will generally dictate how much to use, or you can judge the measurement according to previous experience. For darker curtains you might want to utilize a color-safe detergent to help prevent bleeding or fading. Promptly remove the curtains after the cycle has finished, because prolonged exposure to the moisture from the washing machine could lead to mildew to form.

    Hand Wash Outside

    Hand washing the curtains is a gentler method than washing them, and is preferable when the status of the rubber backing on the curtains is weakened or there aren’t any signs of rubs or rips. Hang the curtains on a clothesline outside to supply the easiest access to all or most of the fabric at a single moment. Saturate the curtains and lightly rub in laundry detergent using a sponge or your hands, paying special attention to regions where stains or dirt have accumulated. Then rinse the curtains until each of the soap has washed away.

    Hand Wash Indoors

    If hand washing the curtains outside isn’t a feasible option, you can use a bathtub filled with cold water instead. In the same way, you must first boil the curtains in the water, then wash them with laundry detergent and rinse them until each of the detergent has been eliminated. Since the bathtub doesn’t allow for much distance, it will take a bit of maneuvering, shifting and sometimes folding over of larger, bulky curtains to be certain everything is properly washed, but it could surely be done.

    Remove Wrinkles

    No matter how you washed them, the drapes should be left to dry thoroughly either on a flat, clean surface or hanging from a clothesline or sturdy curtain rod. Avoid any harm to the rubber backing by preventing the impulse to ring or twist out excess water. Due to the agitation cleaning the curtains might have caused, you could be left with a couple of wrinkles. For any wrinkles that don’t naturally disappear in the drying process you can iron the fabric side of the curtains on a low setting. Take precaution not to leave the iron on any one place for too long — you do not wish to expose the rubber backing to heat.

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  • CFL Light Requirements for Tomatoes

    CFL Light Requirements for Tomatoes

    Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) require at least eight hours of direct sunlight daily, but that’s not always possible once you’re growing the plants indoors. The plants respond well to artificial lighting, so long as you meet their colour requirements and time requirements. With a timer might help ensure your tomatoes get the light they need, when they require it.

    With CFLs

    Compact fluorescent lights, or CFLs, frequently replace older-style lights in many household applications. They give off less heat than incandescent options while using less electricity. CFLs typically have longer lifespans also, and they are available in a variety of light-spectrum colors that will assist you give your plants precisely the light they require. Conventional CFLs assist your indoor tomatoes grow, but using grow lights, or CFLs specifically designed to utilize plants, can give you an benefit. Several have built-in deflectors, by way of example, to target the lighting downward toward your tomato plants.

    Matching Daylight

    Because tomatoes require so much sunlight to develop and fruit, the very best CFL develop light choice is one which mimics the light spectrum of daylight as tightly as possible. This spectrum, or shade temperature, is measured using the Kelvin temperature scale. Sunlight has a high color temperature, about 6,000k, so opt for a CFL that has a comparable color temperature, such as between 5,000k and 6,500k.

    Picking Your Distance

    Heat is a negligible issue with CFLs, and that means you are able to place them closer to a tomatoes than in case you’re utilizing incandescent bulbs — the leaves may even touch the lights without any significant damage. However, the lighting should achieve every leaf for the plant to correctly take advantage of this lighting, so keep the lighting at least 6 inches above the plants. If you are growing seedlings indoors, 4 inches should be sufficient.

    Keeping the Light On

    Outside tomatoes enjoy long hours of sunlight, but your indoor plants don’t get as much direct lighting. That does not mean you must leave your CFLs on all day to guarantee the plants get enough light — they operate much better when they have a little bit of time to rest, just like they would outside. Shoot for 16 hours of direct lighting daily, including bright sunlight, for seedlings and adult plants. So if your strawberries get 2 hours of direct sunlight daily, nutritional supplement that with 14 hours of CFL lighting. With a timer can help you ensure that tomatoes get the light they need.

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  • Summer-Blooming Fruit Trees

    Summer-Blooming Fruit Trees

    Fruit trees typically flower before they produce fruit, therefore summer-blooming fruit tree types include the ones that produce fruit in late summer or fall. Occasionally, a fruit tree which normally blooms throughout spring, such as an apple tree, flowers during summer because of abnormal weather patterns. Many booming fruit trees add attractive colour to the garden, like starfruit trees with purple or pink blooms.

    American Elder

    American elder (Sambucus canadensis) is a deciduous tree or shrub that grows white blooms between June and August. It tolerates U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 9, though it can occasionally grow in the warmest areas of USDA zone 3. The tree grows throughout the majority of the United States and much of Canada. It produces edible fruit in September. This tree prefers full sunlight, well-drained soils along with a slightly acidic soil pH.

    Lime

    Lime trees (Citrus aurantifolia) produce white flowers during summer followed by limes during autumn. Citrus trees generally do best in USDA zones 9 and warmer, and many types of limes grow best in USDA zones 9 and 10. For instance, Mexican limes succeed in warm coastal areas which never freeze, while hybrid limequats can tolerate occasional frosts. Citrus trees favor well-drained soils and perform best when gardeners plant them during spring until the weather becomes hot.

    Starfruit

    Starfruit (Averrhoa carambola), indigenous to Southeast Asia, is cultivated in tropical and subtropical parts of the United States, like Florida and areas of California that rarely freeze. Temperatures as cold as 20 degrees Fahrenheit may ruin starfruit trees. They grow best in USDA zones 9b through 11. Starfruit trees produce pink to lavender blooms during summer, followed by sweet, juicy fruit during autumn and winter. They grow best in well-drained soils using a slightly acidic pH. In addition they favor protection from the wind.

    Meiwa Kumquat

    Meiwa kumquat (Fortunella crassifolia) is a sort of Asian kumquat that’s cultivated in warmer parts of the United States, like Florida and California. It grows white blooms during summer and produces edible citrus fruits during winter. Kumquat trees grow slowly and stay relatively small. They tolerate temperatures as cold as 14 degrees Fahrenheit, and they grow best in USDA zones 8b through 10. All these trees are hardier than a number of different types of citrus and can grow in Mediterranean climates.

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  • Historical Heirloom Apple Trees

    Historical Heirloom Apple Trees

    Apples (Malus pumila) probably originated in Central Asia, near what is now present-day Kazakstan. As ancient peoples selected for larger and tastier fruit, wild apples (M. sieversii) gave rise to edible apples, which spread across Europe and Asia, and slowly the planet. Ancient apple varieties furnished food and beverage in the kind of new and hard cider, and sweetness in early times before refined sugar has been available.

    Heirloom Apples

    For fruits, heirloom varieties are considered to be those that grew before the advent of refrigerated boxcars. Prior to that, apples were bred for certain purposes: cooking, baking, cider, eating or dessert apples and long-keeping apples. Later boxcars, apples needed to be able to endure a hard long journey to promote, and plant breeders produced varieties for shipping ability. Generally, heirloom apples are considered to be those from the mid- to late-1800s back to early times. If you would like to see why apples were favored by our ancestors, taste some heirloom cultivars.

    Cultivars Before 1600

    Today’s “White Pearmain” likely corresponds to the early “Pearmain” cited as being developed in English medieval orchards from the 1200s. This superb dessert apple is green flushed with crimson, and has sharp, firm, aromatic flesh. It rises at U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 10. The “Decio” apple, also called “Melo D’Ezio,” comes from Italy, likely increased as early as 450 A.D.. This small red-flushed green apple is fruity and sweet. It is named for Roman general Ezio, who took the apple from Rome north to Padua when he fought Attila the Hun. Rome has a climate equivalent to U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone 9, and Padua has a humid subtropical climate. “Calville Blanc d’Hiver” originated in France in the 1500s. This premier cooking apple is still used in France for gourmet dishes. This apple is mild yellow, sweet, spicy and with a banana-like fragrance. It is hardy in USDA zones 5 through 9.

    Cultivars from the 1600s

    When colonists came to America, it didn’t take long to create new cultivars from the varieties they brought from home, and to continue growing varieties from their native countries. “Roxbury Russet” came from Massachusetts early in the 1600s. Green to yellow-brown fruits are excellent for juice and cider, and create a fantastic dessert apple. “Sops of Wine” is a really old English apple described by Ray at 1688. Medium greenish fruit are combined with red. Yellow flesh often has a pinkish tinge and is light, aromatic and hot, good for eating and cider. Both of these cultivars grow in USDA zones 5 through 9.

    Cultivars from the 1700s

    As settlers moved across America, besides utilizing grafted trees, they planted apple seeds at any probable locale — remember John Chapman, better called Johnny Appleseed. They chose the very best seedlings for new varieties. Clarke Canfield, in a Huffington Post article, shows that about 15,000 apple varieties were named and grown in North America. Only a remnant now exist. George Washington’s favourite apple had been “Newton Pippin” from New York, originated about 1759. This big yellow-green apple is crisp and company with a piney tartness, creating full flavor after a couple of months in winter. It rises in USDA zones 4 through 10. Thomas Jefferson favored “Esopus Spitzenburg,” developed in New York before 1800. This red-orange medium-sized apple has yellow-tinged aromatic flesh that improves with storage. The tree grows in USDA zones 5 through 10. “Gravenstein” apples from Germany or Denmark now grow mainly from the Sebastopol area of northern California. Dating back to 1790, this multi purpose yellow-green apple has hot, tart white flesh.

    Cultivars from the 1800s

    A lot more cultivars resulted since the western frontier enlarged and people settled in brand new apple-growing areas. Since apple trees have been long-lived, today’s heirloom apple growers often scout old apple orchards and backyard plantings to find and rescue varieties thought to be lost. A good example is the recent discovery of “Magnum Bonum” at Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. This red, hot apple originated in 1829 and was widely grown in southern states in USDA zones 6 through 9. Among the very best keeping varieties is “Arkansas Black,” with purple-red smaller fruits that turn nearly black when they are ripe. This is a multipurpose apple, great for eating, cooking and cider. It dates back to before 1886 and rises in USDA zones 5 through 10. “Spokane Beauty” has big fruits as many as 2 lbs taken for cooking and eating. It had been found in Walla Walla, Washington, in 1859 and rises in USDA zones 3 through 9.

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  • Peony Truth

    Peony Truth

    Peonies (Paeonia) are long-lived plants that make pink, white, red, yellow and coral blooms. The blossoms may be single or double, depending on the cultivar. A peony’s fragrance varies, but many peonies possess a sweet, clean scent. Pink peonies usually have more fragrance than crimson peonies. Peonies are known as Northern flowers since they endure — and even prefer — harsh winter temperatures. Using careful plant selection, nevertheless, gardeners in milder regions can have peonies in their lawns.

    History

    Peonies are native to Asia and Southern Europe and were revered by the ancient Chinese and people in other Asian cultures, as per a Whatcom County Extension informative article on the Washington State University website. In reality, gold peonies, and in particular, gold tree peonies, were believed the distinctive real estate of China’s emperor. Other people having the plants could be put to death. Romans transported the plants to England, where they flourished in the moist climate. Peonies were used in ancient times to treat a variety of conditions, which range from childbirth pains to seizures and headaches. They had been thought to protect against curses and demonic possession, which might explain why they frequently were used to line a walkway leading to a front door. Peonies were widely grown during the Victorian period and are frequently regarded as old-fashioned flowering crops. Their ease of care and blooms make them acceptable plants for the modern landscapes as well.

    Varieties

    Peonies are grouped into two main categories: herbaceous, perennial plants (Paeonia officinalis) and also tree peonies (Paeonia suffruticosa). A third, less common kind of peony, the Itoh hybrid peony, is a cross between herbaceous peonies and tree peonies. The cultivar was developed in 1948 by Japanese hybridist Toichi Itoh. An American grower, Louis Smirnow, patented four varieties in the late 1960s. Herbaceous peonies are hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 8, and also tree peonies are hardy in zones 5 through 9. Itoh peonies are hardy in zones 4 through 9. Peonies need a period of cold weather every single winter to break dormancy and blossom properly. In mild climates, the plants produce lush foliage but few blossoms. Herbaceous peonies need over 400 hours of temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit annually while tree peonies need 100 to 300 hours of chill time each year. Gardeners in regions with mild winters should purchase tree peonies, rather than herbaceous varieties, and also the tree peonies must be local plants adapted to mild winters.

    Growing Requirements

    Both herbaceous and tree peonies need full sun, rich soil and consistent moisture to perform well. Plant herbaceous peonies so their eyes, which can be small, round knobs on the origins, sit 1 inch under the soil. Planting them too intensely delays or prevents flowering. Avoid mulching herbaceous peonies; bet or cage them if they flop over. Tree peonies benefit from deep planting. Plant them 2 to 3 inches deeper than they seated in the nursery.

    Cut Flowers

    Peonies make lavish, fragrant floral displays. Cut the blossoms early in the morning when they’re just opening, and place them in cool water. Mix peonies along with other old-fashioned blooms, including lilacs, snowball bush, lilies, roses, delphiniums and foxglove. Extend the life span of the floral display by adding a commercial preservative to the water, or even create your own preservative by combining 1 part routine lemon-lime honey using 3 parts water, the University of California Santa Clara County Master Gardeners website suggests.

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  • How to Plant Elderberries

    How to Plant Elderberries

    Elderberry shrubs (Sambucus canadensis) create berries that are used in jams, pies and wines. Their blooms are also incorporated in wines. The shrubs grow in full sunlight or partial shade in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 9. Elderberries grow up to 15 feet tall and also attract birds, deer and other wildlife. Planting different types of elderberry bush in 60 feet of each other will increase fruit production through cross-pollination.

    Dig or until compost to the top 6 inches of soil before planting to add organic matter and enhance drainage.

    Plant shrubs in early spring after frost danger has passed. Space multiple plants 6 to 10 feet apart. Dig a hole as deep and twice as wide as the origins. Place the plant at the center of this hole and backfill until the roots are covered. Pack the soil and add more if necessary.

    Water the shrubs when they are planted. Water an inch per week between the period blooms appear and the fruit is picked. The remainder of the year, keep the soil moist and do not let it dry out.

    Insert a 2- to 3-inch layer of mulch around shrubs to help control weeds and maintain soil moisture even. Keep the mulch several inches from the base of the tree to prevent decay.

    Fertilize with 10-10-10 fertilizer each year in the spring before new growth begins. Insert 1/2 pound for each year the elderberry was growing, with a maximum program of 4 lbs of fertilizer.

    Prune the elderberry shrub beginning the third year. Cut dead, damaged or diseased branches back to the base of the plant with pruning shears or a pruning saw. Remove all canes older than three years, as they’ll no longer produce fruit. New canes will grow to replace them.

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  • The way to Prune a Hibiscus Syriacus Aphrodite

    The way to Prune a Hibiscus Syriacus Aphrodite

    No pain, no gain. Pruning your beautiful Hibiscus syriacus “Aphrodite” will leave you a more compact plant and no flowers for many months, but in return you will get a better-shaped tree with additional branches and blossoms. “Aphrodite” hibiscus thrives in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 however 9 in which its ruffled single flowers, clear pink with deep-red eyes, lighting up the garden between June and October. The cultivar was designed from the National Arboretum and typically grows to 8 feet tall with an 8-foot spread. It is possible to maintain it smaller by pruning at any time between February and August.

    Pour alcohol on a clean rag and rub across the blades of the pruning shears. Allow 15 seconds to allow the alcohol to eliminate disease-creating organisms before making a cut. Repeat after cutting dead, dying or diseased timber.

    Early in spring, then select the longest one or stem which is out of proportion to this plant and then follow it down about one-third of this way in the stem shirt. Start looking for a leaf node facing out in the way you desire the stem to grow. Utilize the cut one-quarter inch above the node. Keep in mind while you’re pruning that new growth begins just below every cut you make.

    Move to a different lengthy division and trim it back by at least one third. Follow the same procedure with every long division, pruning off one third or more in a manner that leaves the tree balanced and well-shaped. Always leave three or more nodes on every stem.

    Prune the shorter unwanted branches several months after to give you a few blooms throughout the flowering season. Repeat the same procedure for shorter stems, cutting them back about one-third at a leaf node. Think about the total form of this plant as possible cut.

    Renew the plant by cutting it entirely back in spring, if you would like. Prune it back to thick timber and main branches; the plant will regrow by midsummer and flower through fall.

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  • How to Water a Newly Planted Cherry Tree

    How to Water a Newly Planted Cherry Tree

    Despite their all-American standing and apparently effortless spring beauty, cherry trees would be the most difficult of this familiar fruit trees to stay alive. Both sweet and sour cherry trees are bashful about water — too small and they die, too much and they decay or contract annoying ailments such as brown rot, bacterial canker, cytospora canker and root and crown rots. The most critical irrigation period in a young tree’s life span is the season after transplant before a powerful root system is established.

    Press the hose nozzle to the ground a couple of inches from the back of this newly planted tree. Turn on the hose until the water flows smoothly but gradually. Allow the water to soak the ground round the young tree completely to settle the soil around the root ball or bare roots of the tree. When water stands to the ground surface, turn off the hose.

    Assemble a basin around the young tree in the form of an inner tube. Dig a shallow dump a few inches deep then build basin walls of soil. The planting hole should have been three times the width of the tree root ball, so produce the basin marginally larger than that. You would like the water that you put in the basin to soak in the cherry tree entire root area and a little beyond it to support root development.

    Slant the floor and walls of the basin so the water will not travel toward the back but rather away from it. The floor of this basin should be slightly deeper to the outside edge than the inside edge and the top of the inner wall should tip at a small toward the tree.

    Fill the basin once or twice weekly during the initial growing season. Fill it more often in hot weather and much less when it rains. Normal irrigation is critical to the young cherry tree as its roots remain limited to the entire first season.

    Eliminate the basin in winter. Winter rains are most likely to fill and refill a standing basin, providing the cherry tree much more water than it may use. Avoid allowing a puddle of rainwater to accumulate around the back of the tree.

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