It's not scale, mealies, or aphids. The last two could have caused this condition when those leaves were very young however. It just may be the cold and too much water. Cut those damaged leaves out. More will grow in, use a very sharp exacto knife found at any art supply store. Or a single edged razor blade in a holder. It must be sterile. Scale is like little pin heads that appear as bumps on the leaves. Aphids, are white, black, yellow, red? and can just be washed off, and mealies are white fuzzy tiny little egg shapped things that can walk lay eggs and hatch about every 5 days. The males will fly. Soap and water will kill them and well as 50% alcohol. You may want to use a cotton bud (que tip) to attack them or spray it on. cut off those damaged leaves. This is a product that I use in the Spring, Bayer Advance Garden 2-in-1 Systemic Rose and Flower Care. Be sure to follow the directions, more isn't better. The plant is more at risk if grown indoors. I also suggest you cut back water this time of the year. Crassula ovata oozes out extra moisture if it can't handle it. If you have high humidity then don't water as well. My humidity is about 5% this time of the year, and I do not water. I have it growing in a very coarse mix, that I put together myself, mine are crowded into their pots, and they flower in December though the next few months. I let the soil dry out. July-Sept I cut the plant back in Oct.1 and fertilize often during it's growing season. I only repot when it outgrows it pot, and out the bottom hole. The plant will actually tell me when it needs repotting. I hope this has been of some help, this information is only a guide, use your own judgement what your plant needs, just grow them with common sense. Most succulents are grown the same way in the same soil mix the same amount of water and sun, all of the same requirements. Norma

Judy, I used conduit to build the trellis, and started with vertical pieces of cotton string, with a horizontal one along the bottom that they were tied to. You can see two of the vertical strings in the first pic. In the later pic you can make out the string, spiralling up the stem. I ended up adding more strings to hold up the larger branches later in the season. Never had a problem with them cutting in to stems. I pinched off suckers every other day before I went to work in the morning. I also twisted the stem around the string whenever I could. All of those plants were indeterminate, but I think the reason that they did so well was they were right near the foundation of the house, which stored a lot of heat during the day and kept it warm at night. The soil was fantastic as well, I didn't do much except add peat and vermiculite. Too bad I moved before I could harvest much! I left the plants for the tenants upstairs, and they feasted on tomatoes every day. Now I've got them hooked on gardening too. :)

I commented on this thread a while back when I was trying to decide between the silgranite white or a darker color. I really wanted white because I thought it'd be prettier but I was afraid of the potential staining problems. Well I went for it and got the silgranite super single sink in white from home depot online. Even though the pictures don't show it, I bought the matching grate as well. I think the grate is a good investment as it protects both the sink and your dishes if you happen to drop them. It's been about 7 months now and I'm still so happy with my choice. I haven't had any problems with staining. I am careful with it as I would be with any item that cost me $300+ but I don't feel it's extreme. I always rinse out the sink after I use it and do at least a weekly clean with a liquid soft scrub unless I've done a lot of cooking. I have a bunch of microfiber cloths I got from Amazon that I use to wipe off any water spray on the counters' edge by the sink. I am meticulous about this because I have very hard water. Overall I love this sink. It's functional and beautiful.

Well, Stevied, thanks for your concern about "hijacking" my thread but I think we would all be better off if it morphs into a discussion of how we can all (male and female) be more sensitive in communication with our significant others than if it remains a narrowly focused thrashing out of my little problem. After all...I've already relegated that to the "last week's annoyance" category. Some might say that I've swept it under the rug...I prefer to think I've moved on. And I think I might learn a lot from a man who is willing to think a bit about these things. A different perspective, doncha know? I suspect that part of the problem your wife has with your attempts to communicate stems from old hurts. She may be expecting repeats of earlier disappointments and such. It's hard to imagine that a husband who would make such a sweet, humble attempt to understand and change would be rebuffed. There must be some issue lurking here. Have you asked about that? You say that you still can't help her feel better - well, apart from the fact that one person really cannot be responsible completely for the feelings of another - have you asked her to break things down for you into really small, doable bits? If you find that you just don't know what to do or say, could you say, "Honey, I can tell that you are hurting and I hate that and really want to help. What do you need me to do or say right now? What am I not getting about this? Do believe me that I want to understand and am not trying to be thick...I just don't quite see it and need you to help me understand how to help you. I'm hoping that if you walk me through it a few times I'll start to get it on my own." Any woman who would reject that must have a LOT of mistrust left over from somewhere. And those issues will have to be dealt with before progress is made. Also, apology has its valuable place. If you react in a way that turns out to be mistaken, apologize! Right away you can say, "Whoa! I think I read that wrong. You were serious, weren't you? I'm sorry I didn't get that. Let me back up and try again cause I really didn't want to hurt your feelings." And you may need to start out by assuming that it's ALL important for a while. Rather than putting all the burden on her to announce whether you should really pay attention or not, how about just assuming that if her mouth is moving you need to get in gear? I seriously doubt that she will be as annoyed on account of you taking something seriously when she was kidding as she would if you ignore her when she is trying to get your attention. You say that you want to help and you just can't seem to figure it out? Well, take the time and trouble to just pay attention to everything she says for a while and see if that helps. Really listen every time she speaks, take a few seconds at least to try to see what she is really saying and if you don't get it ask her to clarify for you. If nothing else, it should be a huge compliment to her that you are willing to pay attention to her. We really do teach others how to treat us. Heaven knows what I'M thinking...I seem to always teach people to take me totally for granted and to ignore my needs. When will I ever learn NOT to do that? Or HOW not to do that? But it's always easier to give advice about someone else's problem than to figure out our own or to take advice when it applies to us. So why shouldn't your wife teach you what she needs? If you are as willing to learn as you appear to be, I think she would be making a huge mistake not to jump at the chance. Guys like you don't grow on trees!