Thanks, y'all -- I do have an assortment of smaller pumps around that I use to make little fountains. I'll gang them up in the pond, and of course the big one still works intermittently. Will also follow the advice to refresh the water by at least 10%. (I have new puppies so I'm home all day for awhile.) Once again, the GW people come to the rescue!! Pat

It makes sense that since spider mites are in the arachnid family, they are tougher to get rid of...pesticides for most insects don't work on spiders. I did want to comment on a previous statement (jennq) that once you have them you will always have them...not true! I had a room full of houseplants of all kinds, and they (unfortunately) attacked my "maryjane" plant, which was in the center stage (they were all on the same table) with a vengence. I had been away for a few days and came home to the cannabis in a tent web...covered. I took it outside and disposed of it. That was four years ago and I never had another spider mite. So...yesterday my partner finds a huge majesty palm tree at Lowe's for $5. He brought it home and it was completely covered in webbing and mites (he isn't experienced at looking closely). I probably should have tossed it, but I cut off all but one inner leaf, stripped it of all soil and gave it an underwater soapy neem bath, then gave it a hand sanitizer rub, then repotted and have it in my bathroom for a few weeks. Of course, my anxiety over my other plants getting mites may outweigh my dysfunctional rescue urge here. I wonder if anyone has EVER successfully cleared a plant of spider mites...? I understand plants are more susceptible to these critters when the plant is stressed with watering issues (consistancy helps), but this opens me up to a ton of other questions...

It is a cool season grass so does go dormant in summer. And is quite drought tolerant once established due to a deep rooting habit. So can go quite awhile wthout irrigation. In my area, it is not uncommon for homeowners to allow their lawns to go dormant in summer. It is just too expensive to water extensively here during our very dry summer months to offset dormancy (summer water rates are much higher - double or more). So everything looks brown, dried and dead from mid July through September :-) But they know that their lawns will green up rapidly once the fall rains hit.

Have them open now (DFW and it's 74 with a slight breeze) Depending on the time of year, perhaps we'll go a month or so? During with summer, the AC is on and can't have windows open, but on a morning when I work from home, I'll open the windows early to capture cool morning air. During the winter its the same but opposite: mostly stay closed to keep in warm forced air but if it warms up in the afternoon, I'll open up to freshen the house. I find winter requires more open window opportunity because forced heat makes it stale and stuffy.