Understanding what Algae is and how it grows can be a good start to controlling its growth where we do not want it growing. Putting things such as Chlorine and Hydrogen Peroxide in the water will do more harm then the Algae will. Controlling mosquito growth in our small ponds is fairly simple and has been known about for at least 50 years. Mosquito larva need fairly still water to grow in so keep the water moving and if there is enough water provide some fish to feed on any that do hatch. Here is a link that might be useful: Algae

I did the heat treatment on some last year and 2 plants show damage this year. One August Moon and 1 Gold Edger. About the Gold Edger...they are the ones that I dug up from my camper and put in a black plastic bag to take home and heat treat, but I forgot all about the bag being in my black car for over 2 weeks in the hot August sun. I did not heat treat them, I just planted them as an experiment. Out of those 5 Gold Edgers, 1 leaf shows damage this yr. The August moon that shows 1 leaf affected was treated last year in 130 degrees for longer than the recommended time. All the rest of the plants look good. BTW, Nearly every treated plant survived the heat treatment from last fall.

Go ahead and pot them up in 1-gallon pots, preferably with a good potting mix that has a little fertilizer to get them started, and is heavy on the peat moss (like Miracle Gro). Keep them inside this winter. Don't keep them too wet, but don't allow them to dry completely out either. They'll drop most or all of their leaves, but that's o.k. You want them to concentrate on making roots so you can pot them up into larger pots next spring. When the outside temps are consistently above 70F during the day and 50F at night, put them outside, still in their 1-gallon pots and start fertilizing them. I like to use timed-release fertilizer for blooming plants, because it helps them make roots also, and doesn't burn the tender winter roots with too much fertilizer. You can also use 1/2 strength liquid fertilizer. Once they get a substantial amount of new leaves and start drying out more quickly, you can pot them up into 5 gallon pots and start fertilizing them full strength with a general all-purpose fertilizer until they get a arger, then start with the bloom fertilizer to encourage them to "Y" and bloom. Remember, they love lots of water and fertilizer during the main growing season. If anyone has any more tips, feel free to jump in. I don't grow up north, so I"m just giving general information that works for me. Good luck!

The contrast between "people time" and "plant time" can cause the grower some anxiety and frustration until the grower realizes there's a distinct difference and makes the adjustment by giving in to the idea that a plant has its own ideas about how long it should take to bounce back from adversity. Fortunately, the best form of resolution is usually no more complicated than procuring a few more plants so they can work as a team to satisfy your need to nurture. SOIL: I have perlite so I will add in more of that. Not sure if this is a bad idea, but I do have gravel I could mix in If you decide to include some gravel, use it in the bottom 6" of soil where it will displace the organic fraction of your medium that would normally be filled with water. This is a form of ballast. Don't use it as a layer, just mix it half and half with the bottom 6" of soil where the perched water table (excess water) resides. This in itself will reduce the amount of perched water your soil will hold by 1/2), and my neighbor has bark in her backyard that she said I could have some of to mix in if that's a good option for now? Depends ..... all bark is not created equal. Size and type of bark is very important. BALLAST/WICK: In reading through your posts I understand there are several ways to set these up, but I have an extra terra cotta and plastic pot so I figure this might be easiest? You mentioned covering the drainage hole in this post That reference was to the overturned pot you would be using as a form of ballast such that the rim of the pot would be down and the drain hole would face up. You don't want soil to drop through the drain hole in the ballast pot, so cover it. , but I also noticed [here[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/dealing-with-water-retentive-soils-dsvw-vd~1415041) you said another option would be to leave the hole open and put soil underneath so that it acts as a wick. That is the pot-in-pot technique where the main pot is nested into another pot and rests on top of the soil in the lower pot. This soil acts as a wick. If the soil in the lower pot is deeper than the ht of the perched water table, ALL perched water should move from the upper pot into the lower pot. For this application, there should be nothing over the drain hole(s) in the upper pot - the one the plant is in. Would you suggest one over another in my situation? I would go for the pot as ballast + the gravel in the bottom 6" of soil as added ballast, and even a wick if you like (in the lower pot). I have two options for pots to put inside as ballasts, but I'm not sure which would be the best option. The terra cotta pot looks like it may not take up enough room to help with limiting PWT, but the plastic one may be too large? The plastic one is great - cover the drain hole in it. Ideally, there would be an inch or so of soil above the ballast pot. Fill in the sides with the 50/50 gravel soil mixture up to the top (former bottom) of the overturned pot - cover it with an inch of soil with no gravel - set the plant on the soil - fill in around the edges. As long as you're taking steps to eliminate perched water, it doesn't matter how large your pot is. You can put your plant in a 55 gallon drum if you like, w/o concern you'll be over-potting. ...... once I repot the plant into the better mixture and add the ballast, should I water the plant again or hold off given the amount of moisture already present in the soil? Plants do best when the soil is evenly damp/moist - never wet/soggy. Skip watering if your entire soil mass is moist. Keep in mind, with the steps you will have taken to eliminate perched water, over-watering shouldn't be a problem, as long as you're reasonable. You're making a soil serviceable that otherwise wouldn't be considered as such by a very large fraction of effectual growers, so it's best to try to minimize potential limitations. Use a 'tell'. If possible - site your plant away from heat sources, but in a warm spot with plenty of light. If possible, use a room humidifier and keep humidity in the 45-55% range. I keep my basement grow room at 55% by using a combination of home-made passive evaporative set-ups and 2 ultrasonic humidifiers. I have a R/O water system, so almost never have to clean the humidifiers. To eliminate potential for bacterial issues, I add an ounce of H202 (hydrogen peroxide) every time I refill the reservoirs. Al