I've seen several references to used motor oil. You don't have to treat the whole post. 3 feet is sufficient. (Posts rot mostly at the few inches just below ground level: Lots of air, lots of moisture.) The soak is a long one: 2 months minimum, followed by month of drying. You will get better penetration if you can heat the oil -- essentially deep frying the logs. This turns some of the water into steam, then let them cool and the condensing steam pulls the oil into the wood. This is NOT a safe thing to do. Hot oil is dangerous. Flash fires are dangerous. If I were doing this I would heat the oil in a double boiler using a strong dissolved salt mix to raise the boiling point. This will take a lot longer, but I'm a lot more confident I could turn my back on it and not worry about catastrophe. If you have access to an old vacuum sewer truck, you have potentially a better way: Load the logs into the tank. Fill with oil. Now pull a hard vacuum on the tank, and hold for an hour. Let the air back in. Repeat several times. Pump the oil back into the storage tank. One of the measures of preservative is pounds per cubic foot. You can do the same. Mark a few logs. Mark the oil level before you put them in the soaking barrel. Mark the max level it gets to. Now after month see how much the level has gone down. Check weekly. Do all this in shelter to you don't end up with an inch or so of rain water under your oil.

Adam - I had big problems with CCA treated pine when I first went into growing brom's and consequently was asked by our bromeliad society to write an article for out society newsletter part of which I attach below In the hope it may help you: USING TIMBER WHICH HAS BEEN TREATED WITH PRODUCTS CONTAINING COPPER By Neville Wood 2007 I have been asked to write this article about the problems I encountered when I built my shade house from timber treated with products containing copper. Hopefully it will save other members especially the newer members from falling into the same traps that I did. When I first became interested in growing broms I decided to renovate an old shade house that I had grown orchids in many years before. Originally I had built the shade house framework from galvanised pipe which I thought would last forever. However, I underestimated the effects of salt air on steel (even galvanised steel) and living only one street back from the ocean, after a couple of years corrosion soon became apparent. By the time I was ready to start growing broms, the framework needed totally rebuilding and I decided to use CCA treated pine for the framework as it was guaranteed to withstand weather and insect damage for 20-30 years, plus it was easy to work with. With my shade house finally renovated, I began collecting bromeliads from various places and watched my collection slowly grow until finally the shade house was housing a reasonable collection which I was quite proud of. All went well until one day I noticed one of my Neoregelias had rotted in the centre of the cup. I didn’t worry too much as I had extras of that variety and accepted that everyone lost a plant or two occasionally. A week or two went by and I noticed another had leaves which were starting to die and looked like a severe case of sunburn. Again I didn’t worry too much as we had a very hot summer at that time and I thought maybe it was a case of too much sun as I only use 50% shade cloth. After a few weeks we had two or three thunder storms with very heavy rain and when I next went to the shade house (probably a week later) I had at least one dozen very sick plants showing advanced rot at the base of the leaves. On removing the outside leaves I found the rot had travelled right through all the layers of the leaves beneath making the plant impossible to save. On examining my other plants, all appeared healthy with none showing any signs of rot. The other thing that puzzled me was that all of the affected plants were in a straight line on the same bench. In my previous job I had been taught to always “look up and down and all around” when assessing the scene of an accident and remembering this I immediately looked up. The possible cause of my problem was staring me right in the eye, because one of the roof timbers was in a straight line directly above the line of damaged plants. It didn’t take too much guessing to realise that something had dripped onto the plants from the timber above and caused the damage, but what had it been? I moved the plants from immediately below the timber and months went by with no further problems. It was many months later when I purchased a copy of “Bromeliads for the Contemporary Garden” by Andrew Steens (This is also in our library) and I read a section on problems on page 186, it was mentioned that bromeliads should never be planted in shade-houses constructed of timber treated with copper or boron based preservatives as these chemicals can leach out of the timber and onto the plants causing serious damage. I now knew the damage was caused by copper leaching from the overhead timbers in my shade house and this was further re-enforced when I read an article in our Newslink warning of the same problems. WARNING: Years ago, the regulations weren't as strict as they are now and the strength of the chemicals used were much stronger than they are now so don’t make the mistake of assuming that because treated timber is old, the toxins will no longer be active. I have CCA treated pine logs as garden edging and they have been in place for at least thirty years. In one garden I have a number of Aechmea recurvata and if a leaf comes in contact with the treated pine edging, the leaf will start to die due to chemical burns, so the toxins are still very much active after all that time. WHAT ABOUT “WAX WOOD”? I enquired about a new treated timber product called “Wax Wood” and was informed that although the chemicals used are different to those used in the CCA treatment, the major chemical used is still copper. The chemicals together with wax are pumped into the timber under pressure at the same time and although the external surface of the timber has a wax coating, assurances can’t be given that a certain amount of copper still isn’t present. PAINTING I have read where acrylic paint can be used successfully, but on discussing this with a sales rep. from a large paint company, I was advised that the paint used should be oil based. He went on to say that acrylic paint can be painted over a damp surface i.e. brickwork, fibro etc. and the surface will dry from the inside out. This means the moisture trapped beneath can pass through the acrylic paint to the outside. He didn’t see why the same wouldn’t occur with the copper in treated timber products. Oil based paints on the other hand would offer much better protection and he suggested an oil based primer first, followed by an oil based undercoat and two coats of an oil based enamel. Admittedly this method would be more expensive and time consuming than using a couple of coats of acrylic paint but I think the protection it offers would make it worthwhile. It’s also possible that an oil based primer followed by an oil based undercoat may seal the timber sufficiently so that it could then be covered with a couple of coats of acrylic paint. Whatever method you choose, make sure all cracks are properly sealed with the primer and undercoat before the finishing coats are applied. If you decide on a new structure using treated timber which has been painted, remember to paint any cut ends or cut outs before assembling to ensure that all surfaces are adequately sealed. Like CCA treated timber products, “Wax Wood” can also be painted as described above to prevent leaching of chemicals. Note also that any fasteners used such as nails, screws, bolts etc. must be hot dipped galvanised, otherwise the chemicals will cause them to rust right through in a year or two. I hope this helps. All the best, Nev.

Imontestella, I think the brown that was mentioned was at the base of the leaves. That's actually what reminded me of Gasteria because my Gasteria has this on the new pups it sends out. Not sure if it's a type of bloom or not but it's usually a bit powdery. Here's a top shot of my Haworthia limifolia before I re-potted it for reference. Please excuse the Kalanchoe hitchhiker.

Lydia - wow! Your Merrillii is stunning! Tony - I was finding some holes on my citrus trees. I was told to look for caterpillars or slugs. I never found anything. Then I found out slugs come out at night and leave by morning sun. Sure enough I went out one night with a flashlight and saw some on the ground near the trees. I moved the trees to a drier section of the driveway and haven't had an issue since. Just a thought.