My Personal Mealy Nightmare
I have had these pots with multiple plants aranged in them . Some were done 6 years ago.. I have shown many pictures of them through the years. Slowly they have become over grown. I have changed them, subtracted and added to them through the years. I have REALLY enjoyed them. This year with all the rains and two trips out of town and then 3 months of not a drop and high temperatures, things looked pretty bad. I had a lot of deaths and deaths of some pretty cool plants. I lost E. afterglow, E subridgida, E. cant, fenestaria (sp?) and many hearnias and stapeliads. I have been working at my job pretty hard and I started to think , maybe it is not rot and started looking and realized it was mealies. I have not had mealies ever and had become fairly lax in my care. My experience now is that huernias and echeverias are the most susceptible of the plants that I have. The opuntias don't seem to be bothered in a life and death way. Maybe they are not the first on the menu. Maybe now that the choice things are mostly history, they will be next.
Anyway I took three combo pots and dismembered them. I had not changed out the dirt since they were made . This is a situation of my making. That is when I realized that mealies were in more places then I thought. I pulled many small pots with dead or sickly plants and started tearing stuff up, Dunking them in warm water, spraying them with dawn , rinsing and spraying with alcohol. . I took my decorative rocks and pot them in boiled water. Pots got scrubbed out in boiled water. I have no idea if I am doing it right, I am just doing it.
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My ever expanding ER
I planted many of the cold hardy plants in the dirt. and gave the thugs their own pots and started all over again....Sad and hopeful.
The one above is my playing with different colors pots and the one below are the remnants of the small huernias and staples. I think they are entirely to green. I am a bit bored by this pot. So I see future messing with this one.
I have three varieties of fucaria at the feet of the Opuntia 'Joseph's coat' that are very healthy and several years old.. That is a "Ming Thing" and anacapseros on the back side. They seem to be less afected Today, but I know that can change quickly. I also really NEED TO give this opuntia more root run.
Comments (20)
Rhamel (aka teengardener1888)
8 years ago
ewwmayo
8 years agoRelated Discussions
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Comments (20)First, my sympathies, for losing such a great harvest. Been there myself. Some degree of spoilage is to be expected in winter squash; but as previously stated, you need to inspect frequently, and remove squash at the first sign of spoilage, before it spreads to others. Perhaps nothing can eliminate mold (haven't tried the bleach trick) but there are things that I've found will reduce the chances. Soil contact can allow fungal infection, which might not show at the time, but can cause rot later. Placing the young squash on a pad of straw will help to reduce this, as well as reduce scarring from slugs & worms. If you can trellis squash, or support them above the ground, even better. Any warts or scars are weak spots where disease can gain entry, so those squashes should be used first. I don't use bleach, but I do wash off all soil immediately after harvest, then allow the squash to dry before storage. It's important when washing to avoid using anything which might scratch the skin. If I don't get all the soil (as has happened in years past) rings of fungi eventually appear where the soil touches the skin. For storage, avoid placing squash on any non-breathable surface - especially plastic. I place mine on wire racks covered with cardboard, which has worked pretty well....See MoreMy NY Home Improvement Nightmare, & don;t know what to do.
Comments (1)Yes, you need a lawyer ASAP. You needed one to look at the contract in the beginning. I have to think that your issues are being exacerbated by your communication style. You need to take some time and clearly and concisely list exactly what the issues are. (Number that list to assist with clarity.) Then list what should have been done under the contract. Then list what changed needed to happen, and why. This will assist your lawyer and anyone else you wish to communicate your issues with. Right now, no one can make heads or tails of what you are trying to convey....See MoreMy Sunrise Nightmare
Comments (14)Hey Brooks! Congratulations on building your house! That's a dream not all people can realize. I sure understand when remodeling or building a home, money can get tight and everything ends up costing more than you originally thought it would. And things can get frustrating! My personal opinion, and it's just an opinion, is that both you and your window contractor made mistakes, none of them with any malice a forethought. Generally speaking, the window dealer sounds disorganized. This is true of a lot of small businesses. The guy may be very good at his or her particular craft, but less so at the business size of things. Since you gave him the option of holding the order until you were ready, and he said it wouldn't be any problem for him to store them, then he should have found a way to do that. Also, he should have done a much better job of explaining the pricing with the various features. You should have been quoted a total price for the windows with the SDLs and the total price without. Then you could have seen the actual difference in pricing. You also should have gotten an itemized work order for the original order and then another one after you made changes. On your end, you didn't do your due diligence. I haven't even started my remodel yet, and I have spent hundreds of hours researching. I bought an old manufactured home and am renovating it top to bottom. I can honestly say there are only a handful of people who know more about mobile homes and renovating them than I. You should have known the consequences of removing the SDLs. You should have asked your dealer a hundred questions, and you should have asked for total quotes for both options. And even though it was the contractor's goof for not having the room to store them, it was not his job to supply manpower to re-arrange stuff in your barn. My point is that contractors are people, and from time to time, they will make unintentional errors. It is YOUR job to know as much as possible about what's happening and to ask questions. It sounds to me like the dealer is a decent fellow and isn't ripping you off. It was a case of poor communication on both your parts. Again, this is just my personal opinion. Have a great day! :-)...See MoreMy plants have mealy bugs, do I throw everything away?
Comments (3)Cyann Imontestella said it - your mix was probably OK and many ppl use it without any problem. But there are times when it could have some problems: C&S mix could have too much peat in it. Only way to tell is to check the ingredients list on the bag. Not all manufacturers make it exactly same way. If that is the case, maybe it was staying wet longer than expected. Fungus gnats like moist and organic environment: wet soil, water standing in saucers, lots of organic matter in the mix and also fallen debris from plants. Maybe it was hot & humid in the room. And it takes only 1 plant brought in with some FG, and they will spread around. Same with most of the pests. Mealy bugs could be get rid of by spraying succulents with rubbing alcohol/water mixture (I have used it undiluted without any problems). It is better to spray plants since these buggers like to hide where you can't get to with q tip. Scale dies if you wet it with a q tip moistened in rubbing alcohol. They often stick to stems and the leaves. Or you could spray just as for mealy. While spraying, do not keep plants in strong sunlight, but it is OK as soon as RA dries up (pretty fast). There may not be need to throw plants out if you catch it early. I would only dispose of it if it was really overwhelming. Keep brand new plants (or any infected now) isolated as suggested above. Pick up any fallen-dried pieces of plants. Get rid of any standing water. Make sure all containers have drainage holes. Double check ingredients of C&S mix. Sift or rinse perlite to get rid of smallest particles and dust. You could add some grit to your mix you can get any - maybe25% C&S soil, rest equal amount of grit & sifted perlite. But you don't have to if you have only C&S soil and perlite - if the old mix is staying wet for too long, increase amount of perlite. You can use 60 - 75% of perlite. Using small fan helps a lot = better air circulation. Do you have garden, terrace or balcony? If so, you could keep all plants out there... How do you propagate the succulent leaves? Can you post photo? You can keep babies from the spider plant - leave them attached, or root for new plants if you wish so. I do not grow photos but I believe it is extremely easy to root it even in water (and I am not a fan of rooting plants in water, haha). Maybe wait with propagating bunny ears for a while - as Imontestella suggested :)...See Morewantonamara Z8 CenTex
8 years ago
Here are some of the dead and dismembered pots in there better days. Not a complete list, but some of them.Echeveria subrigida
Echeveria cante and skull pot
God I have a lot of this stuff in bits and pieces. I gave it a severe hair cut and gave it its own pot. The E. fimbriata is dead dead dead.
wantonamara Z8 CenTex
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoI could not help myself. . I attacked the opuntia pot. We will call it Opuntias Last Stand. Nothing in the pot but the faucarias were just getting the mealies. The P. deli seemed sad the others had them and I found the crawlers on the rock. It is hard to say if the Ming thing had mealies. It has white puffy things naturally. Did I tell you. My eyes are fairly bad. I need to find some Lava sand for the next one. I want to make the soil heavier because the top heaviness of the opuntia. Maybe just pea gravel or crushed granite instead of the pumice. I am switching over to the whit pot for the extra space. By the way, my husband things I am absolutely crazy. It is the shlep gone OCD over succulents. He thinks I am killing them ripping them out by the roots scrubbing them down in soapy water and leaving them out for days. I think I am done for awhile. I sure hope so.
rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agowantonamara Z8 CenTex
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Sugi_C (Las Vegas, NV)
8 years agorina_Ontario,Canada 5a
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8 years agoewwmayo
8 years ago
Neil
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8 years agoewwmayo
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8 years agonotolover
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rooftopbklyn (zone 7a)