Current temperature in AL, what's yours?
10 years ago
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Bark-Based Mix & Ammonia? -- Attn: Al, Josh, et al.
Comments (19)Zen, I didn't even know this was coir, haha. I was looking for ProMix and he said this was better and bam -- Id heard of it so I bought it. But honestly, I'm not against coconut coir; one of my favorite soils is by Gardner and Bloome, based wholly on coir. Some of my older pots are 5-1-1 based on that soil and I don't have any issues. Really it's such a small part of 5-1-1, I could probably use cotton balls and it'd work. But yes, generally, I like peat in 5-1-1 indoors because it seems to dry quicker than coir. Outdoors, it buys me an extra day when necessary, it seems. I've run out anyway and now have more Promix HP again. All is well again. Drew, I see what you're saying. Perhaps it does work with compost, but containers in and of themselves are kind of unnatural, too, no? Organic, in terms of not using harmful pesticides, is important to me, but if my sansevieria or columbine happen to grow in non-soil medium and are fed nutrients via my hand, I'm okay with that, too. I have mycorrhizae in the soil with Promix, and as you can see, I throw lots of stuff in the soil, haha. Josh, I must have missed this 55* stuff. Total oversight. I'm in Stockton and I doubt we went below 55 though I did wake up to 58 one day last week. This weekend, it's back in the 90s. I guess as a rule I will leave the organic stuff out. I really don't fertilize a lot, and just wanted to boost the soil a bit. DFish, I guess it's possible that pot just isn't draining well. I think I'll drill more holes in it before I attempt the pot again with new soil. Thank you!...See MoreAl, Im going to need your help with this one!
Comments (8)Because of the time of year, I would saw or prune off only the bottom 1/4 of the root mass. If you use a saw, be sure to clean up the ragged ends of the cuts with a sharp pair of bypass pruners (not anvil type). In the end, you want your root mass to look like the stays on an umbrella - the area immediately under the trunk will be entirely free of roots. You can't do that all at once, but you can get started. First, prune any roots that are abnormally formed with j-bends or are iobvious conflict with other roots, as well as any girdling or encircling roots. Prune off any roots growing upward or back toward the center of the root mass. Start hollowing out the underside of that umbrella, but don't remove more than 1/2 of the total root mass now. Repot into a FAST draining soil and keep the soil damp, not wet. Give it good light & try to keep soil temps above 65*. Humidity around 50% is great if you can manage it, but I know that's tough. Water the new planting in with a half strength dose of MG 24-8-16, 12-4-8, or FP 9-3-6 if you have it. Secure the tree to the pot so it can't move in relation to the pot. Further questions? Al...See MoreMiele Oven Temperatures - Please Check Yours
Comments (58)I'll keep the Miele temperature issue current for 2016. I have a Miele H4890BP2 (MasterChef 48" double oven) and have had it in operation for about 6 years. From the start it has *never* worked properly. Unfortunately, I assumed for the first 2 years that the temperatures were correct as shown on the display, and that the issues with baking were my fault. After putting good oven thermometers in both ovens, I realized that the oven temps were not at all what the ovens were displaying. After about 30 minutes to reach temperatures, the actual temperatures are always 25-50 degrees below the display temp (not to mention the "reached temp" alert beep occurs within 5 minutes. However, for the past year, only the bottom oven heats and maintains temperature. The top oven will heat to a maximum of 325-375 and within 15 minutes stops heating entirely. It shows no fault messages, and the display indicates that it is still attempting to heat...it just goes cold despite the display declaring that it is preheating. BTW, the Miele installer (who no longer sells Miele) did not set the voltage to the proper US setting--something I only knew to check after reading these boards! There is no Miele authorized service provider in my area and every other appliance repair people I've called all have refused to work on Miele ovens! I finally sent an Email to Miele about two weeks ago and have not gotten a response. It's incredibly disappointing to say the least to have paid this much for an appliance and it never work properly, and then be unable to find a local service provider. Especially horrifying is that Miele clearly must know that there was and is an issue with these ovens but have not been proactive and/or responsive to customers who own these ovens. This is not at all what I expected when doing business with Miele....See MoreFicus Lyrata Re-Repot into Al’s gritty mix???
Comments (13)Hi Al, I’ve finally had the opportunity to reply with an update and wanted to thank you again for taking the time to share your knowledge and help explain the process and reasoning behind choosing a particular growing medium. I am always fascinated by the science of things and am looking forward to my ficus lyrata breathing easier. July 31 was repot day. I gathered all of my 1.1.1 gritty mix supplies, screened & rinsed the turface mvp & manna-pro poultry grit, & proceeded to make a huge mess trying to coax the zoo med repti-bark into smaller pieces using a 3-cup ninja food processor - - neither a quick nor easy endeavor. Some pieces did get smaller but not enough to justify the amount of dust that landed all over my kitchen, so the size of my bark is what it is. I want to stress that a dust mask is imperative for anyone attempting this, especially indoors, and also to note that I did not see any discernible difference in bark size between the larger (24 qt) & smaller (4 qt) bags (see picts below) Next I bare rooted what I thought was 1 plant and discovered that I have 2 separate plants - - and I did wind up doing some minimal root pruning after rinsing off all the existing soil. After drilling additional drainage holes all the way through the bottom of the attached saucer, I repotted both plants back into the same original glazed pot as I did not have the opportunity to get an all clay pot, nor did I have a 2nd pot available to repot separately so they will continue to be bosom buddies, at least until next year. In the hopes of lessening the weight of the pot and more importantly, the perched water table, I placed 4 small empty plastic water bottles at the bottom of the pot and added a cotton string wick through the main center drainage hole to help keep a check on moisture levels. One other thing to note is when I originally posted on July 25, there was no visible growth activity - the brown pod (for lack of a better word) felt dry, crispy & empty, but to my surprise, right after the repot, I noticed that there was in deed some growth activity taking place. I only hope I did not jeopardize the emergence of new baby leaves with this root running & repot! As luck would have it, I have to go out of town for 2 weeks and need to leave explicit instructions for my boyfriend who will be caring for my plants while I am away so I do have a few questions: ~ How long should I keep the plant in the shade or is it ok to keep it in bright light but with NO direct sun? Right now it is behind a UV solar blind and sheer linen curtain which creates a shady environment. ~ When can I introduce it back into some direct sunlight? ~ Should I water everyday until the roots acclimate & re-establish themselves in the gritty mix? What is the best watering schedule for now? ~ When would I start adding foliage pro 9-3-6 to the mix & should it be the production or maintenance amount? Many thanks to Al and all the other forum members for all the advice. I will update once I am back from my trip with any changes - - hopefully they are all positive ones. **having trouble positing picts so will try to add in separate post...See More- 10 years ago
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