With a few exceptions, it's often hard to identify the right bug by the damage they do and correctly give you an action to take. Best would be to go out at night with a flashlight and take a look when they are feeding. You may have to make more than one trip after dark, but trust me, you can be very surprised in the activity after dark in your garden. There's 'stuff' in my own I never dreamed was there, and no wonder the slug deterrents I'd put out weren't helping when I had climbing cutworms :) Let us know....

I have been having this problem with my cat for years. There is a chance she has a UTI, so like everyone will tell you, take her to the vet as soon as possible. Peeing outside the box is her way of telling you SOMETHING, and there is a good chance that she may be in pain and is trying to get your attention. You should have at least 2 if not 3 litter boxes in the house. (The rule is one per cat plus an extra = 3) Also isolate her from whatever she is peeing on, if that's possible. If she constantly pees in the bedroom or the laundry room, don't allow her in those rooms. Do her and the kitten get along well? I wouldn't think it would be related to the kitten if he has already been around for 6 months. Take her to the vet as soon as you can, aka: this week if possible! They can spay her and check for any other issues at the time. Trust me when I say there is nothing more frustrating than a cat refusing to use the litter box! Try to nip this problem immediately and hopefully you can save yourself years of cleaning bed sheets, clothes, replacing items, etc.

Thanks all for your thoughts. Don't want to tie anything to railing as I often have to move the pots to get around on my very tiny (NYC) balcony. As for 'pea gravel' and 'Turface', don't even know what those are but suspect it's not something a person with no car and lives in NYC could easily get, never mind have storage space for. My plants tipping over is really a nuisance more than anything. Never got any severe damage more than a broken branch or two. Maybe I'll just have to accept that sometimes it will happen. ;-)

Sunny asked: Is the Masakuni wand better for watering potted plants and vegetable garden? I wouldn't consider a high quality water break to be essential to watering plants in the ground; and, if you only have a few plants in containers, you can get by with any middling product just by using extra care. Where the Masakuni wand shines is in the fact that the number of holes and their small size allow the water to move through the device fast enough (so it delivers more water) but under low pressure so it doesn't blast the soil out of pots. I have a LOT of woody plants, and need to make the watering rounds daily, even if only few plants get watered daily, because some plants require watering every 2, 3, 4, or 5 days, so the variation in time intervals between individual plants getting watered means it's guaranteed that 50 or more plants are going to need water every day. The Masakuni wand cuts watering time in half and it allows me to apply water very evenly to the entire surface area of the soil, which becomes increasingly potential as the rate at which the water passes through the soil increases. In the mean while I found a website from Japan that sells Bonsai related products. Have you had any experience with Bonsai Network Japan shipping products to the US? I have no experience to fall back on with regard to Bonsai Network, but I wouldn't be afraid to purchase the #2836 wand with shut-off/ flow control from them, which sells for about $50 before shipping. I have a couple of bonsai friends who use that wand and like it very much. I read an article about growing desert rose, the writer mentioned your name and your soil mix. I know the gritty mix and the 5:1:1 mix have gained a fair degree of notoriety, which says much more about the usefulness of the media than it says about me. Still, I've had enough people define their growing experience as having been transformed by changing their thinking about soil choice, and embracing media that embody The Concept which provides the underpinnings upon which highly aerated and fast-draining media are based. In all honesty, understanding the concept is far more valuable than simply following a recipe as the concept broadens horizons and offers the grower a great deal more in terms of flexibility. John said: I'm too sensitive to plants and when they suffer, it's hard for me too. At one time, I solved this issue by consulting with experts on each plant and we chose the right lighting and I also began to buy special water for irrigation. Not always, but in a very high % of cases where plants are suffering, you'll gain the most traction with regard to turning things around by making sure you are using a grow medium that allows you to water correctly, that is to say, to beyond the point of complete soil saturation so you're flushing the soil when you water. Some media remain soggy for so long after a thorough watering that it severely limits root function, or worse, root health. If you're unable to water as described without need to worry about damage to root function/ health, you can be absolutely sure you're leaving a large fraction of the plant's potential in terms of growth rate, vitality (health), eye appeal, and yields where yields are a consideration, lying on the table. A poor medium can very easily be responsible for sapping more than 90% of the plant's potential in the 4 areas I just mentioned. While all cultural factors deserve to be considered critical, odds favor soil choice as the underlying factor most likely to be limiting. In many cases, even diseases and insect infestations can be blamed on soil choice; this, because a plant's ability to defend itself is linearly related to the plants metabolic rate. Trees and herbaceous plants prioritize their parts, but perhaps it's better to say that the strength of energy sinks has a distinct order: Energy is first allocated to respiratory function, i.e. to maintenance of living tissues, then, to production of fine roots, followed by flower and seed/fruit production, then primary growth (extension of both roots and shoots), then secondary growth (thickening), and finally, the synthesis of defensive chemicals.Since synthesis of defensive chemicals gets the short end of the stick, it's the first to be impacted by limitations imposed by stress. .... seems like a good place to close, John. I'll leave you with this Overview of Good Growing Practices, in hope you'll find value in it. It also highlights the importance of soil choice, and relates it to the quality of the opportunity growers might provide for plants to realize their genetic potential. AL