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Plumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
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Can a houseplant go through shock from this?
Comments (58)This is better then Ann Landers(Why do like to read that column) I am off schedule with my plants and it shows. When on schedule, I just love tending to them weekly. Most of them are in plastic or clay pots that sit in a decorative pot. I bring them one my one to the sink and spray or water them so that water runs thru the pot. They sit on the sink until the water stops dripping out of them. I seem to love this actvity. I have been busy over the holidays and into the new year and thus...I am off schedule and find myself watering a grouping of plants at a time and I can't keep strait which group is next. I have favorite spots and favorite pots. Plants that have pleased me will get both a good spot and pot. I don't move my plants around a lot but I have downsized my collection and I am an empty-nester with a big house. I generally move plants so that I can enjoy them more and if I notice this bothers the plant, I move it back to the place I know it likes and leave it there until they all get moved out into the breeze way. Orchids don't seem to be fussy. I just moved two phals into the top pot spot and boy do they receive applause from everyone who walks into my living room. I tend to mist plants when I am stressed and need plant care to soothe myself. It helps me so I do not over water them. Also if a plant that needs more humidity seems to be dropping leaves, I feel misting could possible help. Diane, who is trying to think spring Happy New Year BTW...See MorePruning season 'officialy' opened at Nik's garden
Comments (12)I think it is one of my favorite things to do, with digging the holes and planting being on the polar opposite side of the spectrum. Alameda, I love your pool idea!! Wish you would drive slowly by my house this afternoon and I would load you up! Yes, I am aiming to begin today. Feb. 14 is officially our day to prune, but planning to keep the calendars away from the roses and take advantage of the nice week. I know I will get some die back, but getting ahead of the ball, and then getting mulch and amendments out, and accessing what kind of shape my garden is in will be worth it. I seem to too often back myself into working through something when the heat is strong, wishing I had started earlier. Pruning is somewhat zen. And, like too few things in life, offers immediate satisfaction. Things look so neat, and ready for spring. And the ugly perennials are neatened up as well. Tidy. Hopeful. (The cleaning up is a chore, fortunately Edward Scissorshands, my husband, is a real expert hauling limbs to the piles for the city to pick up), I will try cutting them down and leaving them around the bushes. Of course, I leave the climbers alone, neatening stray shoots somewhat. Then, after their big show....WHACK! Oh, the feeling of my felco #2's in my hand. I plan to be buried with them......See MoreMy first post, PH testing
Comments (13)Hi Thom, I just read your post about pH testing, and I don't think that you are making too a big of a deal about it since potting AVs in a potting mix that is not close to the ideal range of 6.5-6.8 can cause all sorts of problems. If you do a search here on this forum you can probably find some good discussion about the problems that pH can cause, such as slow and stunted growth, poor bloom development, tight centers, fertilizer lockup, micronutrient toxicity, etc. One might possibly suspect that they have the dreaded mite problem when in fact the real issue is pH. You had mentioned using a 1-1-1 ratio and I am assuming that you are probably using sphagnum peat as one of your ingredients. If so, please be advised that sphagnum peat can be very acidic and it will greatly affect the pH of your entire mix, causing it to be way to acidic. For months I had my violets potted in a 1-1-1 ratio mix of sphagnum peat, vermiculite and perlite, and when I finally purchased my pH meter and tested the potting mixture of my plants it was in the 4.6 range, which is 100 times more acidic than 6.6 pH. I found that I had to add a significant amount of dolomite lime to my potting ingredients to get the pH into the ideal range. I am sure that this is why I was never happy with the results that I was getting as far as the growth of my plants were concerned. If you are simply buying a commercial AV mixture and then just adding vermiculite and perlite to make it lighter, then pH may not be a problem since dolomite lime is often added to the commercial AV mix and it is close to being in the right pH range when purchased. But if you are mixing your ingredients from scratch, as I do here, then you probably do need to be concerned about the pH of your mix. In case you are wondering about the pH instrument that I use, I have posted a link to the site. https://www.pro-measure.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=PH%2D212 Sorry for the late post, but I am just now reading this thread. Curtis...See MoreUpdated custom water treatment plans - with water test and more new.
Comments (2)General forum: Please keep subsequent posts on the same topic in the same thread rather than starting a new one. It will keep the information all together and save all of us time and effort. Water analysis: The numbers don't add up. Hardness alone is over 100 ppm, yet TDS is listed as 100 ppm. Are you certain you didn't drop a digit somewhere? If transcribed correctly, where did the analysis come from? Dissolved CO2 in well water would be odd. Given the amount relative to hardness, do you mean CO3, or perhaps M-alkalinity? Pressure switch/pump/tank: pressure relief valve location should be protecting the tank. In it's current location it cannot necessarily do that. As to the pressure settings and potential pump and tank replacements, you can get the best of both worlds with a pump that has a variable frequency drive to maintain more constant pressure and improve pump life. It also won't require a larger tank. Aerator: I am retracting the sparger suggestion I made earlier - your iron is WAY too high for that to work at all. You can install your bubbler pipe, but it won't accomplish much as it won't provide much surface area for air/water contact. Most of what the aerator accomplishes will happen in the air at the top. Katalox light filters, sizing: Your parts spreadsheet isn't working today (lots of rows are hidden) so I can't see the size of these filters. However, according to the manufacturer's specs, you need 4.78 cubic feet of media for the 8 gpm your pump puts out, with 40% freeboard, that would be two 14" diameter x 65" tall tanks. Katalox filters, chemistry: Additionally, inlet water pH needs to be at least 7.5 for good iron removal. 8 would be better. If you don't increase pH, you will have iron bleed from your iron filters. That will foul your softeners. Katalox filters, design considerations: Stacked tank/mid-Vortech. This would be an extraordinarily bad idea. The tanks would either have inadequate freeboard or be so tall you would need a ladder to reach the control valve. Backwash rates would either be inadequate to remove solids from the Katalox or too high for the softener resin. Regen/backwashes would be too frequent for the resin or not frequent enough for the Katalox. Put the thought out of your mind if you want both systems to function properly. Softeners, in-service operation: How much water do you expect to need at once? Unless it's truly copious amounts, I would switch to a twin tank softener - two tanks, one valve, operating one at a time with no hard water during regen and the added benefit of soft water backwashes and rinses. Softeners, regen: You do not want counter-current regeneration. While it is true that there can be some benefit to counter-current regeneration, those apply only to packed bed softeners in residential application or in commercial/industrial demineralization applications. In a more standard softener, counter-current regen leads to inadequately regenerated resin due to irregular flow patterns if the flow rate is too low, or fluidization with resin loss and poor regen if the flow is too high, or both if your water temperature change seasonally. With potential for iron in the water going to the softener (let's face it - at some point it is bound to happen), counter-current regen schemes will result in poor removal of solids. Softeners, resin: Am I correct in assuming your resin choice was driven by lower salt use? If so, be aware that if you want to operate your softeners at the low brine rates that will result in that lower salt use, you may need to increase the size of your softeners because the lower salt dose will decrease softener capacity. Further, depending upon how effective your iron removal is, you may need to regen at a higher salt dose to adequately remove any iron that bleeds through. With the current water pH, you will need to regen with a salt dose of 8-9 lb/cubic ft of resin and more frequently than capacity would otherwise indicate. Carbon filters: What are you trying to remove with these? Typically, for whole-house applications, a GAC backwashing filter is more appropriate. If cartridges are really what you want - change filters every six months lest they become bacteria havens. Micron filter: It's not hurting anything (other than possibly becoming a flow bottleneck), but what do you expect this to remove? Regardless, change filters every six months whether they appear to need it or not. Drainage: Entirely depends upon how it is all connected, line diameter, and length. Backwash for the Katalox runs at a pretty high flow rate. Additionally, if you are relying on the pressure from the backwashes/regens to drive the water to the pasture, then you will need check valves (possibly I am misreading your intent here - the drain/pasture/outdoor lines discussion is a bit convoluted). If any of those lines are above ground, you will want freeze protection. Water heater: The plus actually works out if you do the math. You will still have to adjust at point of use, but not nearly as much. The 36 is capable of heating 3.75 gpm from 55 to 120 degrees. You have two fixtures running, each using 1.88 gpm hot water, plus 0.56 gpm cold water, for a final temperature at each fixture of 105. Now, somebody comes along and opens another fixture using 1.88 gpm of hot water. With standard control, your water heater is now putting out 5.6 gpm of water at 98 degrees, and your fixtures each now get 1.88 gpm at 98 degrees and 0.56 gpm at 55 - temps drop to 88 at each fixture with the same total flow rate. With the plus, the water heater still only allows 3.75 gpm, but now that water is distributed to three fixtures instead of two each receiving 1.25 gpm of 120 degree water, still mixed with 0.56 gpm of cold water - final temperature = 100 (but your fixture total flow drops from 2.4 gpm to 1.8 gpm)....See MorePlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years agoroseseek
6 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoroseseek
6 years ago
Lisa Adams
6 years ago
jerijen
6 years agoroseseek
6 years agostillanntn6b
6 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoroseseek
6 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years agoroseseek
6 years agoroseseek
6 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years ago
Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
6 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoSheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years agoLisa Adams
6 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years agoLisa Adams
6 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years agoPlumeria Girl (Florida ,9b)
6 years agoroseseek
6 years ago
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