I make sure to use water that has sat out overnight to water my plants. Does that not make a difference? Or not enough of a difference? You already learned that the crystalline structures on the leaves of your plant is composed of dissolved solids (sugar and mineral salts) left behind as the water in the exudate associated with the guttation (primarily driven by over-watering) evaporates. If you allow your water to rest overnight in an open pan, some of the water in the pan evaporates, but ALL of the dissolved solids in the water are left behind, So technically, the concentration of dissolved solids in the water (which includes fluoride, and chloramine, used now to chlorinate most tapwater) would be slightly higher than water straight from the tap. The pH of water straight from the tap is also slightly lower than water that has rested for a period of time, due to dissolved CO2 gassing off. Also yes, can you point me in the direction of drain hole tutorials?? I'm guessing you mean how to drill the holes? This should help: Drilling holes in pots The 2 types of drill bits most appropriate for drilling holes in pots are a diamond core drill for the highly vitrified (hard material - baked at very high temps - glass, ceramic, ......) pots, and a drill with several names for drilling clay pots fired at low temps, such as terra cotta. That (carbide) drill is called a 3-point drill, spear point drill, or a spade drill, seen here: You only need 1 - in 1/2 or 3/8" size. For the hard stuff, diamond core drills are best, though the 3 point drill will drill the hard stuff, too. Diamond core drills: You can buy either type at big box stores. They're not that expensive, and they last a long time if you take care of them. They are best used with a steady stream of coolant from a squeeze bottle (contact lens solution bottles work great for this) or with the work surface barely submerged. IE, put the pot upside down in a tub and fill the tub with water until it just covers the work surface. If you use a spritzer or squirt bottle, a 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water is an excellent coolant, and soapy water is better than plain water but not as good as the antifreeze mix. The coolant keeps the tool from over-heating, and in doing so, increases the life of the tool substantially - like triple or quadruple the number of holes you can drill. Regular masonry bits are "ok" for drilling terra cotta or cement (you can make them work), but inappropriate for anything harder. The right tool makes everything easier. And lastly, should I be flushing all my plants (pothos, croton, aloe, snake plant...) when I water? One way or another - YES, absolutely. Ideally, your choice of soil should allow you to water to beyond the point of saturation, so you're flushing the soil as you water. If you can't do that w/o worry that the soil will remain soggy for a prolonged period, limiting root function, or worse, wrecking root health it would be best to consider learning how to amend the soil you're using or make a soil that allows you to flush the soil regularly. There are also a few very simple work-arounds that will allow you to use a soil that would otherwise be inappropriate. For example - if you're using a soil too water-retentive for a plant's well-being, and you need to flush it - you can flush thoroughly over a sink or tub or outdoors. When the pot stops draining, hold it in your hand(s) and move it up and down. You'll note that on the reversal from downward to upward motion, Newton's First Law of Motion takes over and some of the excess water in the pot exits through the drain hole. As the amount of water diminishes, more can be forced from the soil by reversing directions more forcibly. As long as your pot is of a manageable size, this simple trick is invaluable for anyone using an excessively water-retentive soil. If the pot is too large, you can use a wick to drain excess water, or even tipping the pot at a 45* angle to drain makes a very significant difference in how much excess water a medium can hold. Compare B with A to see how much excess water the simple act of tipping the pot forces from the pot. E shows what a wick, used correctly for best benefit, can achieve. D shows one way of using ballast to reduce excess water. Even when using extremely water retentive soils, ballast can reduce the amount of excess water a soil can hold to less than 5% of what it would hold w/o use of ballast. Al

I kept over 50 1-2 year grafts from Stanley and Sons plus a few larger conifers in my garage from December through the beginning of April and only 2 didn't make it. They were all the way in the back of an elevated shelf so my guess is that they just dried out. All the young grafts were then put into a holding bed were they all put on excellent spring growth. I planted all most all of them out into their permanent locations from the beginning of September to the middle of October and it looks like I only lost one but I am hoping that it bounces back in the spring. The garage was between 16 degrees at its coldest up to 45 degrees on the warmest day. The key was keeping the door shut as much as possible especially on the warmer days.

Looks like it is double-potted. This can increase humidity around the plant, so I would remove it from the outer pot. Move it outside and transition slowly into full sun until weather gets too cold. I'm not sure if you are over or under watering, maybe neither. Push a wooden skewer into the potting mix and remove after a few minutes. If dry, water, if damp, don't. I assume the inner pot has drainage holes. If you water when it's in the outer pot and the bottom of the black pot sits in that water, that would not be good for your plant. The white rocks are beautiful, but if you have further problems I would remove them as it slows the time it takes for the plant to dry out between waterings. Others may disagree with me on that. Many here use top dressing with no problems. It's a nice plant, so I hope most of your troubles are from adjusting to new conditions. It is troubling that new growth is dying because sometimes all leaves just fall off. I hope someone else here can offer some helpful suggestions.

You're probably on the right track, Paul. I wouldn't do that to any plant. Unless a lot of water overflows out of the drain holes, it's hard to know if all of the soil has gotten moist. If water is left in the overflow reservoir, roots can rot. If one wants to try such a delicate balancing act, a self-watering pot would have the biggest reservoir for overflow. The little saucers attached to most hanging pots hold very little water, unless there's one of those separator discs inside the pot. I always take the bottom off of either kind because before I started doing that, I killed so many plants from the excess water in the drip tray(s).