Health check and ID for 2 succulents
Jessica Homan
6 years ago
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Comments (23)
Kara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoJessica Homan
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Opinions wanted - Health check on this Haworthia
Comments (9)Hi Stark, and welcome to the forum. You have a tough little plant in that haworthia, and I wouldn't worry too much about the brown tips. I would recommend that you repot it and your other plants into a much faster draining potting medium. I can see from the pic that the plant is potted in peat. This is why the pot feels so light when you pick it up. What happens with peat is that when it dries out, it becomes hydrophobic. That means that it shrinks into a tight little ball and doesn't let any water penetrate through. This is especially a problem if the peat is supporting a plant. Get a mixture of some grit (smaller sized gravel), perlite and some cactus soil and mix at a ratio of 40% grit and perlite and 10% soil. Plant each of your new guys in this mixture and do not water for 5-7 days. After that, water until you see water coming out of the drainage holes, then stop and empty the drip trays. Don't water again until the soil is dry. No need to invest in a probe when a pencil/chop stick/skewer will do. Treat the soil like a batch of brownies: put the stick in and if it comes out clean, water. If not, don't. Once winter hits (@ November), I would not water the cactus at all. It can take it. The haw and echeveria should continue to be watered, but less frequently...maybe once or twice a month at most. Come spring, say @ April, begin watering again following the "wait til dry" routine. I think that the cactus and echeveria are fine with the full sun treatment, but maybe move the haw so that the sun isn't hitting it full on. Hopefully, others will chime in as well. Good luck! Nancy...See MoreHealth check-in: Week 6
Comments (17)Hi all - I'm still plugging away. I'm kind of in the groove now with less eating and logging all my food and exercise. I even made it through a weekend out of town with "the girls" without any over the top eating. I quit drinking alcohol a few years back so that saved on quite a few useless calories during our outing. Have been busy at work and with errands in the evening so not much exercise this week. Hoping to get home early and do something tonight. I simply am NOT a morning person which is too bad because if I exercised before I went to work I wouldn't have this problem. Or maybe the problem is that I don't love exercise and if I did I'd jump out of bed early to do it. DH loves sweets but since he's working out of town no danger of him bringing home a box of chocolates. I was on the phone with him last Sunday when some girl scouts came selling cookies. He was all enthused about me stocking up. I thought OMG - not cookies - I'll be eating them by the box. I ended up buying a few boxes and sending all but one to him. I've been carefully treating myself to a couple cookies per day. I really love being thinner without the extra girth around the hips and stomach. It does keep me inspired to stick with the healthier lifestyle. I especially want to make it to spring and summer so I can enjoy the smaller me when I peel off all the layers of winter clothes....See MoreWeek 10 Health Check-in (anyone else want to join us?)
Comments (15)gibby3000 - I lost weight because I was basically scared into it. I do run 3 times a week and go to the gym 2 times a week but I was doing that while I was carrying the extra weight. My DH and I were renewing our life insurance in Jan of 2009 and because of our ages at the time (56) we had to have a little check-up by the public health nurse. She dropped by the house and was doing our weight, blood pressure, blood tests and heart monitor. I knew I was carrying extra weight but I didn't know how much. Anyway, she weighed me (I didn't look at the number) and then took my blood pressure and she noted that it was quite high. I didn't know why. I thought to myself - I exercise, and I think I eat properly. But whatever. She took again at the end and it was still high and she commented that it shouldn't be that high. So then I looked at my weight and just about fell out of my chair. I was shocked at what I weighed which was about as much as a man. So I got on the internet and just started researching healthy eating, checked my BMI, looked at calorie counting, looked at what fat is and how many calories are in a pound, etc. What I realized is that I can't and wasn't prepared to exercise anymore so I had to look at my food intake. I don't eat chips, cheezies or any type of junk food (dark chocolate is definitely an issue and continues to be so) but what I was doing was just eating too much food during the day. I was exercising and so used that as an excuse to eat but that attitude does catch up with you eventually. I found out through research that 1 pound has 3500 calories in it and so if I want to lose a pound a week I have to drop 500 calories a day. So, no more mid-morning snack, no more eating dinner leftovers for lunch and no more cheese and crackers in the afternoon. I started eating a sensible, prepared for me by me lunch. Some fruit, some protein and a carbohydrate. I do get hungry mid-afternoon and so I have applesauce with cinnamon. I do prepare sensible dinners but now I don't have seconds. And nothing after dinner and that was the hardest thing to let go of. It took 9 months to lose 42 pounds and I feel so much better and that is what keeps me motivated to keep it off. My running is better, my walking is easier, bending to get things is easier - I just feel so much better and that is the incentive to keep it off. The changes that I made were ones that I knew I could maintain over the long haul. I didn't give up the cream for my coffee because I knew I couldn't give it up for the long term. \\ I think that it's important to only make those changes that you can maintain for the rest of your life and not miss. If you can't give up that cookie at night - cut back someplace else but still count it in your calories, if you can't cut back sugar in your coffee for ever then cut back where you can and not miss it. Eating healthy and maintaining a healthy weight shouldn't be or feel like punishment for life. A couple of people have commented about how they blew it one week or were "bad" over the weekend. During this process I gave myself permission for the occasional lapse. I knew it was going to happen because I'm not perfect, I'm not a robot and I'm trying to break a 25 year eating habit. You don't do that without a misstep along the way. Now, I have given myself a 5 pound leeway for those times when I'm away or we have a busy couple of weeks of entertaining. I do weigh myself everyday and do start to regroup if I put on 3 pounds. I don;t beat myself up if that happens because now I have the tools to deal with it. This is just my opinion but I don't believe in these fad diets because they are too hard to maintain as a long-term lifestyle. (I'm not talking about diets relating to gluten allergies or diabetes, etc) Like I said - my opinion....See MoreWeek 21 Health Check In
Comments (7)Yesterday I walked briskly on the treadmill for 45 min., and today did a Zumba class (such a good workout!), after being relatively idle for a week. It feels good to get back to exercising. I am still negotiating the world of "gluten free" -- as I posted elsewhere, after 5 months of stomach issues, my dr. thinks it could be a gluten insensitivity so I am now about a week into my gluten-free diet and one benefit has been losing a couple of pounds. I have lost a total of 7 lbs. since January (I'm taking the scenic route!). I find that I'm eating much smaller, more frequent meals, I guess because my food options are more limited. So, instead of a sandwich for lunch (and maybe sneaking a cookie or two later), I might have peanut butter on a rice cake and some fruit, and maybe later I have more fruit. I do have two boxes of GF cookies stashed away in case of emergency! I had already tried going dairy free earlier this year -- my doctor's first guess as to the cause of my problems -- and even though it didn't make much different for my stomach, my skin is behaving so much better that I am staying mostly dairy-free now. Even at 47, I am almost constantly battling some degree of acne, and I have barely had one pimple since I cut out the dairy. Hurrah! The jury is still out, however, on whether gluten is my problem. It's only been a week and the dr. said it could take a few weeks. Some days I feel so much better, but yesterday was a "bloaty" day so... we'll see. My new goal is to lose 3 more lbs. by July 1, for a total of 10 lbs., and then maintain it for the rest of the summer. Then starting in the fall, try to lose about 5 more lbs....See MoreKara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agokwie2011
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoJessica Homan
6 years agoJessica Homan
6 years agoLauren (Zone 9a)
6 years agoJessica Homan
6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoJessica Homan
6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoJessica Homan
6 years agoLauren (Zone 9a)
6 years agoKara 9b SF Bay Area CA
6 years agoPaul MI
6 years agoLauren (Zone 9a)
6 years agokwie2011
6 years agoLauren (Zone 9a)
6 years agokwie2011
6 years agoletsgobird7b
6 years agokwie2011
6 years agoLauren (Zone 9a)
6 years ago
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Lauren (Zone 9a)