Probably get better response by posting in the 'discussions' part--this section is for off-topic conversations. But I'll hazard a few guesses--is your office air-conditioned? Especially if it's as cool as some places I've been this week that could be at least part of the problem. My Polly is outside here in south Louisiana, and the temps have been in the upper 90s consistently, with heat indexes (temp. plus humidity) running ten to fifteen degrees warmer. They seem to love heat and humidity. Alocasias tend to be very sensitive to over-watering too, so that's a possibility. And how about light? Needs a fair bit of shade outside, but not a dark corner inside. Any of those possible sources of trouble?

I grow amazonica-type hybrids in pots as houseplants as well as in the yard and greenhouse. The ones I grow in the house are huge old plants, multi-trunked specimen plants. I have a loweii that is almost 10 years old. The others are Polly and Purple Prince. I water these all ONCE A WEEK. That's all. I totally saturate the soil ONCE A WEEK. They grow under a bank of skylights in what amounts to full sun for about 8 hours daily. Brown edges on yours could be either too much moisture at the root level, or humidity too low.

Hi I was hoping that you had some way to communicate BEFORE you hired a service. Seems that misunderstandings are the norm not the exception. Sure been true in my case. I had one who was perfect but only did lawns because he was unemployed Wouldn't you know he'd find a job ?? Damned economy lol My lawn is too small to get bids and the present co does it because they do a half dozen neighbors. Since the lead man is the only one who speaks english and is usually not there doing the actual work double problem. I just let them do the front lawn edging and cleanup. Never go into the backyard and I put whacker guards on the trees. When I tried to communicate not mowing so close to the shrubs the next time they left a 6 foot edge of grass lol I'm in need of help with trimming and shudder what that will bring lol Funny story , I hired a co to remove a very overgrown travelers palm including digging out the roots and filling the hole. They ran over a couple of beds getting the bobcat to the area kind of expected as it was so tight. I watched over them like a hawk the entire time and though they did damage the shadehouse a bit .good job The house was still standing and no body was injured. When he came to collect the money he informed me that the orange tree had serious disease problems . Went out to look and the "disease " was 40 orchids attached to the limbs lol had a hard time convincing him that it was okay lol Thank the lord he didn't "prune" it lol. Now for advice on a REAL problem .How do you communicate with Contractors lol. Is there one that actually works on time,on budget and does anything remotely like you want?? If so how do you pick him out of the crowd?? lol gary

I plan on getting in trouble there. Plant swaps sound fun. The last swap I went to I bought some Sans from Ed Eby's son in 6 in pots for $1 each! They were some really nice plants. I like systemics also. I used to do things like fish emulsion, rubbing alcohol, and whatnot but still had bugs months later. I finally gave into Bayer and bought a big bottle of 3 in 1 and haven't had much trouble with anything except the occasional spider mite on my brugmansia. I'll have to find something potent for them soon. 3 in 1 doesn't work as a miticide. When a plant comes in the door it gets treated just as precaution so I don't usually have bugs on anything but my herbs.