I'm starting to renovate my fire damaged property. Need advice!
Paul F.
3 years ago
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Okay you bulbo growers ... I'm in need of advice
Comments (8)"...so-called tropical orchids..." If I can quote myself and make a correction in the vagueness, I was refering only to the Bulbo/allies group! This is, maybe, also valid for the 'Rainy season and orchids' topic. As several have stated, so much depends upon your personal micro-climate, needs and level of care. (There is a lot of overlap in where these things come from.) Also, for me, much of the amount of success was dependent upon the actual size of the mounted orchid. A larger one is able to absorb more without problems. My first attemps at mounting orchids failed, several years ago. I had deflasked some Bulb.echinolabium seedlings and mounted them too soon. I couldn't keep up and lost all of them. Personally, I under water most things. So, I have to take that into account. Even during the summer, I have 50F temperature swings. I could see my breath last night and today the temps are in the 90'sF in the shade. We're supposed to get over 100F over the next few days. (At least the tomatoes will do better!) ;~) My many different methods do better at different times of the year and with the amount of free time to fuss over them. I just watered my outside mounts for the third time today. Most have sphag, but many do not! As the temps will drop accordingly, I won't water late. The only way that I was able to keep my, non-Pluero, s/h with sphag healthy this winter, was to do a major increase in the light, warmth and air circulation. Cold wet roots/media and stagnant air would have caused the death of many. I let the sphag get crispy at that time, as well. Now, they're sucking up water faster than I can keep up. Even my Pluero types do better with higher than recomended light levels. I had a burnt out bulb, in my palludarium, that I delayed replacing and lost a valued new growth on my Pleuro. pectinata. ;~( I have several that I grow usings my version of Bill Thoms methods. Like I said at the start, it helps to learn from the best! ;~) I use a non-draining tub/container with s/h pellets and a loose layer of sphag on top. It stays damp w/o being wet and the Bulbos are allowed to seek out what they need. I think that making many orchids work a little, for their needs, makes them stronger. It's like infrequent deep watering vs. constant shallow watering. ;~) My water is beyond soft, so I don't worry about mineral issues much! I just have take into account my conditions and care level. Since I love the look of mounted orchids, I mounted many of my species Bulbos, last summer. The amount of care and level of, hopefully benign, winter neglect also went up. It's just too difficult with my curent sub-standard conditions. I just do/try what works for me! This is a really great topic to bring up! To paraphrase an old joke, "If everyone liked the same thing, I be beating guys off Grandma with a stick"! ;~) Scott...See MoreFire damage advice
Comments (15)Hi i have a question--i hope someone can answer it!! I 've been to just about every web page there is but here goes. My husband and i are looking at this bankruptcy house and the realtor said that he had heard there was fire damage but he doesnt know to what extent. There obviously was some kind of damage but the house is all redone and everything so i'm hoping and guessing that it was just in one or two of the rooms. They have plaster on them and this house is a modular that sits on a basement. The basement is VERY well built and i guess my question is that if it was damaged by fire, would it be possible to maybe view the insurance record or how would we find out for sure if it was damage and not tear down the house? Thank you i know this is long...but thank you, anything at all would be more than helpful !...See More"Property Virgins" advice: Live with it a year first
Comments (28)1929S, I like the way your back yard is lit. I added lighting only a couple of years ago:Notice the small LED flood lights on the back wall slightly to the left and above my bedroom window. I had a very difficult time finding flood light (especially LED) that were bright enough and that were not motion-activated. I want to turn the lights on and off at will - not have them come on when a bird flies by. The light I have is just enough for me to be able to pick herbs at night if I have to - I keep herbs and chili plants between the wall fountain and the patio door. The pergola has much more light inside it, as I strung a bunch of lights in its ceiling, and it is quite bright when we want to stay there at night, which we often do in the winter. Like you, we have pleasant outdoor temps all year, and this increases our living space significantly. Also, we have a Big Green Egg and do a lot of cooking outdoors. If I had known how inexpensive it was to add outdoor outlets, I would have done that sooner. I have an outlet to use for additional back yard lighting but have not yet installed it. We plan to put some pavers around the round fountain with a path connecting to the concrete. We may pave some more of the back yard near the back wall, as the soil is really bad for plants, and I think it would look neater and be easier to maintain. I like doing sections or projects in stages and see how it evolves over time. I think if I did everything at once, I would get bored with it. I like your pavers also, which are much nicer than the concrete we got with our house. At some point, I want to put tiles (possibly Saltillo) over all the concrete in the back. I like your Spanish architecture, but there is none of that in my neighborhood, as it was built 1947-1953 (for Hughes Aircraft workers), and so all the houses are MCM generic, bungalow or ranch. Another lighting element I want to replace is a porch light, preferably LED, that would be motion-activated, but in this case, it is almost impossible to find motion-activate - unlike the flood light in the back....See MoreNeed Advice ASAP! Neighbors doing work on our property
Comments (40)Ipls8xx - you state that " No surveyor or government official has authority over land boundaries." That's far too blanket a statement. It may be true where you live, but not where I live. Here, a survey conducted by a licensed surveyor is registered with the government and regarded as being considerably more than just an opinion: in the absence of a competing survey, it is considered definitive. The actual surveys where I live are based on objective data measurements (GNSS, etc), not on usage, so I'm not sure that previous owner history or the existence of fences is particularly relevant. Of course, historical surveys are known to contain errors in measurement. The methods and equipment in use 80 or 100 years ago were not nearly as accurate as modern techniques, so there are disputes over where the boundaries actually lie. If there are two surveys showing different boundaries arising out of these historic errors or inconsistencies, or if there is a single survey highlighting an area of conflict, then in such cases, there is specific legislation in place allowing the government here to decide on the correct property boundaries. So yes, governments, or at least some of them, do have authority over land boundaries. This is a different issue than "adverse possession," in which the real boundaries, as defined by an objective survey,have been encroached upon by the neighbor. That's more an issue of whether the neighbor has in fact acquired part of someone else's land simply by long-term occupation, and it's up to the courts to rule on that (assuming, of course, there is such a thing as adverse possession in the jurisdiction - it doesn't exist everywhere). If the court rules in favor of the encroacher, then the land is transferred, the boundaries change and the new survey, done by a licensed surveyor, will reflect the new boundary lines....See MorePaul F.
3 years ago
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