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Randy Man
2 years ago
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annpat
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoGargamel
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoRelated Discussions
Rant: Plastic Tea Bags
Comments (20)I've just emailed my complaint to Unilever: ___________ I have a complaint to make about your Lipton pyramid tea bags. The words ÂSustainable development are displayed prominently on your main webpage. There are many good things listed on that section of your website, but there is one thing which lets you down: plastic tea bags. I bought your peppermint tea bags yesterday, and expected to be able to put the used tea bags onto my compost heap as usual: but I saw with real horror that your bags, the string and the label on each bag are all made of plastic. When most tea bags are made of paper, and can easily be made of paper, this is inexcusable. You will know all of the arguments regarding sustainability and harm to sea creatures which surround plastic: plastic takes up to 1000 years to degrade (paper takes 2 to 5 months to biodegrade), so once that plastic has degraded, its microscopic plastic particles are still in the environment; plastic bags are being ingested by sea creatures such as turtles who die as a consequence; oestrogenic compounds are leached from PET water bottles, especially when they are warmed up  I dread to think what happens when boiling water is poured onto a plastic PET tea bag. I see, from a quick web search, that I am not alone in my shock at finding out that you use plastic tea bags. One blog poster even posted your reply to her query: ÂThe translucent Pyramid tea bag is made of PET, the same food grade material clear water and juice bottles are made of. As with any plastic, it would not be considered biodegradable. PET is completely safe and is 100% recyclable within the plastics waste stream. Hope this information is helpful. Kind regards, Your friends at Lipton The fact that you say it is 100% recyclable within the plastics waste stream is not the reassuring fact that you seem to think it is. ItÂs PR wool-pulling. Another example of your amazing PR machine would be your use of the term Âgossamer when referring to plastic tea bags. Another example: the box displays the Ârecycle now icon, and yet doesnÂt list the plastic anywhere. So consumers donÂt know that they are buying plastic until they open the box. I wonÂt be buying your products again. I will be warning my friends about your tea bags. I will post this on the web so others are also aware and donÂt make the same mistake I did. Please, please, stop making your tea bags out of plastic....See Morebrowns?
Comments (15)It's very confusing calling them greens and browns because then we newbies want to pick ingredients by color, which doesn't work. It's actually high nitrogen and high carbon. That doesn't help pick ingredients much, either. You won't go too far off if you think "fresh" stuff vs "really dried out" stuff. Not 100%, but more useful than greens and drowns. A lot of the browns, really dried out stuff, won't decompose all by themselves. You can stack up paper, sawdust, and straw for years and as long as it isn't wet, it will remain in the same state. The greens can't be stored long term and remain in the same state, unless they are processed in some way to preserve them. That's a generalization. I see some greens on the list that could be stored for years, like alfalfa. But alfalfa molds and heats really quickly if it gets water on it. Most of the things on the green list will have changes and decompose if you stack them up somewhere and leave them....See MoreCan I rant?
Comments (21)Bark is amazing. The roots attach themselves to it so well that when I up-pot a plant to the next size, the whole package holds together and I just add bark in a larger pot. I tried to spray wash some divisions once and I'm telling you that those roots would not let go of the mini bark pieces. After it is totally soaked, something like a couple weeks of watering every other day, it retains a lot of water. We get very dry in Summer here,(zero rain) down in the twenties humidity-wise during the day but higher with our cool nights...but I only need to water my pots maybe twice a week. They would survive a week at 100 in the shade(and they did when we had to suddenly leave for a family emergency one July and the temps soared). When we returned they were only slightly droopy and popped up with a drink. Pots also have this ability to retain a lot of moisture at the very bottom even though the top inch or so is dry. I use mostly plastic nursery pots and you can poke your finger in the bottom holes of a 3 gal can and feel the moisture there. My advice is to stop watering when they die back and go dormant, mine from shortened daylight, yours from a freeze. Whatever makes the tops flop/mush. Put them somewhere where they won't get rained on and wait until they poke up in late Feb or March before you give them any moisture. Witholding water in Winter may help keep them dormant in our warmer Winter areas. Just think of how you hear of some hostas going into heat dormancy in Summer. It is not so much due to the heat as it is the lack of water. Just for the heck of it, try putting some in the tiny tiny 3/8"-1/2" bark chips and see how they do for you. Give them a little weak liq. fert from time to time. This is what I've found, over many years, (and many losses) works for me. YMMV. Good Luck! -Babka...See MoreFrustration in growing citrus (rant incoming + help needed)
Comments (24)Alright people time for an update. I went to Bunnings and bought 3 bags of Citrus and Lemon potting mix: http://www.bunnings.com.au/osmocote-25l-professional-fruit-and-citrus-potting-mix_p2961638 another link: https://www.scottsaustralia.com.au/osmocote/osmocote-professional-potting-mix/osmocote-professional-fruit-citrus-potting-planting-mix/ The store guy said that citrus (lemons in this case) are picky when it comes to soil and moisture (and judging by the new found info, I agree). He said that this potting mix is specially designed for citrus. When I told him about my pot size (60 cm long, 60 cm wide, approx 70 litres capacity) he said it's okay to pot the lemon plant into the pot - he'd seen even larger pots and the lemons had turned out fine. Now, I also drilled some extra holes for better water flow and draining. The pot originally had 3 big holes but I drilled some more. Just enough to not jeopardise the pot's strength and structural integrity. Some extra holes around the sides just in case. Overall result: Here's a size reference: My index finger I also filled the bottom with any pebbles and small rocks I could fine to allow better drainage. About an inch of layer is the best I could muster. Now. This is what I did to replace the old soil: 1) Remove the top layer of soil and put it in one bucket (because it had fertiliser feeds, you know, the small pebbly types). 2) Took the mid layer soil out and put it into another bucket. This is the soil that had contact with the plant's roots i.e. it surrounded the roots. 3) Emptied the rest of the soil into some big container. 4) I filled 2 bags worth (50 litres) of the citrus potting mix into the pot, over the layer of pebbles. 5) Once the soil got high enough, I made a small burrow and put the plant back in, so the small hole would give roots enough space to settle in. 6) Poured some more potting mix to cover the roots and provide stability for the plant so it was covered nice and well. 7) Covered the very top layer with the soils from 1) and 2). 8) Watered it using Seasol liquid feed just in case. Now I did whatever I could and this plant required so much attention and efforts from me I'm like "I did what I could, rest is up to the plant, I'm done". Really, I don't know what else I can do. I'm done. I won't have to water the plant for at least 2 more weeks. And I won't need to fertilise it for at least 7 months. If it still suffers from overwatering or overfeeding, and I hope to heck it doesn't, I'd be a pit pissed. Also, look at what I found when I was aerating my Tahitian Lime plant! I think they're cicadas. I've found them before in my lime plant. I found like 5 of them this time. I killed them all....See Morefour (9B near 9A)
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