The part about WATERING SPARINGLY is important enough to warrant repeating. With leaves removed, your plant will only use a small fraction of the water it used before defoliation. Using a 'tell' to tell you when it's time to water (or withhold it) is a good way to stay on track. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al

Thanks exmar! ItâÂÂs time for me to try for some relief due to feeling IâÂÂm not getting good sleep. The Hearing Specialist mentioned she had alternatives when I was ready. I feel her alternatives would be inserted in the ear as a hearing aid. I will opt to something out of the ear thinking I will still hear any signs of danger better. I see plenty options online but I feel my option blocks away will be just as competitive. I am just getting over the 300.00 DrâÂÂs visit that I thought would be covered by my Ins Co Pay since the cost w/n sent until 3 mo later. I chewed them good since it was a few mo before I went into Medicare. A little relief was explained later that even with Ins and Medicare, it still w/h been a 150.00 visit.

A draft stopper under the door will help, too. This kind is fabric and consists of two tubes filled with hard foam tubes, one on either side of the door bottom, with a flat piece of fabric between them that goes under the door. The tubes actually sit on the floor and slide along the floor as the door is opened and closed. If there is carpeting, the slippery nylon of the one in this picture works better than other fabric, I would guess. https://www.ebay.com/i/274343357106?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=274343357106&targetid=884652277561&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9016837&poi=&campaignid=9426322279&mkgroupid=92907991862&rlsatarget=pla-884652277561&abcId=1141016&merchantid=138376934&gclid=CjwKCAjw_LL2BRAkEiwAv2Y3SSdY3Qtwofu1K_ojes8lvu-Kk9E0BS9IORAb82QcHoER5TBwW9tlkRoCSMAQAvD_BwE

"TB scares me more than anything else they dream up." It shouldn't. It's not a highly infectious disease (you generally need prolonged exposure to someone with TB to catch it yourself) and it is treatable (unless you're in a very poor part of the developing world). Around 500 people a year die from TB in the US. Compare that with 40 to 60,000 who die from influenza or pneumonia, not to mention the numbers killed by Covid.