I took them this morning - I got back last night. I haven't fertilized since I did the miracle gro early start when they were first planted. The top of the soil was completely hard and dry. In a panic after reading about late blight, I dragged the container away from the other plants, and an offshoot that was entangled with the others looks just fine - no drying or anything. Is there a good way to figure out how much I should be watering? I've been watering once a day, right at the soil level. That container is mostly top soil (another newbie mistake), so it takes awhile for the water to seep in. It does drain, but I don't always water until I see water come out - I did when I got back from my trip. Here's a closeup of the plant from June 12th

"There is no longer any water showing up on the sheets of paper. Can I eliminate the possibility of a leak in the pipes?" That may indicate that there isn't a leak when the shower valve is off. Leaks behind the wall are rare, but they do occur. You could troubleshoot leaks behind the wall by unthreading the shower head from the arm that comes out of the wall. Crack the shower valve so water starts trickling out of the arm, then close the valve. Now thread a 1/2" cap on the arm (in place of the shower head) and turn on the shower valve. That'll pressurize the plumbing between the valve and the cap. Leave the supply valve on for a while. If water starts showing up within a few hours or the next day, then there may indeed be a leak behind the wall. You can try to get a visual on it at the same time be sliding the shower head escutcheon plate off the arm, that'll allow you to put eyes on the union that the shower arm threads in to. You can also remove the escutcheon plate that covers the shower valve. With the shower head removed, the shower arm capped, the two escutcheons removed, and the water ON, you may be able to see or even hear a mist or spray from any faulty unions. If visibility is restricted, you can also poke a Q-tip or something like that into the holes and see if it comes out wet. But again...leaks behind the wall are rare. I'd be interested in finding out if the floor membrane itself is sloped to the drain. Many installers who use CPE or CPVC membranes improperly lay the membrane flat on the floor, then set sloped mud on the flat membrane and tile on the sloped mud. However, it's a code requirement that the membrane itself should be sloped. Lastly...sometimes these weird water things can disappear on their own over time. Fresh mud beds become wet with their first use, and on these forums we've had a few instances of water behaving badly while the bed saturates over the first few uses. Good luck with it.

Hi Creative Tile! Thanks for looking at this post. I have no pictures of this 5 year old bathroom being built, just those in my memory. I am however taking pics of the new Mstr bath being built for this very reason. This" possible" leak is in a guest bath we are currently using full time. The water is on the tile just out side of the door threshold. Not much maybe 2-3 tablespoons, but it is still there in the evening after wiping it up in the morning. Like slow seepage. Our contractor thinks it is from water splashing on the glass door and then running under glass door. Maybe so but why does it return later in the day when no one has been using that bathroom? I will try to post a pic, not really sure how to do it. Okay well it posted but sideways, sorry. You can see the wet grout lines and the scale that has developed on the floor tiles. Any ideas? Next steps? Thanks for any input.

do you think the Cinnamomum species will be susceptible to Laurel Wilt disease? No, because I think the operating assumption about Laurel Wilt, as with so many deadly plant diseases, is that it comes from Asia and that Asian species are at least mostly immune. But we will see. In the immediate future, cold winters are probably going to be more of a concern ;-) Completely agree about the record lows! It's one thing for Hagerstown, but particularly shocking for a town at 160 ft of elevation in SE VA! It's fascinating to think of climates it terms of risk of extreme "edge cases". The most extreme extremes! Like, the wetter, zone 10a parts of SE Australia seemed ridiculously Edenic when I visited, but, that explained why it shocked me to my [horticultural, at least!] core to realize the incredibly lush, exotic-filled Mt. Tomah Botanic Garden that I discussed here had a harrowing, narrow escape from incineration just a few years after my visit. Teams of fire fighters worked to spare it from the recent Aussie fires. This in a climate that usually has PLENTY of rain, year round: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackheath,_New_South_Wales#Geography_and_climate and certainly during summer. And as far as I've been able to piece together, that can potentially happen almost anywhere in the highland subtropical parts of AU, with maybe the exception of some of Tasmania. It's just the nature of the beast. (Is any Eden safe these days? It also shocked me that Villa Taranto in Italy was visited by a tornado that killed the gigantic Fagus 'Purpurea Tricolor' I'd seen a few years earlier.) So, if I lived as far south as Emporia, just 1.5 h drive from very palmy Virginia Beach (where I also have some relatives) I would think "surely I can grow Trachycarpus!" Especially given what I would see as the trade offs vs. where I live now, like being too hot for rhododendrons. But, obviously not in a place that went below 0F so recently! Anyhow my cousin who I saw around Christmas said she wants to try a palm in her garden. She might luck out because she's a little west of Emporia in a place where there seem to have low hills and she might have better cold air drainage, but I didn't really get a sense of it because I only visited her house after dark. Full disclosure I am trying the last Trachy I will ever try in that SW alcove of my house, but if it doesn't make it, it doesn't make it. And I'm never going to heroics to save it. It's pretty low on my list of plants to worry about, because for one thing they are so common just a hop skip and jump south of where I live, in the grand scheme of things, which VA Beach is. Just the other end of the Bay!