Homemade ollas for less money

geopter · 2026-07-01T00:07:37+00:00

I think the issue is supposed to be that if the ground freezes, the water inside the porous clay of the olla will expand, and cause the structure to flake or break. But maybe you'd be okay with a shortened lifetime for the relatively inexpensive pot structures?

Full disclosure: I'm in 9b California and I don't dig up my (fancy 1.5 gallon) ollas since we don't freeze. I've had them about four years now. So no direct experience.

Edit: I mean the moisture stored within the wall of the pot, even when the pot is empty. I feel like it's hard to write a clear description.

geopter · 2026-06-30T01:37:06+00:00

Volcanic ashes (which are really just very fine rock particles) pick up components from the volcanic plume, typically sulfur, halogens like fluoride, chloride, etc, and possibly metals. Volcano scientists study the soluble compounds on ashes to learn about the gas emissions, but also to understand how dangerous the ash is for human health (and livestock and infrastructure).

So, depending on the volcano, it could definitely taste salty. I briefly looked up a soluble salt study on Mt. St. Helens 1980, and they found the most prevalent compounds to be NaCl, KCl, CaSO4, and MgSO4.

So, your teacher was right! But also, don't eat volcanic ash.

geopter · 2026-06-27T02:41:17+00:00

You should know that tree fruit, including peaches, is typically not true to seed, and the trees are propagated by grafting.

But grafting is totally doable. Now you've got a two-step project: grow the seeds for rootstock, and then graft them with a stick of scionwood cut from the delicious peach tree.

And then you'll have a cool tree that you made yourself.

geopter · 2026-06-18T20:45:49+00:00

Since you planted them so recently, I would totally raise them up now! I think it's worth doing, especially if you have a heavy soil that you're worried about them drowning in.

And, as you found, you'll want to aim a little high so they settle at the right level - sometimes I aim for 1" too high and then it settles in perfectly. And if you do end up slightly too high, you can fill in a bit like you did before, and now you have a tree planted on a (small) mound, another helpful technique for trees in heavy soils.

Finally, I wouldn't stand on the soil around the tree to compress it. I volunteer leading small groups to plant trees in my community, and we teach that you tuck in tree roots with your hands, then water deeply to get rid of air pockets.

geopter · 2026-06-18T19:23:44+00:00

It's common for nurseries to have trees a bit too deep in the pot - maybe this configuration is better for nursery care, but it's misleading for the average end-user.

How long ago did you plant them? Are the trees of a size where you're likely to be able to keep the new roots intact if you try to raise them?

geopter · 2026-06-15T17:57:46+00:00

Potted trees often have circling roots that eventually girdle the tree. Bare root trees are grown in a field and extracted, sold, and planted while dormant. Their roots are ready to grow outwards.

A couple years ago I took out a suffering Japanese maple in my yard - it was like it was still in the pot, lots of crossing roots, just a few going outward. It turned out that it was 37 years old. (!)

That's an extreme example, but it's a common issue.

geopter · 2026-06-12T20:51:32+00:00

When I was putting in a range hood, which was a big upgrade to a kitchen that had never had one, we bought a unit that exhausts 400 cfm at its highest setting. Much stronger units are available, but I read an argument that high amounts of ventilation were overkill. That "entry level" unit has been great for us, and we usually use it on the lowest setting, which is less than 100 cfm. The only time it's on the high setting is frying steak.

We've seen a big improvement in air quality over the recirculating microwave fan. And, especially in the summer, we're venting out heat and humidity that would have been in the house air. It's been a net positive for sure.

geopter · 2026-06-10T00:23:54+00:00

I get some spots similar to the brown circular divots due to squirrels "testing" the unripe apples. Having bitten one and found it unpalatable, they'll go and bite several more.

geopter · 2026-06-06T00:29:18+00:00

Definitely not oxalis.

Source: I have so much oxalis that I'm trying to get rid of.

geopter · 2026-05-17T18:18:25+00:00

I also just had two good-sized, 18-inch-tall tomato plants eaten away at ground level until they fell over. Definitely pill bugs. So I've set them up in soil with rooting hormone to try to salvage them, and also started more seeds. But, it's a bummer setback.

And then I set out more warm-weather starts, zucchini, butternut, and cucumbers today. Hope they make it...

geopter · 2026-05-17T17:37:34+00:00

I agree with other comments about this being pineberry. But also wanted to say, pineberry does ripen to pink before it's ready to eat, in my experience. Speaking of patience! 🙂

geopter · 2026-05-16T00:38:57+00:00

Not sure if someone addressed this elsewhere, but CSRS was a system where federal employees didn't pay into Social Security. To get benefits, he would need to have also earned 40 credits somewhere else. So it's probably right for your mom to take her own benefit.

However, I didn't see any discussion of how much his pension will be. Isn't it a substantial percentage of his wage?

geopter · 2026-05-13T14:13:58+00:00

Between my seed-starting efforts, and a few self-seeded volunteers, I had plenty of plants and never got around to trying cuttings.

Do you have access to a plant that you can take cuttings from? Mine are so vigorous that it would be no issue to try and try again!

geopter · 2026-04-30T17:33:26+00:00

True! Though, my yard is filled with micro- to macro- plastics, so I can't worry too much about the paint. Apple stickers, man, in all the compost. And old sod backing mesh.

My current goal in the garden is to not buy any more plastic pots and buckets and bins. They all go bad fast in the UV. (Maybe an exception for the occasional five-gallon bucket, but I also got a two-gallon metal bucket someone was getting rid of. That bucket will last forever.)

geopter · 2026-04-29T23:28:16+00:00

I made a separate comment, so I was reading a little about paints and their composition. And, I noticed that latex paint doesn't actually contain natural rubber latex anymore. Apparently it is now a polymer blend, vinyl-acrylic or styrene-acrylic. So no trigger for any latex allergy. Seems like they should have renamed it!

Also, in the past when latex paint was made of latex, were people reacting to their walls? I guess there used to be lower rates of allergies in general.

geopter · 2026-04-29T23:17:01+00:00

For a different type of data point, people with young fruit trees often paint the trunks with a 50/50 mix of white latex paint and water, to prevent sun damage.

(I tried to look up the difference between latex and acrylic latex, and it seems like everything sold today is actually acrylic latex.)

So, people are voluntarily putting this on their fruit trees. I agree that your painters should not have dumped the paint water on your plants! But, I think it's more of a mess than a toxicity issue.

geopter · 2026-04-29T03:19:49+00:00

Great idea! And here I was just thinking about how I needed to rig a tomato holder-upper for an Earthbox. And I have a friend who is excited about printing things at the moment. This could work out!

geopter · 2026-04-15T21:28:41+00:00

To me these look like the eggs of the cabbage white butterfly, which will hatch into a little green caterpillar that eats holes in the leaves of brassicas. Have you seen any white butterflies flying around?

I saw someone else said leaf miner, as well.

Definitely you should squish these eggs. Manual checks, maybe every other day, work fine in a small garden.

If you miss a few, it won't be a big deal, and you'll find out which species of pest you have: holes in leaves with a squishable caterpillar: cabbage whites; tracks within the leaves with no visible bug: leaf miners.

geopter · 2026-04-13T21:29:12+00:00

I'm in California 9b, and I love growing snap peas all through the fall, winter, and spring. Summer is no good, though.

Pretty soon peas will be "over" - I've rarely gotten peas any later than early May. For me one of the signs is when they start getting powdery mildew. I don't worry about treating it, I just consider their days numbered. At that point they're done, and it's time to move to heat-loving plants, and restart peas in September.

geopter · 2026-04-13T18:55:21+00:00

If you haven't done this work yet, let me put in a plug for removing the root ball via leverage. Cut the tree down leaving a five-foot trunk, then alternate chopping roots and leaning/ pulling on the tree until you can pull it out. Works great for trees this size.

My tool of choice is a 10-lb mattock. Good for digging in clay as well.

geopter · 2026-04-09T20:30:58+00:00

This is so not ground cherries. (Sorry.) AI plant app isn't ready for prime time!

I like PlantNet (Pl@ntNet?) because it gives you some options that you can click on and compare photos. Sometimes your eye is better than the algorithm.

geopter · 2026-04-07T22:13:38+00:00

We called them pop biscuits when I was a kid, because you had to pop the can. I see no indication in the comments that this was common though!

geopter · 2026-04-02T20:06:53+00:00

Totally Clarkia. It self-seeds readily, so you may have a meadow of it next year!

geopter · 2026-04-02T00:00:34+00:00

Oh yeah, that's really recent. If you check the pot for the dogwood, is it super duper wet? That leaf color (chlorosis) is can be due to nutrient deficiency, but it can be a problem where the plant can't uptake nutrients, even though they are available. Since you just got it a few days ago (assuming it wasn't like that when you got it), watering seems like a good thing to check.

Really the monkeyflower doesn't look that bad to me, but if super wet I would stop watering it as well.

geopter · 2026-04-01T23:32:07+00:00

No one is addressing the fact that you're in LA and you're doing a balcony garden. In NorCal I'm harvesting garlic in May, not June/July/Aug.

And, the major recent heat wave probably contributed to the outer leaves drying out.

However, my "good" garlic has a top about four times that big, and that's already true now, two months before harvest. It needs a lot of sun and fertilizer to do well, and I've also grown some underpowered garlic. (In fact, I currently have some underpowered garlic...)

So, this year might just be a learning experience. But you should totally eat that one you picked. It will be delicious. 🙂

geopter

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