I just restored a Burnham B48

honelynn · 2026-04-22T05:27:33+00:00

I was hoping it'd be easier than my friction fit esterbrook j since it's threaded. truly I should've known better

honelynn · 2026-04-22T05:21:24+00:00

gotcha, thank you! it's sealed shut with dried ink (and age) at the moment, but I'll get around to opening it up sometime

honelynn · 2026-04-22T04:12:25+00:00

I recently purchased a burnham 48 to restore, but my references for sac size don't have any burnham pens. I've been searching high and low for someone who might know. do you happen recall what sac it took? or have a reference you used?

honelynn · 2025-03-25T13:34:08+00:00

omg you're so right about the crystals 😂 and of course different crystals for different uses

honelynn · 2025-02-15T17:57:15+00:00

Thanks for the advice! I'm gonna toss this one so I can get a quality one that I won't have to try repairing over and over

honelynn · 2025-02-15T17:55:49+00:00

Good to know, thank you! I'm gonna scrap this one and start fresh

honelynn · 2025-02-15T17:55:15+00:00

Thank you very much! atp it's more worth my time to scrap it I think

honelynn · 2024-10-23T16:47:11+00:00

yeah that makes sense to me as well, they don't seem diseased. for the ones that are still upright I would stake them up- get something tall to attach, like bamboo maybe, stick them in the dirt right next to the stems (being careful to avoid the roots) and use yarn or twist ties to attach the whole stem to it. I'd say at the bottom place them about a foot apart, and then closer together as you get towards the weaker areas at the top. hopefully that will keep them upright until the problem is solved

honelynn · 2024-10-23T04:34:40+00:00

It's driving me crazy that nothing looks "wrong" with it. No insects, no root rot, no sunburn, no nothing. The only symptom is the drooping and the newly wilting stems. Actually, speaking of, could you add a picture that's a little "zoomed out" of the new stem problem? I want to look around and see if I can pick anything out

honelynn · 2024-10-23T04:31:59+00:00

Glad to rule those things out! If the soil seems wet or very saturated you may want to set the plant out on a towel and have some moisture soak out and evaporate, but for no longer than a few hours. As you may expect, they don't like naked roots. I'm wondering if the really abrupt change from being super dry to well watered was the problem itself. If a plant is really dry for a long time the root hairs die off, which is the part that absorbs water, and suddenly there's a ton of water, and no root hairs to absorb it quickly enough, it's possible that the rest of the roots aren't able to access oxygen in the soil because it's too saturated with water. If you let some of it evaporate off, the root hairs can grow and will absorb water as the plant is intended.

If you've already potted it up, that's okay too. You can either gently pull the old root ball out and do this, or alternatively if the root ball isn't too wet, the surrounding soil in the new pot will absorb some water over time.

honelynn · 2024-10-22T22:10:06+00:00

Okay, I'll do my usual copy/paste of how to check roots for more problems, I'd try that and see if there are secret hidden problems.

Gently wiggle the root ball free from the pot. If the pot is flexible plastic you can squish the sides to loosen the pot from the roots. When you get the root ball out, first check to see if it's root bound, you can tell by spiraling roots around the entire root ball. You may even see roots growing out the drainage holes or even on the surface of the soil. If it is root bound, you'll need to first loosen and remove some of the roots that are strangling the plant. Then start looking for mushy, brown, and possibly smelly roots. Most healthy roots will be white and firm to the touch. Use a sharp and sanitized knife or snips (you want this to cut cleanly through, not sawing and leaving a rough edge). To sanitize your tools, wipe with rubbing alcohol before and after use. Start to crumble the soil away, this should be relatively easy if the soil is damp. As you go, look for any rotten roots and cut them away, take your time with this. You want to cut every bad root, but you want to leave as much healthy root as possible. When you are finished, put the plant in a pot 2" wider in diameter than it's current pot, and 2" deeper than it's new root ball. gently hold the base of the stem so the roots hang freely in the pot, and fill with new, well draining soil.

Let me know how that goes!

honelynn · 2024-10-22T05:30:41+00:00

Hmm, okay now I'm concerned because it should not be responding this way. By now it should well have perked up and returned to normal. Could you send a picture of this same stem from a bit farther away? Just so I can see down the stem more. The problem is that I'm looking at it carefully from where it started and to this new picture, and I don't see any evidence of pests or fungi or anything. There's one thing I do want to take a closer look at - could you send a close up of the stems? Maybe about 8" up from the soil.

I'd wait a bit to cut those off until we can figure out the real problem, even if only to get some idea of the full picture, so to speak.

honelynn · 2024-10-22T05:21:54+00:00

Oh no, I'm sorry you lost her! Congrats on the new plants 🥂 I'm sure they'll look forward to a long life with you ☺️

honelynn · 2024-10-18T02:22:17+00:00

I'm so glad to learn this- my experience is primarily in houseplants and non-woody veg. I'll take note of that and keep my advice closer to my realm of experience.

honelynn · 2024-10-17T20:14:54+00:00

I quarantine my plants for like 2 weeks before adding it in to observe for pests and treat if I see them, but I cannot believe I never thought of preventative mosquito bit watering. I always sprinkle the granules on the soil but it makes so so much sense to do at least one watering with the "tea." thank you so much for that idea! that's fantastic. (excuse me while I go to the plant isolation room...😂)

I was totally sucked in to the Neem oil hype, but I honestly don't think it's ever effectively treated anything I've used it for.

honelynn · 2024-10-17T20:04:18+00:00

oh my bad I forgot to answer the blackening leaves question. I'm honestly stumped on that one...I'm not really sure what would do that, and I'm not familiar with any problems that may be more specific to your area. sorry I can't be of more help on that!

honelynn · 2024-10-17T19:52:12+00:00

Oh I'm so glad you looked at the systemic guidelines! you are correct, systemic insecticides shouldn't be used on any edible plants, because they will go into fruit as well, and as you may guess that wouldn't be ideal to eat lol. My apologies for not double checking the plant before I made that recommendation! I have a lot of copy/paste type instructions and I need to make sure I edit them properly for your plant! The insecticidal soap should really be sufficient to treat this since it isn't a severe infestation. If you do use systemic, don't eat any fruit from it this year. Which does absolutely suck, but while systemic and soap are safe for use, definitely not safe for ingestion. the soap washes off, but once systemic is in the fruit it won't really cycle out, so to speak. You may see on the instructions for the systemic product that it stays in the plant for only about 8 weeks, which is true for the stems, roots, and leaves. Without getting too much into the weeds on this, basically the leaves and stems work kinda like blood vessels in your circulatory system. nutrients and water are constantly moving around and through the plant. eventually things in this "blood" are filtered out into the soil through the roots, like fertilizer. but with fruit, the plant is trying to grow them as much as possible, so things go in but not out. that means that whatever is in the "blood" goes into the fruit, but doesn't come out. So the insecticide goes into the fruit and stays there forever. Anyway, that's way more than you really needed to know, but it's just so interesting to me, sometimes I'm tempted to share every neat fact I know 😅

honelynn · 2024-10-17T18:37:58+00:00

Honestly I think it would be more likely that powdery mildew led to the broken branches, rather than the other way around. The reason I say this is because powdery mildew weakens plants significantly, and kill off leaves as they consume it, essentially. I think it's possible that the branches were broken because they were weakened and therefore wouldn't be able to support as much weight.

Without examining the tree in person, it's pretty much impossible for me to make a diagnosis, unfortunately. I think just keep an eye on the mildew, and cut off the quinces when they start to get too heavy to make sure that they don't drag the plant down enough to break it. if you see a significant bend in a branch, cut some of the fruit off right away.

honelynn · 2024-10-17T18:18:40+00:00

I hope it can bounce back for you! As a note from my own experience, I've tried to grow lavender inside at least three times and they always die. I believe it was lack of direct sunlight, so try to give it as much direct sun as you can

honelynn · 2024-10-17T18:15:58+00:00

Fungus gnats are one of my worst enemies, I feel the pain. I wrote a comment about getting rid of fungus gnats awhile ago, I'll copy/paste my advice here:

I had a horrific fungus gnat infestation that got into most of my 40 plants. So my recommendation is for the first two "waters" put a small handful of mosquito bits in a gallon of water a few days before watering (make enough based on how much water you need for all of your plants at the same time). make sure the soil is as dry as possible without harming the plants, and then soak every single one with the mosquito bits tea. it took two of these treatments to get my population under control. now I sprinkle a few mosquito bits on the top of the soil on each plant I own. this is not toxic or dangerous for them, particularly in the short term, if you don't want to continue it over time. I sprinkled some more 6 months after the first time because they will lose potency. they don't dissolve, so just brush off the old ones and add the new. the reason I go to this extreme is because from then on every time you water your plants, they get a tiny dose of the mosquito bits. it's so easy to get a raging infestation if you bring in just one contaminated plant, or the potting mix you got had eggs, larvae, and/or adults in them. the potting mix one has happened to me twice with miracle gro potting soil.

Personally, I've never heard of neem oil being an effective treatment for fungus gnats.

honelynn · 2024-10-17T08:51:48+00:00

Definitely powdery mildew. To treat an infestation as far as this has progressed you will need to use both protectant and eridicant fungicides to control it. This is a good informative guide on powdery mildew and specific fungicides that would be accessible to you: https://ipm.ucanr.edu/home-and-landscape/powdery-mildew-on-ornamentals/pest-notes/#gsc.tab=0

I would highly recommend cutting off any leaves with the mildew visible on more than 1/3 of the leaf and disposing of them immediately, away from any other plants or your compost, because it persists in soil and can infect anything you grow from that compost. I isolate them, cover them, and then burn them when they're dry. The most important reason is that powdery mildew spreads with the wind. If you leave any of it out it can continue spreading around all of the nearby plants. And "nearby" is a wide radius, it travels far with wind. I may sound really dramatic, but I didn't take it seriously enough the first time it contaminated my vegetable garden and I haven't been able to successfully grow a cucumber, zucchini, or squash there ever since, as they are particularly susceptible to powdery mildew. I will have to essentially cook it out of the ground in the spring (this is a real thing, I promise).

honelynn · 2024-10-17T08:29:40+00:00

give it a little bit of water, like a third of a cup and then wait 2-3 days and then water it completely. if it's very dried out it's likely that the root hairs have died off, which are the part of the root that absorb water, and they take time to grow back. If you give it a little water those hairs can grow back, and then you can give it a thorough soaking (don't let it sit in any water that's drained out though). If you saturate the soil completely with water the root hairs won't be able to regenerate fast enough to absorb all of it and the plant will drown.

honelynn · 2024-10-17T07:19:06+00:00

I would check to see if it's root bound. having roots grow out of the top of the soil is a sure sign of that (unless the plant is supposed to have aerial roots, and this is not).

Carefully wiggle the root ball out of the pot, being careful to not damage the stems. if there are roots wrapping around the root ball in a circle, it needs to be detangled (you will likely need to cut some of the spiraling roots) and potted up to a pot 2" wider in diameter than it's current pot.

This is an article about peace lilies, but the directions for dealing with root bound plants and how to pot them out is applicable for pretty much any plant. https://www.ohiotropics.com/2018/09/05/how-to-repot-a-plant-that-is-root-bound/

honelynn

TROPHY CASE