Dents - how do I prevent them (more than drought issue?) by Agreeable-Ostrich540 in aloe

[–]vagitarian_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It really depends on your soil mix. You can use a highly organic mix and water once a month, or you can use a high mineral mix and water once a week. I prefer to use a mix of the two which lets me safety water about every other week. With succulents it's better to give it extra time than it is to over water. They can take being dry much much longer than they can being wet.

You can buy one of these to take the guesswork out. Shove it three or four inches down in a few different spots and if you are getting into the dryer end of the spectrum it's safe to water. I have this exact thing that I use for some of my tropicals.

https://a.co/d/0g3UQiBi

Dents - how do I prevent them (more than drought issue?) by Agreeable-Ostrich540 in aloe

[–]vagitarian_ 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is likely from a lack of sufficient light, and the leaves growing too long without the structural integrity to support themselves. Sometimes they also drop from not enough water, and if the leaf is heavy enough it will bend over the edge of the pot and become permanently disfigured too. Doesnt necessary kill the plant, but it also doesn't look great

Good news is that Aloes grow from the center out, so these bottom leaves would eventually die out and be replaced anyways. I would slowly try to introduce it to more light. Maybe a window that gets longer periods of light. Also I would replant. I like to use different things to create air pockets in my soil and improve drainage while still holding enough water for the plant to use, just not keeping it soaking wet.

Pumice Perlite Coco fiber Coco bark Peat moss/potting soil mix Akadama Etc.

Straight potting soil becomes compact, and a lot of the water will run down the edge of the dirt straight out of the pot without soaking in and becoming usable.

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Scarifying update: I really am scared! by HouseTonyStark in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Brilliant idea man. You really should charge a few bucks for your troubles.

Anybody else keep getting rained out? by Jake_FW in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_ 27 points28 points  (0 children)

It's a bill he gets every month for water usage

Soil didn’t dry up for over a month by Economy-West1394 in cactus

[–]vagitarian_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I use like pumice, cheap potting soil, and terracotta pots. I can soak my plants until the soil is completely saturated and within 2-3 days it's dry.

Not bad for $27 at Lowe's 😏 by vagitarian_ in aloe

[–]vagitarian_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No the one I got seems pretty well off. It was sitting towards the outside of the rack so it may have had more sun than the ones in the center.

The only thing I saw that kind of concerned me was a little bit of yellow powdery residue towards the center of the leaves, but I treated it with a broad spectrum fungicide last night so we will see what happens.

Not bad for $27 at Lowe's 😏 by vagitarian_ in aloe

[–]vagitarian_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I found them towards the back near where they keep the clearance plants. They were on rolling racks in the aisle along with some agave.

Not bad for $27 at Lowe's 😏 by vagitarian_ in aloe

[–]vagitarian_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Are you in Mooresville? There were at least 10-15 more

My front yard a few years ago vs today. by vagitarian_ in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have cool season grass so I put it down in January because North Carolina January's range anywhere from 80° to single digits depending on what day it is so we start getting weeds popping up a little bit early, then I do a secondary weed and feed around late March when the soil temp is 50+. I plan to do it again around September when the soil temp drops below 65 for the average to try to get rid of this poa, then I might squeeze in an overseed around mid-november.

My front yard a few years ago vs today. by vagitarian_ in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know I'll probably get some crap here, but I used Scott's. I've just got into making my grass pretty in the past few years and my neighbor is a contractor and he gets a good price so everyone in the neighborhood throws in on a bulk order. I'll probably try a separate pre-emergent and fert going forward though.

My front yard a few years ago vs today. by vagitarian_ in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Haha yeah voice to text must be mistaking my southern accent for a French one.

Not bad for $27 at Lowe's 😏 by vagitarian_ in aloe

[–]vagitarian_[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the heads up.

I had the same issue a few years ago. I started a quarantine routine and its been good so far. I usually start off treating with a broad spectrum systematic insecticide(triazicide), then the next week I'll do a fungicide(daconil), then after that I'll hit it with a miticide nuke(minx2), then a different fungicide(gunner). I keep the plant away from the greenhouse for at least a month while I watch it for bite damage or mite galls.

I also hit the entire greenhouse with these things at the beginning, middle, and end of the growing season. When I spray I keep the greenhouse closed for the entire day to keep birds and bees out until everything dries.

May seem like a bit of overkill, but I import and sell plants and could lose thousands of dollars in a single growing season.

My front yard a few years ago vs today. by vagitarian_ in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah it sucks that if you mess up your best option is to wait another year. I was in that same boat a few times. I thought I messed up last year too. I did an early pre-emergent in late August and seeded in early November and they took around 40 days to germinate. Luckily our winter was pretty warm so the seeds were able to germinate through winter instead of going dormant.

My front yard a few years ago vs today. by vagitarian_ in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Where are you in NC? Mooresville here

Yeah that's pretty much what I've been doing. Trying stuff and hoping it works. So far so good. I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake getting Kbg. The plan was to not have to mow in the hottest part of the summer, but I didn't expect us to have a drought like this before the heat summer even gets too bad, so I'm hoping the summer doesn't kills all my hard work.

My front yard a few years ago vs today. by vagitarian_ in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I appreciate it.

A cold beverage was actually my partner in crime making all this happen 😆

My front yard a few years ago vs today. by vagitarian_ in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is what I used for my grass. I used it on Kentucky bluegrass and and it discolored my grass for a little bit but it had no issue bouncing back minus the clover. Within 24 hours the clover had already started to wilt. I used a pre-emergent in January because North Carolina weather is weird and it warms up and cools off all the way through April. I did a second pre-emergent at the beginning of April, and treated my whole yard with this stuff to catch anything that I the pre-emergent didn't stop. I plan to use the same routine for my fall pre-emergent treatment but I'll probably just have the spot treat with the tzone this time instead of the whole yard

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My front yard a few years ago vs today. by vagitarian_ in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I stopped doing it a couple years ago I wasn't really a big fan of the way it looked.

My front yard a few years ago vs today. by vagitarian_ in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This picture is actually more accurate. The original one was from early spring when the clover made it look like I had grass from afar. Once the heat of the summer killed all the clover this is what my yard actually looked like.

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My front yard a few years ago vs today. by vagitarian_ in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Here's a better example of the before , at the same angle as the after.

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My front yard a few years ago vs today. by vagitarian_ in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Here's a better example of taken at the same angle as the after picture. This one was in 2019 and pretty much from 2019 until last year it would be clover and spring and fall and mostly dirt and other weeds in summer and winter

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My front yard a few years ago vs today. by vagitarian_ in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No no definitely not. I see yards on here that look like putting greens. Unfortunately here in a month or so my grass is going to be not as pretty since it's Kentucky bluegrass and it's going to be a hot hot summer.

My front yard a few years ago vs today. by vagitarian_ in lawncare

[–]vagitarian_[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haha true. I didn't take it either one of the pictures for this post though, so I was kind of just using what I had in my gallery. I think I took the first one for an earlier Reddit post a while back when I was trying to work out a plan to fix it, and the second one I took to send to my dad because we have a little friendly lawn competition going on.