u/Sigong

I use imidacloprid on my succulents to prevent pests. I've never observed any weird growth after treating those plants.

I gave imidacloprid to a Tradescantia zebrina and to a Callisia repens at different times. Both plants started to grow weirdly afterwards. The zebrina's leaves dried up and fell off one by one, and the new growth was malformed and oddly colored. The Callisia repens also had new growth that was weirdly shaped and colored, but no leaf loss.

I've never had issues with the systemic pesticide before, so I'm wondering if this indicates that this genus and related genus don't respond well to imidacloprid.

I tend to accumulate a lot of clutter in my apartment. A large amount of the clutter consists of things I call "task-objects". A task-object is an object that is associated with a task in some way (has information about the task, needs a task performed on it, etc). It could be anything from plant fertilizer to tell me I need to fertilize my plants to some pieces of a craft project to a pile of mail and other miscellaneous papers.

I want to complete the tasks, but because of my task initation issues this is difficult. I would like to clean up the clutter, but I'm afraid I'll forget about the task if the object is no longer visible.

What strategies can I use to deal with my task-object clutter other than simply doing the tasks? I've only tried putting them away and making lists but then I need to remember to check the lists and eventually the storage solution overflows.

I need ~0.25 lbs of dry ice. The smallest amount I've found for sale is 5 lbs for $10. I don't want to waste 95% of my money, as I will need to get 0.25 lbs more than once (but not frequently enough to purchase a larger amount of dry ice and store it).

I need about 100g of dry ice (frozen CO2) once per week for the next 6 weeks.

I already called Carlstadt Ice but they said the smallest amount I can buy is 10lbs for $20. This would cost me $120 overall, so I'm seeking other options.

Anyone know where I can find a drill press to use for less than 30 minutes? I need to use a hole saw to make some holes in metal shelves but I don't feel safe doing it with a handheld drill. I have the hole saw already.

I think I've reached the limit of what cold proofing can do without compromising the bread's rise. My bread is still not sour enough!

My current recipe (starter is fed 2-1-1 every day or two):

1. Mix 200g starter and 750g lukewarm water
2. Add 700g bread flour and 300g whole wheat flour
3. Mix until incorporated
4. Wait 30 minutes for fermentolyse
5. Incorporate 20g salt and 20g water
6. Bulk ferment until doubled, folding every 30-90 minutes depending on the dough's strength (generally takes 4-7 hours depending on the day's temperature)
7. Divide and preshape, wait 20 minutes
8. Shape, wait a few minutes, transfer to bannetons
9. Wait until the dough passes the poke test
10. Transfer to fridge for 1-4 days
11. Bake directly from fridge (20 minutes at 500 F in closed dutch oven, then remove lid and bake for 30 minutes at 450)

After a few days in the fridge, my bread tends to go flat during baking. When this doesn't happen, I'm generally happy with all characteristics of my bread other than the sourness level.

Have you gone from making bread that was not sour enough to bread that is very sour? Which change did you make that had the largest impact on your bread's flavor?

I have three epiphytic cacti:

1. Hatiora salicornioides (Dancing bones)
2. Christmas cactus
3. Unknown third plant that resembles queen of the night (long unsegmented leaves)

All three plants have been suffering for a while. They develop discolored regions on their leaves and drop most of their new growth. The leaves also display stress colors despite the gentle light I expose them to.

I was recently able to confirm using a cheap USB microscope that all three plants are afflicted with some kind of red-orange mite. The mites are minuscule but if I put my eye extremely close to the leaves I can see them walking around. The mites seem to only like the epiphytic cacti (I have about 100 other succulents of various genera which were kept near the cacti before I identified the mites. I have not observed any weird damage or mites on any other plants).

I'd like to treat all three plants to eradicate the mites. I'd prefer not to use miticide. I'm currently weighing four different options:

1. Submerge in water repeatedly for a few weeks (I've heard that this kills adult mites but I'm not sure about eggs)
2. Dessicate the mites by spraying with rubbing alcohol (this is probably easiest for me to accomplish)
3. Use a pump bottle to coat the plants in wettable sulfur (I'm not sure if they can handle it, I've had bad results with a pre-mixed sulfur spray on a peperomia before)
4. Neem oil (I've heard a lot of horror stories but it keeps being recommeded)

I'd appreciate any feedback on the above options as well as any guidance from people who have dealt with this type of mite before. I'd also love to know if any of the above options will have unexpected effects on epiphytic cacti that aren't present when used on other plants.

Thanks!

I'm following the route that Google maps suggests if you want the specific locations I'll be passing through.

I'm currently interested in windowed Haworthia but I'll enjoy any store with a large variety of species.

I recently bought some more grow lights and increased the ppfd my plants receive by about 30%. A bunch of them have begun to etiolate since then. I haven't changed anything else about their conditions.

I've verified with a PAR meter that the ppfd increased as I expected.