The Retirement Thread

[Paulus]

Good morning all.
The sun is shining and looks like it is going to be a nice day.
The usual dog walking and then another ride out on the bike .

Stay safe everyone

 

[PaulSB]

Good morning to you all. One of my cycling buddies, 71 and one of the best riders in the entire club, promised good weather today. Looking out the window I think the jury is out on this one!!

On the back of his promise I agreed to a big ride. 90 miles, 4500 feet and a top 💯 climb. I must have been hallucinating at the time it's March! I'm going to saddle up my Cervelo. I'm going to get my arse kicked all day, the Cervelo will reduce this a little.

There's a little ditty in my pensioners group:

"You won't see the Cervelo till the sun is bright yellow!"

Possibly we need to grow up.......

 

[Dave7]

Morning all.
Looks like a pleasant solstice day here.
Again I went to bed early as I was drained. Slept heavy till 0500, dozed again and was up at 0615.
I feel (to use the phrase) in between a rock and a hard place ie if I post light hearted/jokey type things you may think I have no feelings. On the other hand its a light hearted section and no one wants to read "doom and gloom".
I will attempt to continue as I do ie post sh*t but with some updates.
One request.... if anyone thinks I have it wrong, please say it....or message me if that is easier.
So......latest.
1. They now say the cancer HAS got to the lymph glands.
2. The reason they are sending her to Clatterbridge is they think it may have spread to the spine.
I am trying to keep busy and be a good boy.

Stay safe peeps AND keep posting,it keeps me going

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Morning all.
Looks like a pleasant solstice day here.
Again I went to bed early as I was drained. Slept heavy till 0500, dozed again and was up at 0615.
I feel (to use the phrase) in between a rock and a hard place ie if I post light hearted/jokey type things you may think I have no feelings. On the other hand its a light hearted section and no one wants to read "doom and gloom".
I will attempt to continue as I do ie post sh*t but with some updates.
One request.... if anyone thinks I have it wrong, please say it....or message me if that is easier.
So......latest.
1. They now say the cancer HAS got to the lymph glands.
2. The reason they are sending her to Clatterbridge is they think it may have spread to the spine.
I am trying to keep busy and be a good boy.

Stay safe peeps AND keep posting,it keeps me going

That doesn't sound good. Just keep posting shite on here, that way we know you are OK.

 

[Dirk]

Morning all

Looks like it's going to be a nice day here.
Usual doggie walking first thing, although my old terrier seems to be distinctly lacking in enthusiasm these days. Think she'd rather stay in bed.
Got to nip down to the caravan to do a little job - the friction pads on the ALKO tow hitch need changing - should take all of 5 minutes to do.
The van will then be all ready to go on the 12th April. Can't wait!

 

[Tenkaykev]

Just read my reply. Apologies for the length of post!!

OK. I see the confusion, my fault. I'll try to explain. There is nothing wrong with your regime, you're clearly putting a lot of care and attention in to your plants. This is excellent and suggests your creosote idea may well be correct.

I only ever use tap water. I will feed once every 3-4 waterings in winter. I've just switched over to feeding every other watering as we're entering spring and I can see growth.

A soil or compost is full of spaces which hold water or air. When we plunge a pot in to water so the compost surface is underwater bubbles rise to the surface, this is air being forced from the soil spaces as water fills these spaces. When the bubbles stop all the air has been on forced out of the compost and replaced with water. Technically this is known as "field capacity" which is the maximum amount of water a given volume of soil/compost can hold. When we stand the pot to drain the excess water the compost cannot absorb drains away.

Roots need access to both water and oxygen via the soil/compost. If a pot is always wet there will be no oxygen in the soil pores, this is what causes death from over watering. Good watering is a balance between providing adequate water while retaining adequate oxygen.

The difference between our regimes is this. You are watering weekly but it sounds to me you never allow the compost to dry out. While this is not wrong it does mean the plants are always sitting in a compost which contains relatively little oxygen. You said the roots are "drinking," they're not, the compost is simply absorbing all the water it can.

In winter my plants are dry. If I pull a plant out of its pot the root ball will be dry - small amounts of compost will fall away from the root ball at the slightest touch. When I water with 0.5/1.00 litre all of this is absorbed by the compost. No run off or water draining out. I watered today, my five feet tall Kentia palm was given a one litre feed! In my view the plants aren't growing so only need sufficient water to sustain themselves. It's easy to add more if needed. Removing water from a wet compost is impossible.

In spring/summer when the compost is dry I plunge the pot under water, wait for most, not all, bubbles to stop and then drain. Alternatively I stand the pot in water as you do until the compost surface is moist. This has forced much of the air out of the compost BUT at this time of year my plants are taking up a lot of water, taking the water out of the compost which allows air back in to the compost. I do this when the compost is dry, not on a regular basis. Quite often I'll notice something wilting, then it gets watered.

I hope I'm clear, if not please ask. I don't think your regime is wrong but have the impression your plants will be quite moist all year round. I'm not sure they need to be.

Keep in mind I'm a hardened ex-grower. I tend to apply my ideas to the home and allotment. For example when I plant out on my allotment I give a single watering. After that the plants fend for themselves. Why? I want root growth, if there's no water the roots have to grow to find it!! Keep giving the plant the water it needs and it won't produce more root!! Why bother it's wasted energy.

Wow! There's so much useful information in your post. A heartfelt thanks and If our paths ever cross I will buy you a Pint or several

I'm going to take all this on board and change my plant care regime. Thanks again Paul, much appreciated.

 

[PaulSB]

Sorry folks I'm going to blather on about water again. Got to thinking about this at 3.00am!!

@Tenkaykev I now think you're very likely bob on with the creosote theory. Everything on my allotment from emerging seedlings through to tomatoes in containers for 7-8 months is watered from stored rainwater. If we run out I collect water from a nearby spring. It's very rare for me to lose plants through watering.

I store +/- 900 litres of which 90% is run off from my shed roof. The roof is covered with mineral felt held down with zinc nails and batons at the edges. Your felt is stuck down with creosote so I agree you probably have low level contamination which you're misting directly on to the foliage. Fascinating, sorry!

I've only ever seen creosote damage on plants too close to recently painted fences.

One other remark and I promise to go away and start my own thread on plants and water. You might feel my view on when to water conflicts with what you read. It probably does.

Commercial growers, especially bedding growers, use water in two ways - to stimulate growth and control growth. Therefore decisions about watering are taken based on how the crop looks, what do we want it to do, do we want to accelerate growth, slow growth etc. The amount of water actually in the compost isn't the first consideration.

Good growers can control plant growth simply through water use. This eliminates the need to chuck a lot of growth regulator chemicals on the crop.

 

[PaulSB]

Wow! There's so much useful information in your post. A heartfelt thanks and If our paths ever cross I will buy you a Pint or several

I'm going to take all this on board and change my plant care regime. Thanks again Paul, much appreciated.

Well I'd urge you to make the changes slowly to avoid shock to your plants. Let things dry out a little more than usual, give less water to the point where you don't see water draining from the pot.

Your plants are used to one regime and need to be weaned off to another. You may also find there is a balance between your view and mine which works in your environment.

 

[PaulSB]

Morning all.
Looks like a pleasant solstice day here.
Again I went to bed early as I was drained. Slept heavy till 0500, dozed again and was up at 0615.
I feel (to use the phrase) in between a rock and a hard place ie if I post light hearted/jokey type things you may think I have no feelings. On the other hand its a light hearted section and no one wants to read "doom and gloom".
I will attempt to continue as I do ie post sh*t but with some updates.
One request.... if anyone thinks I have it wrong, please say it....or message me if that is easier.
So......latest.
1. They now say the cancer HAS got to the lymph glands.
2. The reason they are sending her to Clatterbridge is they think it may have spread to the spine.
I am trying to keep busy and be a good boy.

Stay safe peeps AND keep posting,it keeps me going

Dave, keep posting the shite. Keep posting anything you want. No one in here is going to judge you for being either jokey or serious. Keep us all up to date.

🤗🤗

 

[welsh dragon]

Morning all.
Looks like a pleasant solstice day here.
Again I went to bed early as I was drained. Slept heavy till 0500, dozed again and was up at 0615.
I feel (to use the phrase) in between a rock and a hard place ie if I post light hearted/jokey type things you may think I have no feelings. On the other hand its a light hearted section and no one wants to read "doom and gloom".
I will attempt to continue as I do ie post sh*t but with some updates.
One request.... if anyone thinks I have it wrong, please say it....or message me if that is easier.
So......latest.
1. They now say the cancer HAS got to the lymph glands.
2. The reason they are sending her to Clatterbridge is they think it may have spread to the spine.
I am trying to keep busy and be a good boy.

Stay safe peeps AND keep posting,it keeps me going

Sorry to hear your latest news Dave. Shite just keeps getting worse for you it seems.

Thinking of you both.

 

[welsh dragon]

Morning peeps. A cold start here but it should warm up I think.

Stay safe peeps.

 

[Drago]

Got an online masonic meeting with a lodge in Canada at 1am, so a late night for moi. I'm not a mason myself, but the grand kleegle is a friend of my Dad's and I was invited so it was only polite to accept,

 

[oldwheels]

Misty start the the day but sun looks to be out soon.
When I got up there were several red deer in the field opposite. My neighbour went out to his van when off to work and they just stood a few feet away and watched him. Seems to be nothing we can do about the vermin.
Coop shopping, freezers broken down again but I was not wanting anything from them anyway.
May go out on the trike again but the garden needs attention as the weeds in the front of the house are starting to grow and the wrecked polytunnel is slowly getting sorted so a lot to do. The polytunnel was part of the protection for the veg garden so just as well I am giving it up as the deer will be in immediately.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Early start today, my good lady called at four thirty am, she needed me to come down and help her with the commode, then neither of us could go back to sleep. I've topped up the tablet boxes this morning and I have an X-Ray late this afternoon, finally I'm getting my back looked at.

 

[numbnuts]