zlodnick

cooked,

Very good website, thanks for that.

Glad you're having success with the clay mixture, but Im sure that was causing my plants roots to rot. The plants above ground looked great, but when I would repot them, there were often rotted roots.

I have two large plants that I just planted in the ground in the garden. Its been about 10 years, I havent done a thing to them, no water, no fert., they havent grown a bit, but they always have lots of flowers!

Anyway, its a fun hobby and keeps me out of trouble. Dont know how anyone can say they are bored in Thailand.

Ive been raising Chuan chom (desert rose aka, adenium) for years. The flowers are beautiful and what I like best is that no two plants are alike.

I started out knowing nothing about them, and getting information from other growers is like pulling teeth. They really dont want to share thier expertise.

Anyway, slow but sure, I have been able to grow them from seed to beautiful, mature plants. I am not at all an expert, but Im very satisfied with what I have.

The last piece of the puzzle for me was the right soil. I knew they needed well drained soil, but I think "soil" might be the wrong word to use because the mixture I use has very little "dirt" or "soil".

The roots of the chuan chom cant handle any prolonged exposure to water or they will rot. I was using a mixture with too much dirt and much of the soil here in Thailand has clay in it and clay holds water, not good.

The mixture that I use now, and have been having great success with, is as follows. I start with about 25% raw dirt. I dig it up from the garden or get it from a pile I have delivered.( just dirt dug from the ricefields, 200 baht a truckload.). I make sure there is no clay in it. Some places the soil is all clay.

The rest, I dont really have a formula, I just go by what looks good. I add some potting soil. The black stuff that comes in bags, about 15 baht a bag. Then some sand, the kind for making concrete. Chopped up coconut husks and rice hulls. I pour it back and forth between two buckets to mix it well and thats it.

I repot them about every two years. First I remove the plant from the pot, and wash off all the soil. Then I hang the plant in the shed away from the sun for about a week. To repot them, I first put about 1 1/2 inches of chopped coconut hulls in the bottom of the pot. Then, I add some soil mixture and the plant, so that the plant will be sticking up about 2 inches higher than it was in the old pot.

Then I water it really well. I pick the pot up a couple inches and drop it to the ground a few times to settle the soil. I like to round the soil up above the top of the pot. (just my preference).

I have been watering my plants once a week. I really soak them, but after a couple of days, they are as dry as a bone. This seems to do the trick. They are loaded with flowers and look very healthy.

I hope this helps someone out, so they wont have to go through years of trial and error like I did.

Good luck, Z

Chubby,

Im the op and thanks for the post.

My reason for starting the thread, was to see if my situation was, mild, normal, or ready to do something about it. As I said, during the day, its not bad. At night its just a neusance to get up every hour. As it is, I can live with it.

I will be seeing a Dr.so I will be informed and ready, should the time come that I can not live with it.

One question I have for the Dr. is about some medications. As you mentioned, some lower the blood pressure. I have low blood pressure so those meds could be a problem.

Im 66 and was first diagnosed with an enlarged prostate 15 years ago. That scared the daylights out of me because all the men in my family have had prostate cancer. The good part is, they all lived well into thier 90's and I dont believe anyone ever had any surgery.

It is up to each of us to decide what is best for ourselves. For me, the quality of my life, is much more important than the length.

Thanks for all the replys. I got my answer, time to see the dr.

Last year, I did have a PSA test during a health check up. 3.5, not bad.

My prostate has gotten to the point where its a real nuisance. During the day its not too bad, but at night, Im up every hour, sometimes more often than that.

It takes a while to get the stream started, then its stop and go, stop and go, and then just drip, drip, drip.

My question is.. for those who have taken medication or had surgical procedures, what was it that made you decide that its was time to do something about it?

I dont know if an enlarged prostate is something that gets progressivley worse, or if this is as bad as it gets?

Thanks Crossey and Soi biker,

That is really helpful.

I want to go down to Bangkok soon just to ride the transport systems, and see the new airport.

I was hoping the BTS, MRT, and airport link, could all be accessed by one ticket, but... what are you gonna do?

I think, one day, I will buy a 1day BTS ticket, and get off at several stops. Im wondering, on another day, what kind of ticket do I buy if I want to get on, wait for the train to make a full circle and then get off at the same station?

Also, as Im just going to take the airport link to look around the airport, is there much to see, whereas Im not going to go beyond the immigration point?

Thanks for the replys. Ive been doing some more research and it doesnt look good. People are not only not able to uninstall avg and zen, but in trying, they have made the problem even worse.

I dont dare to try, so Im wondering if I should just leave it as it is?

Sincerely, Z

I have avg antivirus free and I recently responded to a popup that I thought was a normal upgrade. now my avg free icon has dissapeared and the avg zen icon is there. I have no way to run a scan.

I googled the problem and it seems avg has really scamed people into signing up for zen, just like I have.

Google says it can be fixed by uninstalling avg then zen and then downloading avg free again. The whole process is a bit complicated and some people have said they wernt able to do it. I doubt very much that I could do it, so Im just wondering if I should just leave it as it is?

Google said zen has made some computers run slowly and I have noticed mine is running much slower lately.

Sincerely, Z

Thanks again to all. I just dont get electricity. How about if I just leave it as it is?

Thanks for the reply Steve, but I dont get it.

My switches dont have a ground wire. There are just 2 wires, so there is only 1 way to switch them around?

A few years ago I had a real CU (fusebox) installed to replace the Issan style setup.

The first night after instalation, I noticed all the flouresent tubes in the house were glowing even though switched off.

The electrician came back and to fix the problem, he switched around the wires on each light switch and that did the trick.

About one year ago, I replaced the old kitchen light with a new 2 foot tube with electronic starter. Yesterday morning was the first time I have been in the kitchen in the dark since I replaced the light, and I noticed it was glowing.

I think I replaced the light switch a while back. Maybe I switched around the wires at that time.

If I switch the wires around again, would that stop the glowing or is something else going on?

Ive had a Mitsubishi ac for 12 years and very happy with it. Its completely silent.

I just bought another Mitsubishi and was surprized its quite noisy. After reading this thread, I went out and looked, and the new wall mounted unit has no rubber mounts!

Thai bank accounts are said to be insured up to, 50 million, (correct me if Im wrong)

What exactly does the insurance cover?

AlexRRR

I havent seen the type of screw you mentioned here.

I have used expandable bolts here and they have always worked fine, even with the low quality blocks they make here.

Thanks for the reply.

My house is all concrete, tile, steel. It was cheap to build but not what I call attractive. Ive tried to add as much wood as possible. Furniture,windows, sala, etc.

Everything Ive built out of wood, Ive treated with Chaindrite and never had a bit of rot or a single insect.

I just think wood gives a warmer feeling.

Its a block wall.

Ive seen plenty of those expanding anchors, but none are long enoughfor a 2x4.

Ive seen the ones you mentioned that you can screw in threaded rod, but I didnt know what they were for.

That will do the trick,

Thanks Crossey

I want to put a roof over a patio on one side of my house. I want to build with wood and then metal roofing.

I need to attach a 2x4 to the block wall first. I did this on the other side of the house by just drilling a hole and bolting the 2x4 to the wall. I wasnt concerned about the bolts showing on the inside because it was in a store room. but this new roof will be outside of a bedroom so I dont want to drill allthe way through.

Any ideas?

Im just saying, Ive never had a CR. Ive always submitted a TM30 and got a DL renewal.

I thought a TM30 was a CR.

Yes

Im in Khon Kaen and I went to the police station and said I need a form to get a DL and they gave me a TM30. Thats what I used for my "CR".

It was simple, so I guess Ill try it again this year to renew my DL.

I just saw for the first time on TVF, a TM18 (certificate of residence).

Ive always been told I needed a certificate of residence for a driver license. But when I go to get one, at immigration or the police station, Im always given a TM30. (notification of house master).

Its been almost 6 years since my last DL renewal. Is this TM18 something new? And do I need one, or can I just use another TM30 for a DL renewal?

First of all you need to understand that happiness is an emotion, not a permanant state of conciousness that can be obtained.

happiness comes and goes, as does anger, sadness etc.

If youre always striving for happiness, you will always be disapointed.

Life can be crule. Some of us are dealt a better hand than others.

It helps to compare oneself to those less fortunate than those more fortunate.

I have a True satalite dish and the gold package.

Every time I get a new tv set, I have to take it and the set top box to True to have it programed to work.

Im just wondering if everybody does that or do you have True come to the house or can you program it yourself?

Last time, I got a big flatscreen tv, took it to true and traded in the old set top box for a new HD model. It took thier serviceman about 30 minutes to program the new tv. About 20 min was just to get a fullsize picture.

If it takes a professional that long, I cant imagine doing it myself.

Maybe switching to nitrogen might help?