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Fine webbing, stippled leaves, and specks that move. Here is how to confirm spider mites (Tetranychus urticae), why they explode in dry heated air, and which treatments actually have evidence behind them.

Mira Castellanos

9 min read

Getting My Balcony Pots Through a Pune Winter Without Losing the Tender Ones

Garden Care

Beginner

Getting My Balcony Pots Through a Pune Winter Without Losing the Tender Ones

I used to think Pune didn't really have a winter worth planning for, we don't get frost, so what's the risk? My jasmine and a batch of young chilli seedlings taught me otherwise one January, going patchy and dropping leaves overnight after a cold snap I hadn't prepared for. Here's what I actually do now from December through February: which of my forty-odd pots need help, what I cover them with, and how I tell cold stress from something else going wrong.

Does Letting Tap Water Sit 24 Hours Actually Remove Chlorine and Fluoride?

This site tells you to let tap water sit out overnight in at least nine different guides, as one fix for both chlorine and fluoride sensitivity. The two chemicals do not behave the same way, and in many places the water is not even chlorinated anymore, it is chloraminated, which does not respond to standing the way chlorine does.

Mira Castellanos

6 min read