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marinewifenc

Seriously?

Marinewifenc
10 years ago

I'm sure yall remember me from last spring making my hosta garden to feel closer to my mom because she got diagnosed with cancer, and she passed away in january of this year. Well my sewer pipe burst today and yeah.....lets just say the one thing i was looking forward to this spring is destroyed. All of it. Gone. Just like that. There's maybe 5 hostas that aren't in a flood of sh*t and aren't in an area that needs to be dug, but they got sprayed with sewage still, is that going to ruin them too? I'm literally in tears.

Comments (16)

  • Babka NorCal 9b
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    It probably depends on how concentrated it is and how long it stays there. A heavy dose of "fertilizer" can often be washed away. Perhaps you might try flooding thee area with clean water to dilute what is there. That would give you something to try rather than giving up.

    -Babka

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    ya know...

    shti storm aside ... they can survive on the driveway ...

    i have high hopes.. that you will be finding them all summer.. poking out of here and there ...

    were you the one that bought some bargain bounty of hosta ... a hundred for 10 bucks or something... i wonder who that was ...

    if the diggings not yet done.. and the ground is thawed.. just dig them out and put them in the shade somewhere.. oh.. that would mean you would be standing in the middle of it ... hmmm.. a quandary .... i dont know what i would do ... well.. complain ... there is a b word for that ....

    ken

  • User
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Go to WalMart, buy a pair of white shrimper boots, use them (and some good gloves) taped on and dig em out. Throw your clothes away before you go back indoors, and streak for the shower quickly. This sort of thing is why I highly recommend an outdoor shower near the back door. My current one has hot water because I put splitter hoses on the washer/dryer hookups on the other side of the wall. Simple, cheap, functional. Not so ornamental maybe.

    Sorry about this raining on your springtime Easter visions, but it too shall pass. Just keep yourself germ free as much as possible. All the best, little lady.

  • bkay2000
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ken, that was Marinewife who bought all those classic hosta for a small price. I think she got a really good deal on them. It was a great solution since she is in a rental.

    Marinewife,I think I would get some boots and try to rescue some of them. They will be easy to find in about a month or less. Most will probably survive if they aren't buried too deep by the "fertilizer".

    Get you some nursery pots. All the nurseries have them left over, and they are always on the curb in new developments. Get you some potting soil (not moisture control) add some pine bark mulch and pot them up until you get everything straightened up. They will do fine. Just water them regularly.

    bk

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Go to WalMart, buy a pair of white shrimper boots

    ==>>> is there something special about the white ones???

    ken

  • bkay2000
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Mocc, my Walmart does not carry shrimper boots. We're in Dallas! There are no shrimpers around here. They may not have those boots in NC either. My Wally world only has green galoshes, which will work just fine.

    bk

  • Tim
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    They'll probably be fine. Sewage doesn't hurt plants. It's not like they got submerged in 1,000 gallons of Roundup. Trees grow their roots into leaky sewage pipes and thrive, so I'm sure your hostas will recover as long as they haven't been washed out of their beds.

  • Marinewifenc
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The digging isn't done yet. When I posted this our landlord had said they would "try" to find a plumber, and then the plumber who called said two days before they could even come, that was with a currently still leaking pipe/pump I don't understand plumbing but there is something wrong with the sump pump as well as the pipe that burst. Plumber did come today after getting to actually talk to them, but has to come back to dig.

    It's puddled which is what upsets me. That and finding out that the reason our lawn has been wet (wet up to 40 feet from the actual pipe) is because it's been "leaking", prior to this for a while. It was sprayig landry water on there as well. Which means they got some bleach, but they got hit with bleach during a pressure wash of the house, and AT LEAST the one good thing about the laundry water that has been soaking our yard, I've been using Rockin Green for a while since i ran out of Gain and had 3 bags of it, so it's pretty natural stuff.

    I guess I can say Thank God I don't own the house. Talked to my dad and do remember this happening back home when i was a kid, although i don't understand plumbing but described to him what went on, and it flooded our basement back home, and cost a lot to dig up the yard and fix everything, something around $10,000, but they went a good 25 feet deep there, and im not sure they have to go that deep here. totally different type house, back home was a backsplit on a big hill, house with basement, here no basement, flat land, nothing backing up, just shooting everywhere so it seems close to the surface. Still, at least i don't own the place.

    and at least the 1 hosta she bought me when we moved here, was divided to 3 last year, so I have one of them in a pot.

    Ground is totally thawed, and i had pips on some hostas above. The area gets almost no sunlight, 2 hours in the early morning, it's always been damp, so this amount of flooding will take a while to dry out, unless they can do something, or if there is a way to help it dry faster. The area around it that got the worst of it had the most of my hostas.

    Well, people do say the grass is always greener over the septic tank. I'm on sewer and im the only one on my street on sewer, and i can see the green grass over everyones septic, so maybe it will make my sh*tty soil better. I'm a germaphobe so diggin in there probably won't happen, but when they come to dig maybe they can toss the top foot or so of earth and I can get my husband to take those hostas and toss them on the driveway to dry out. They are currently in like a "pond" of sewage.

    One thing that gets me the most mad is that we've metioned the problem for months to the landlord (relator acting on behalf of the landlord), as well as the sewer detector thing mounted inside the house had it's warning light on and I told them twice over two months and no one came out. I'd honestly love to get the landlords phone number and tell them this, because I feel like the whole thing was completely avoidable if they just came and checked it out when asked.

  • Marinewifenc
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ken- I did buy the 100 for 100 from gilberthwild, which actually got pretty nice size and all but like 3 grew.

    What can i throw that would absorb liquid, would rice do it? Is that weird? alfalfa pellets? peat? the alfalfa could at least act as a fertilizer at the same time, but not sure if it would over fertilize if it's high in...whatever the sewage is high in....

    how long can they sit submerged? the hostas?
    I also had 4 japanese painted ferns i there, and hellbores however you spell that. The ferns are in the worst spot of all so i don't have much hope at all for them.

    geeze move over 20ft and it woulda hit elephant ears and cannas, which would have no problem sitting in this much water.

  • User
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ahhh, BK, "changes in attitudes, changes in latitudes," we used to call the white shrimper boots "Cameron Nikes"....for Cameron Louisiana. Green thingies work too. :)

  • almosthooked zone5
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Not sure if you mean it is under water or just saturated soil? Could it have a trench made to drain this area or a hole dig and sump pump out the liquid to drain it? Moving sounds good / Sounds like a real nightmare and sorry for you that this is happening

  • Tim
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What a mess! I'm sorry this is happening to you but also glad it isn't me. Going back to the hostas... I wouldn't try to dig them up in order to dry them out. Just leave them be. I really do think they will be fine. However, do see if the clean-up crew would use a pump to suck your "sewage pond" back into the sewer, so all of that bacteria isn't in the open air. Yuck!

  • Marinewifenc
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    They did have to pump it out, and they do have to dig but said they will try to put things back plant wise.

    and yes they were submerged, like a pond, it was horrifying to see.

    Honestly we want to move but we really like having no neighbors, well, we have 1 neighbor. we love our location and overall like the house, i dislike either our landlord or the realtor acting on behalf of them. I know the actual homeowner lives out of state. Our driveway is caving because of this, and it has been caving prior to us moving in, but with it soaking the lawn there is a significant difference in the 1inch drop at the crack on the driveway and now 4 inches at the worst part. I actually really love this house, i love the inside of it, i love the yard, i absolutely love the big fenced backyard for the dogs, i love the privacy. I just hate them not fixing things that should be fixed, and I'm not a big complainer, I only really report things that are a problem that is going to cause a bigger problem (like the caving driveway needs the ditch built back up), which i offered to do, if they paid supplies only, but nope.

    I am really really glad we did not buy this house, especially since the housing market is super low here right now and I have looked and seen some beautiful houses. If we were to move id want to buy, but the worst part is, we know we are leaving in 2-3 years.

    We are also under a freeze warning now, so im glad they got that siht pumped out. I'm also glad my hostas aren't up yet, only a couple are popping up. Rained all day today though, we've been getting a lot of rain, which isn't going to help that area dry out, but that side doesn't usually "flood" so much as it just never dries because it's shaded, and facing whichever direction gets the least amount of sun. (house gets the mildew crap on that side only we have to pressure wash)

    on the very bright side, i was looking last year at building a path over there, with nice stones and all this, and putting a nice seating area, and im so so so so glad i didn't.

  • MadPlanter1 zone 5
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh, man, freezing on top of wet ground? Hope it's just a small cold snap. Frozen ground and wet hostas are a terrible combination. At least the rain will help dilute your "fertilizer", and hostas are heavy feeders. At least some should pull through, especially since you have the older, tougher cultivars.

    I feel sorry for the homeowners; bet they never got the messages about problems and are now facing a huge bill. We had military friends renting through a realty company, and they had to go visit every six months just to keep on top of things. All the RC did was collect money.

  • Tim
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I bet moving is sounding better and better every day. When the clean up crew digs up your hostas, divide them and put them into pots. Then when you move you can take 'em with you.
    And when you move, make sure the house you purchase or rent has good sewer pipes. ;-)

  • Marinewifenc
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thankfully when they say freeze here they mostly just mean it might hit the freezing point, i don't know if it did or not, but our ground has never frozen before, i figure if they can survive canada they can survive this, especially since our weather has been cooler than usual so i am expecting them to pop up later, even my potted one isn't up and it has stayed here for 3 years now, or 4, last year it was late too but the year before that it was up with most leaves out by now.

    and yep, in military towns most people tend to not take care of the houses they rent, so when we have our inspections they mostly just look to see that we didn't punch holes in the walls, because apparently that is common. They took a basic walk around of the rooms, like they were just looking for damage. Showed no concern over any of the actual problems, last year with the grass and mole damage, the driveway, the plumbing. The hot water heater went out, was just a temperature thing, but it was fixed, and then broke again 2 months later, and the 2nd guy who came said it wasn't done right by whoever did it the first time. It's stuff like that that if i were a homeowner i would want to know.

    Guess I can't expect much, one of the realtors told us that the holes (from hanging pictures), to just fill them in with toothpaste. I mean seriously, it's the same amount of work and cost for me to do it properly.

    whoever had the house before us destroyed the carpet, red stains in every room, whatever they were the realtor told us the carpet is already considered 0 value because they had 5 cleaning companies come in and try to fix it, and said all stains are permanant and the landlord knows it has to be replaced. I used the iron/wet cloth trick and got them all out (well only the ones we weren't covering with furniture). but they definitely weren't permanent.

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