When watering your photinia shrub, use a watering can to apply water directly to the soil. Do not allow any water to get on the leaves, flowers, berries, or stems.  Wet leaves are more likely to become infected with leaf spot or other fungal diseases. Photinia do best when watered regularly, but established shrubs can tolerate mild drought. As a general rule, make sure that each photinia plant receives at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) of water on a weekly basis. Provide more or less water as needed depending on the health of your plant. Yellowing leaves usually indicate an over-watered plant. Wilted leaves can indicate an under-watered plant. Apply a balanced fertilizer in the spring to encourage new growth.  A “balanced” fertilizer contains equal parts nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Do not fertilize photinia in the summer. Doing so can promote new growth late in the season. New growth that appears later in the season will be weaker against disease and frost. The exact amount of fertilizer needed will vary on the type and brand you choose, so follow the label instructions to determine the proper dosage. Usually, you should apply fertilizer in the early morning or evening after watering the plant. Yearly pruning is vital since good air circulation is required for the long-term health of the plant. Prune once at the beginning of winter and once more at the start of spring.  Avoid pruning the plant during the active growing season. New growth is weaker and more likely to fall victim to leaf spot and other diseases. In the winter, remove any diseased, damaged, or dead wood. Look for crowded areas and remove the weakest and most poorly positioned branches within those areas. Thinning the plant out improves air circulation and reduces the risk of disease. In the spring, do some light pruning after the red growth begins to fade to encourage new growth. Remove the tips of new shoots as they first appear, cutting them just above an outward facing bud. Remove any infected plant material or fallen leaves as soon as you spot them. Do not wait until a winter or spring pruning to do so. Spread approximately 2 inches (5 cm) of organic mulch around the bottom of the photinia plant. Do this once in early to mid spring and once more in late autumn.  Always rake away any old mulch and debris before applying new mulch. Autumn mulch protects the plant against frost and other winter injury. Spring mulch keeps the soil adequately moist and minimizes potential weed problems. Entomosporium leaf spot is the most common problem faced by photinia plants. As soon as you see early signs of leaf spot, you should treat the shrub with an appropriate fungicide.  Entomosporium leaf spot can be identified in it early stages by a splattering of small red spots over the upper and lower surfaces of new leaves. These spots gradually spread and deepen in color as the disease progresses. Choose a fungicide labeled for use against leaf spot. Formulas containing chlorothalonil, propiconazole, or myclobutanil are usually best. Photinia plants are weak against several other diseases, too. These include mildew, leaf spots, and fireblight. Scale insects can also cause problems. Each of these issues should be treated with an appropriate fungicide or pesticide as soon as they are noticed. Apply your chosen fungicide (or pesticide) directly to diseased areas and new growth. Re-apply every 7 to 14 days until the problem disappears. Never apply fungicides and pesticides during hot, dry weather. For best results, apply the chemical in the early morning (before the heat of the afternoon sets in) or in the evening.

Summary: Water the root zone. Feed with a general purpose fertilizer. Prune during dormancy. Protect the plant with mulch. Watch out for fungal diseases and other problems.


Changing the partitions on your USB drive will erase all of the data on it, so make sure everything important is saved to another location. This guide will use Ubuntu, which comes with GParted Partition Editor already installed. If your Linux distribution doesn't have GParted installed, you can install it from gparted.org/ or your distribution's package manager. In Ubuntu, open the Dash and type "gparted," or click "System" → "Administration" → "GParted Partition Editor." You can identify your USB drive by the size. Make sure you don't proceed with your hard drive selected, or you could lose all of your data. Right-click the visual display of the USB drive and select "Unmount" to deactivate it and prepare it for partitioning. This will delete the current partition on the USB drive. This will open the "Create new Partition" window. Use the slider or the text fields to set the size of your first partition. Make sure to leave enough space for additional partitions. The partition labels will be the easiest way to differentiate between your partitions. If you intend to use the drive with just Linux, select "ext2." If you want to boot Windows from the first partition select "ntfs" (this will only work on the first partition on the drive). To use the partition for general storage between different computers, select "fat32" or "exfat." This will create the new partition from the unallocated space. You can continue to create new partitions from the unallocated space that remains after creating the other partitions. Click "Apply" to confirm. All of your changes will be applied to the USB drive. This may take a little while to complete. You'll be able to access all of the partitions as if they were individual USB drives.

Summary: Back up any important data on the USB drive. Launch GParted Partition Editor. Select your USB drive from the menu in the upper-right corner. Right-click on the display and select "Unmount." Right-click on the display and select "Delete." Right-click on the display again (it will say "Unallocated") and select "New." Set the size of your first partition. Give the partition a label. Set the file system. Click "Add." Repeat the process for additional partitions by right-clicking the remaining unallocated space. Click the green checkmark button in GParted when you're finished configuring. Access your new partitions.


To keep your feet clean and make the nail pliable, you will need to soak your affected foot in warm water. You may want to soak both feet to make this process a bit more relaxing. Soak your feet four to five times per day for 10 to 15 minutes each time. You can add two tablespoons of Epsom salts to the foot bath or just use plain water. Tea tree oil may help to fight off infections.After each time that you soak your feet, put a drop or two of tea tree oil on the affected nail. The tea tree oil may help to prevent infection and keep the nail a bit softer. After the tea tree oil soaks in, you can also put a dab of Vicks VapoRub to the sore area of your nail. The menthol and camphor may help to reduce the pain and will also keep your nail soft for the next part of the treatment. Keep the menthol/camphor on for 12 to 24 hours using a bandage or a small piece of gauze. The following day soak your feet for about 20 minutes. Then, take a small piece of cotton (gauze or cotton ball) and roll it between your fingers so that it forms a cotton “tube” that is about ½ inch long. Tape one end of the cotton tube to the top of your toe. Then, gently lift the corner of the ingrown nail up a little bit with one hand.  With the other hand, work the free end of the cotton tube under the corner of the nail and out the other side so that the cotton is between the skin and the nail. This might be a little painful or strange at first, but it is necessary to lift the nail away from the skin to prevent it from growing deeper into the skin. Keep the cotton in place and replace it every day after soaking your foot.  You will need to repeat this process for two weeks or until the toenail grows out a bit, but you should notice some improvement after a few days. If you do not notice any improvement, then call your doctor.
Summary: Soak your feet. Put a drop or two of tea tree oil on the nail. Apply Vicks VapoRub to ease pain. Use cotton to lift the toenail. Repeat this process for up to two weeks.