Yesterday (or possibly Saturday evening), I severely cut back the plant. On any plant that had even a tiny little leaf start (or hint of green), I cut off all large leaves. This morning it seems a bit more perky. The remaining leaves are still drooping but not hanging on the side of the pot, it appears that they are doing a bit more towards holding themselves up. So maybe it is on the road to recovery.... we'll see! :D ~ I haven't done anything with the other house plants, got enough school work done yesterday that I got the yard mowed, my most faded zinnia bed pulled up & a bit of amendment done to the bed in preparation for either fall planting or next spring. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to put my winter annuals in containers or in the ground. Depending on how much we are affected by tropical storm Isaac and how long I'm housebound, I may be able to get in, around my school work, a couple more repots on some of the house plants.

ljes.....the kitty litter will not hurt or help the plants..it is just used as an alernative to gravel because it does not float in water. The plant will grow in kitty litter and gravel, but the will flourish more with some soil around the roots. When I re-pot my plants, I just put them in the new pot with everything from their old pot and if needed I add some clay/sand/soil mixture...then I put about 1/2 inch to 1 inch layer of gravel..to keep the dirt from floating out into the water. This works great if your pots have no holes....not so good if they have holes...the dirt and clay and sand will come out...even with the mesh pots and baskets...the water will get cloudy. Seems like you have the right size pots. Get some PondTabs and put them right next to the roots of the plants when repotting. The tote will be fine for the lilies...just put it sun light, lilies like lots of sun. For the other 3 plants...if you pots have holes just set the pots in about 1 inch of water...this will work temporarily. If the pots do not have holes, just fill the pots with water every day until you get the pond setup. As long as the roots have consatant water they will be fine. Amanda

sd2102, Repotting would be a good idea. Get it into a pot that has 1 1/2"- 2" room from edge of pot and caudex of plant. A terra cotta pot is fine. Use " Al's Gritty Mix " recipe on this site. May need to adjust materials if not able to find the exact ones listed. Cleaning off the old soils carefully and checking for any dead tissue before planting up. Check out Loveplants2 (Laura's) post, I believe on the 3rd page called, "Just a few Pics of Barerooting ... to containers" She has some wonderful photo's and will give you an idea as to what healthy roots and caudex will look like if you are not sure of what to expect. Leave for 4 days after potting before watering and keep in a low lighted area. It may drop some leaves, but they will regrow. I hope this helps, Rick

Hi Al, I’ve finally had the opportunity to reply with an update and wanted to thank you again for taking the time to share your knowledge and help explain the process and reasoning behind choosing a particular growing medium. I am always fascinated by the science of things and am looking forward to my ficus lyrata breathing easier. July 31 was repot day. I gathered all of my 1.1.1 gritty mix supplies, screened & rinsed the turface mvp & manna-pro poultry grit, & proceeded to make a huge mess trying to coax the zoo med repti-bark into smaller pieces using a 3-cup ninja food processor - - neither a quick nor easy endeavor. Some pieces did get smaller but not enough to justify the amount of dust that landed all over my kitchen, so the size of my bark is what it is. I want to stress that a dust mask is imperative for anyone attempting this, especially indoors, and also to note that I did not see any discernible difference in bark size between the larger (24 qt) & smaller (4 qt) bags (see picts below) Next I bare rooted what I thought was 1 plant and discovered that I have 2 separate plants - - and I did wind up doing some minimal root pruning after rinsing off all the existing soil. After drilling additional drainage holes all the way through the bottom of the attached saucer, I repotted both plants back into the same original glazed pot as I did not have the opportunity to get an all clay pot, nor did I have a 2nd pot available to repot separately so they will continue to be bosom buddies, at least until next year. In the hopes of lessening the weight of the pot and more importantly, the perched water table, I placed 4 small empty plastic water bottles at the bottom of the pot and added a cotton string wick through the main center drainage hole to help keep a check on moisture levels. One other thing to note is when I originally posted on July 25, there was no visible growth activity - the brown pod (for lack of a better word) felt dry, crispy & empty, but to my surprise, right after the repot, I noticed that there was in deed some growth activity taking place. I only hope I did not jeopardize the emergence of new baby leaves with this root running & repot! As luck would have it, I have to go out of town for 2 weeks and need to leave explicit instructions for my boyfriend who will be caring for my plants while I am away so I do have a few questions: ~ How long should I keep the plant in the shade or is it ok to keep it in bright light but with NO direct sun? Right now it is behind a UV solar blind and sheer linen curtain which creates a shady environment. ~ When can I introduce it back into some direct sunlight? ~ Should I water everyday until the roots acclimate & re-establish themselves in the gritty mix? What is the best watering schedule for now? ~ When would I start adding foliage pro 9-3-6 to the mix & should it be the production or maintenance amount? Many thanks to Al and all the other forum members for all the advice. I will update once I am back from my trip with any changes - - hopefully they are all positive ones. **having trouble positing picts so will try to add in separate post