Good morning everyone. Hope you are warm wherever you are. Thank you both for your kind words. Kudzuqueen ~ We found this stuff dumped a few years ago. I don't think you could buy this anywhere. It seems to be some sort of telecom cable. Purplemoon ~ I can't wait to see what you pot up. I'm sure your bush will be lovely. I want to see pictures of the new creations done with blue bottles. Have a great day ~ FlowerLady

Kirk, Yes there is a product called MOSQUITO DUNKS. They float around in bird baths and water features and do not hurt birds. They keep larva from hatching or something like that. (?????) I could cut one up and put a bit in each bottle if the sun does not evaporate the water (while it is evaporating the Spirits dont cha know). James, No the bottles are unfortunatly not old. Ebay had some red bottles that were listed around $30. which is too rich for my Charlie Brown Tree. My house trim color is a brick red. So red bottles plus amber bottles equals brick red when you look at them together. That is all of the math I know and that made me dizzy. (You see who your dealing with now.) I live life on the happy side of the brain. flowerlady- If I could do it over again I would have asked for more of those branches. They make great indoor decor like curtain hangers, outdoor trelises, twinkle lite trees for entertaining, ect. The secret is in the staining and poly treatment. They become richer. Susie

Well, since you've summoned the mad... I'm here. Not musin', just pondering as usual. Just took another dose of medicine, I've been sick all week with a double ear infection, sinus infection, and bronchitis, and I'm getting sick of taking meds now. Had to work, no one else to do the job, and working in the heat (no AC) makes for bone weary, butt dragging days. I've had the NE Nat'l Guard, PA Nat'l Guard and the Virgin Islands Nat'l Guard to contend with. All great groups, they kept me busy but laughing. Had a group of Navy Sailors, too. Not easy trying to turn Sailors into Soldiers, but I love them like they were my own. Today ended a bit odd. A friend of mine, who is currently a Deputy Brigade Commander, has been torn the past month between taking an assignment in FL that was offered to him or retiring. He really doesn't want to leave here, but he doesn't really want to retire either. Around 2 pm he called me and asked me if I had checked my email lately, something had happened that I needed to be aware of. I automatically thought he had ticked off someone I was working a project with and I was ready to wring his neck. Off I go to scan my emails, blood pressure steadily rising, find his email, read the first sentence..."read through the string of traffic below and take a moment to let it sink in before you call me." Second sentence..."Not sure what this means, not sure it's a good thing, or bad thing." Third sentence..."Is this the silver bullet to Colonel? Probably..." That's all it took, I started speed reading through all the emails at such a rate it would have put Evelyn Wood to shame. Seems he was nominated for a very high visibility Battalion Commander slot! I'm so thrilled for him and hope he's selected. I was so excited that I swear every 15 minutes I stopped and said a silent prayer for him. He could use all the positive thoughts he can get, so please keep him in mind. If that wasn't enough to get my adrenaline flowing, one of my employees stopped by around 6 pm and apologized profusely for forgetting to give me a message. The message came from my counterpart in the Special Forces world and simply said "I'm retiring". I immediately knew what that meant, and it wasn't "light the tiki torches and pull out that bottle of Puerto Rican rum you've been saving". It means he wants me to take his job. Even though we're "counterparts", his job is a coveted dream job in the headquarters, higher paying than mine, better hours, less physical work. On the down side it means jumping the fence to a different command and not interfacing with the soldiers, which I absolutely love. So, now I'm torn. This is the third time I've been offered a job in that command and I have a feeling if I turn it down, there won't be another offer. Call me mad but I've decided I'll wait and see if my friend gets his position before I make my decision. If he gets his, I'll take it as a sign that it's time to change and take this position. If he doesn't, I'll take it as a sign that I should stay where I am and decline. See what you get when you summon the mad....

This got really long way too fast, and I did not even get to tell about my new Cycnoches chlorchilon! Oops! I did! It has just got a nubbins of a spike, and I think my rather confused Rhynchostylis gigantea is putting up a spike too. Very exciting times here in the north! I did a little bit more reading too on line and much of the text espousing the wonders of H2O2 is from the hydroponic and aeroponic growers. I have given this some additional thought and have hit upon a theory of sorts. And more questions. A funny side note, many of the indoor growers that are using some very hi-tech and sophisticated systems and nutrient solutions are not growing Orchids, or fruits or veggies for consumption, but in fact are growing vegetable matter for combustion. It strikes me as funny that in my youth the persons most likely to indulge in this recreation were that last ones you might suspect as having the mental horsepower to put together these kinds of growing systems. Do not even ask about the plant genetics discussed in some forums, and one site had what looked to be a doctoral dissertation on the molecular biology of a very particular part of the plant, more specifically on the plants production of the compound that makes this plant an item of interest in the first place. I was fascinated and humbled, but will continue to grow orchids. As a final humorous note, several of my sons friends (college age) have seen my grow lights and set up and suggested that the orchids are just a cover for growing this particular "other" indoor crop. I digress. Howard, the resources I saw suggest using only the 35% food grade H2O2, and diluting it to around 1%, and then using this 1% solution anywhere from 1 to several tsp per gallon of water. A ratio of 1 part 35% H2O2 to 11 parts water is alleged to yield about a 1% solution, but I have not checked the math on that. The reason for using the 35% food grade is that the typical 3% stuff from the market of pharmacy has several compounds added as stabilizers to prevent degradation of the H2O2 during storage that may theoretically reduce the availability of the H2O2 and may be outright bad for the plants. Modest quantities of food grade H2O2 are cheap, but make no mistake undiluted 35% H2O2 is a liquid to be treated with reverence. Since this amount of a 1% solution added to a gallon of water makes a pretty thin soup it is not hard to see how undiluted 3% might be very hard (or deadly) on plant roots. I am betting the cuticle on leaves offers some margin of safety when 3% or less is applied to a crown or diseased plant tissue topside. My speculation(s): The growing conditions the roots of hydroponically grown plants are in very different conditions than plants in soil, bark or other media. Semi hydro as it is often called is not really the same situation either as I see it. The hydro people are also using higher concentrations of H2O2 as washes to keep tanks hygienic, and some sites suggested that having low concentrations in the re-circulating solution might prolong its safe use by reducing the rate of growth of plant pathogens. The roots of plants grown in soil or soil-less media have the potential for exposure to both helpful and harmful microorganisms. One bit of sand in the Vaseline for me is that H2O2 is as noted previously just a dumb bomb, killing in general as opposed to killing only the harmful organisms. In this light it could be helping on one hand but disturbing the balance of important microflora in the immediate root environment. So, if the benefit is in cleaning up the bad stuff (plant pathogens = bad stuff) at the root, it may give not a net gain if it is also killing off the good stuff too. Now bear with me here, I am not being argumentative, that would be my 16 year old daughter, I am just thinking out loud and asking some questions. The secondary hypothesis is that the release of oxygen near the root is itself helpful to the plant directly. What I am wondering is how the oxygen near the root is helpful to the plant? Roots are not primarily respiratory organs in most plants. Roots are important for absorption and transport of water and micronutrients, anchoring of the stem to the substrate, in some cases the storage of "food", and in more specialized cases active energy production through photosynthesis. We are for the time ignoring the "Ghost" orchid. In a non-photosynthetic root one could wonder what need it might have for oxygen at all. Why then do we consider oxygen to be good to have around the roots? Also the role oxygen plays in plant physiology and "respiration" is quite different than how we think of oxygen and our breathing. In truth on a quantum level it could be argued that there is little difference in its function, but you would really be splitting hairs there. Plants both use oxygen and generate it as a byproduct. We think of them as "making" oxygen because at the end of the day the plant has made more oxygen than they have used while living. Food for thought is all, just food for thought. PS: Urea has a little nitrogen in it too, though it may not be the most available form to the plants.