Hi Nancey, A pigeon or some paired bird actually layed two eggs on an empty small windowbox of mine sitting on my balcony railing (after several attempts of going after my balcony light box) one year when I didn't garden. Unfortunately, they either needed to improve on their nesting site selection or sit on the eggs better, I found the eggs squashed and broken one day not soon after. A year ago before I planted my strawberries, I was planning and thinking about buying nets to protect the strawberries because of the incidence, what I read, and the high volume of bird and squirrel activities in the trees and on the ground nearby. Good thing I didn't buy the protective nets because neither the birds or the squirrels seem too interested about the flowers and strawberries on my railing since I started gardening. At most, the squirrels might look up to see if I would throw them some nuts. Hence, I would worry about the birds when the rubber meets the road. Since aphids don't seem to be attracted to the strawberry plants with equal opportunity (at least I don't find them parking on my strawberries), aphid infestation is another issue you probably won't need to worry about. How easy was that?! Life without problems and problems solved. Growing strawberries in containers is fairly carefree if you planned ahead and know your strawberries well. The most labor and the maintenance I do after the first year is inspect, water/fertilize, and remove dead leaves/blossoms, and clean up. There are some problems to avoid or manage in the first year and prior to purchase, however. Fruit rot, botrytis fungal infections, red stele, and verticillium wilt are more common with strawberries. In this sense and for your invested dollars and labor, yes, you would want to grow disease resistant varieties common for your growing area. If you buy strawberry plants locally (I bought mine at the HD), most of these diseases will not likely happen with the right variety and purchase. Therefore, you are left with contending with only fruit and root rot. Root rot can be easily managed since you'll be growing soilless in containers and mixing your own slightly acidic (pH 6.2), rich, moisture retentive but well-drained potting mix (with added perlite). Depending on your growing conditions and light exposure, a simple good growing medium for strawberries would be some variations consist of two main ingredients: perlite and pine bark fines (or sub w/ potting mix). If you use perlite with potting mix, use new potting mix only (sterile). Do not reuse old potting mix when planting strawberries to avoid verticillium wilt. For my east-facing balcony (morning sun only) in Dallas Texas climate, for example, I believe my mix for strawberries was something like 4:6 (P:PMx) with some slow release fertilizer as directed. It's probably not realistic to completely eliminate fruit rot even with the best of care, but between following some well-researched cultivation guidelines for the cultivar available in your area and some regular upkeep, a home gardener should get sufficient yield to cover the few losses not to mention the pleasure of seeing the happiest strawberry leaves and the most perfectly formed glistening red sweet-smelling strawberries on the block. Okay... back to business. Other common pests I have read and seen on my Sequoia (June-Bearing), such as spider mites and slugs and snails can be easily removed by mechanical means without chemicals: hands and water (moderate upward pressurized water spray as suggested previously). Plant the strawberries crown slightly high (too high-roots dry out; too low-roots rot). The soil should be level with the midpoint of the crown. Strawberries in general are sensitive to salts (leave scorching), so be watchful and light-handed when using any homemade composts or organic fertilizers. In milder climates like yours and mine, you best plant strawberries in September or in the fall (instead in the spring) to get to harvest berries the earliest and should be able to overwinter strawberries slightly protected or unprotected (I didn't with mine last winter), but check the horticulture factsheet specific for your variety. For many varieties, you may need to remove the flowers (duration different for differnt varieties) and root the runners (daughters) in another container (or limit 3 plants per 12" pot - shallow) during the first year to develop a stronge mother plant for the next 2-4 years. Other than that, I can't really give you too many horticulture tips for strawberries because the relevant care procedures are as diverse as the species for each of the three (or four) classifications of strawberries as well as locally marketed variety. You'll be best served researching a bit on the complete care procedures for your local cultivar(s).

No idea either on how to answer if would effect them for better or worse but another consideration is. It's not so much the amount of lighting time your cacti get right now it's also the intensity behind the light. I tend to think it would be very difficult to get ideal " wake up cacti "lighting in a small sized room this time of the year. I would think the bulb assisted lighting in a small room for extended amount of time may not have an effect if cati are already resting. Using your mentioned room hi to low temp as a reference the same principals may also be a factor for heat changes when considering it gets much hotter than 70 degrees in seasonal growing of cacti and knowing most cacti can easily tolerate very hi to low temp changes that can sometimes equal more than 20 degrees in a 24 hour time does propose a tougher question for any realistic answer If cati where people I would also agree that we cant adjust any internal clock on any one or any plant by understanding some people can sleep as long as needed if tired enough regardless of the amount of dark or light or time of day people can also remain awake if wanting to regardless if dark or light. Again as cacti aren't people I do know if we as people when awake dont provide a cati enough bright and direct sun light with reasonable heat during it's awake (or growing) times we can introduce other growing problems that MIGHT be resolved if growing problems where to develop. On a later note as none of us know what kind of cacti your asking about I add Thank-You for adding edit features GW This post was edited by mrlike2u on Fri, Dec 7, 12 at 0:01

Barbara, I went out and harvested what I could today, and covered the beans and cukes, hoping to keep them producing at least one more week because they have lots of little beans and little cukes. I don't know what will happen here....might have frost or might not. We're in the 'iffy' zone. We had a high of 71 today and clear, sunny skies with light wind. The wind has pretty much stopped, the sky is still clear and that 71 degrees is a distant memory--it is now 52 degrees and falling fast. I'll be surprised if we don't go at least to 38 here. In a 'normal' year (if there is such a thing) we'll average one almost-freezing night a week from mid-Oct through mid-Nov, when the first hard freeze generally arrives. So far, we're right on track....one almost-freezing night last week, and now one due to arrive tonight. However, our daytime highs (until today) have been averaging 10-15 degrees below normal, so I've been expecting that early frost. Even if we have a hard freeze and lose everything, I don't normally clean out my garden until we're consistently having very cold nights and days......there's too many snakes slithering around as long as the days are marginally warm. Usually, we're pretty much snake-free by December and I can clean out the garden to my heart's content without running into a snake. Dawn

Paula, I'm glad you got them all picked. I'm betting you have a frost this morning too. It was so cold by the time I went to bed last night that I wondered if I'd wake up to an unexpected frost here this morning and you can't go much further south than I am and still be in OK. So far, it isn't frosty out there, but we're at 42 degrees and they said 44....and it's over an hour until sunrise so we could drop another degree or two just before the sun comes up.....brrrr! I do think the high humidity just makes it worst for frost, doesn't it? If this were a dry, droughty year there might not be enough moisture in the air to form frost, but it certainly is not dry or droughty. Our humidity right here right now is 97%. Not only is it cozy houseshoe time, but flannel PJ time and also time to drag out the jackets and fleece-lined boots. I am SO not ready for cold weather, but we're going to have it anyway. Those deer hunters and their "deer camps" and cold weather! I am glad someone is enjoying the 'cool' weather. LOL George, Oh no! I tried to post warnings last night as soon as I saw them, but it was already late and dark and probably not as useful as it would have been....I guess we should have been watching the weather earlier in the day. I think we all still were reeling from the heavy rain and weren't real focused on "frost". Whatever plants managed to survive (and I hope most if not all did survive) Friday night are still in trouble for Sat. night, so watch your forecast closely. When I looked at the Tulsa forecast for tonight, it said "35 degrees" and that is likely to be a problem for your plants. They've got a Freeze Warning for the OK panhandle and adjacent parts of TX and KS, and a Freeze Watch for several counties in NW OK. I think Saturday night is going to be a bad night for everyone in zone 6 in OK and the freezing conditions may dip down into parts of zone 7. It is WAY too early for this. Keep us posted. Maybe y'all had just enough light wind to protect everything, or maybe it is "just a touch" of frost and not a hard killing frost. The forecast for those of you in northern OK has me so spooked I may pick all my tomatoes and peppers and green beans and cukes today....just in case. Remember, George, you and I both have experienced the shock of having a 50-degree forecast low turn into the lower 30s and dead plants. Dawn