HOWEVER, when ants find themselves in conflict with us, they become pests, kimmsr. And food or water is not the only reason that ants like to make nuisances of themselves. The original poster lives in fire ant country. These ants are one of the very first arrivals in a newly landscaped property, a freshly tilled field, and in our nice containers. They take advantage of the loosened soil, and even the structure of the plants' roots attracts them. Much to the detriment of the plants, by the way. Even other (native) ant species behave in this manner to a certain degree. chueh, when a mess-o-ants are determined to become pesky, I'll address the situation with an ant bait product so that I can get to the source of the problem: the queen. Are they fire ants or something else?

Well jodik - the germination of the DL seeds demonstrated that your materials and sowing technique had been adequate - and it appears rather probable that there had been somethin' wrong with them damned *g* Hippeastrum seeds... I do not know what! In certain cases of genetical incmpatibilities you will indeed obtain seedpods stuffed with but nonviable seeds. The main example is H.papilio ("the evergreen European clone") x TETs. In fact I received generally over 100 - up to 120 seeds with crippled embryos. However, IF you had told me that your friend had sown another aliquot of them and had received germination, THEN that would be a veritably puzzling question. Soultan, now I must admit that I am somewhat concerned, that you did not perceive my "coco fiber appraisal songs" of the past. I use this substrate exlusively! And, for drainage I use a very thick layer of, usually, Seramis. I found only one other substrate in which hippeastrums do grow still faster: Grit(for aquariums) 1 mm grain size (rather perectly graded -> without "fines") But thhis substrate is very heavy, and the water keeping-abilty is in the range of 10 grams per gram of substrate and it practically suitable but for mechanized (automated) tide/flood watering. OR, what I practised with very good success, watering from above, totally rinsing-through. But this is a cumbersome and bothering splish-splash procedure - and if any first contamination of the seedlings with tarsonemid mites has yet taken place, might rather quickly prove fatal.

Thats true m , Pot them up to a container (16 oz plastic cups work great). You want enough room for the roots to get BIG. Dark colored cups to keep light away from the roots, put them in in a very cool enviornment 50*-55* with your flou lights as close as possible (it won't even hurt if they touch the bulbs). After two weeks move em to a bright window with your lights on them until the seasonal light gets longer and time to harden off. You should have a stocky stemmed, incrediblely fibourous root systemed plant that should thrive outside.

Try using cardboard rolls from paper towels and toilet rolls to make seedling pots. They work great, I just transplanted flower seedlings from them. The cardboard holds up to repeated mistings and does not fall apart. To make; flatten the cardboard cylinder and cut into three sections from the longer roll; in half for the toilet roll. At one end cut thru the flatten roll 3/4" to 1"; open the roll and refold to make another 3/4" cut. You should have four flaps on one end of the open cylinder if you did it right. Fold the flaps down into a box fold and your little cardboard seedling starter pot should look squarish with a folded flap bottom. When I transplanted my seedlings yesterday, I opened the bottom and push the seedling soil block out, but you probably could plant the whole container, just open the flaps and trim off. I hope you can get the jest of making these from my description. I plan to start all my tomato seeds in these this Fall. Mary