This exchange says NO SALES, JUST TRADES!!!

she's noticed that the kids notice the presence or absence of goody bags, and is trying to be a good mom and hostess. FWIW. If goody bags are "expected" in your area, she should try to do something. It depends on the type of kids in the area Niece is crazy over the Jonas Brothers (heaven help us), and will be getting a JB pinata, and the kids can carry home whatever candy they collect in little bags. We're also going to look for the aforementioned pinwheels, or something equally inexpensive and relatively entertaining for the kiddos to take home when the party ends. I love the idea of crafts - in fact, on niece's last birthday, the kids decorated crowns and took them home (it was a princess theme), but there probably won't be enough time. The party will be scheduled for only a little over an hour, though, during which time cake and ice cream will be served and the pinata will be the primary entertainment. Don't the JB's wear 80's style sunglasses? I think they wear vests too. Maybe adding those to the party, take digital pics of everyone in their JB shades & get one vest that everyone uses for their shot, print them out and give on in a pre-decorated JB frame? Too bad the party isnt longer, she should be able to find cardboard type frames.. they can paint their names on them or something JB.. maybe glue JB pics to the frame? I have seen parties where one of the activites was their take away gift - like painted t shirts, decorated wooden frames (take pic of whole group to include), wooded vehicle sets you put together (Michael's has a bunch for $1). I love this idea For her, it isn't just a party bag -- it's a thank you gift to the friend for attending her party. If you ask her opinion, she probably think it's totally uncool not to have party bags. That's how I've always looked at goody bags as a thank you for coming Wow...never would have crossed my mind to give out goodie bags. My kids didn't, and I honestly can't remember them getting them. But then, my kids quit having kiddy parties over 10 years ago! haha. I can tell you that its a different world these days. My son is 24, gift bags weren't a big deal but these days it's all about the gift bag. I think we have Hollywood to partially blame for this.. Think Paris Hilton, star parties where they get gift bags with the latest phone or video game system. Lots of celebrity mags talk about gift bags, win the gift bag from such & such party, it's like a status symbol to get the best gift bag.

The necessity of cleaning away the duff (any part of the plant that is *not* the seed) is that: 1) it will rot in the dampness of seed-sowing medium and may promote "damp-off", a fungus that kills seedlings; 2) the duff may hold moisture in whatever container you store the seed and cause mildew or mold which will kill the seed; and 3) cleaning is a courtesy and will help you know if you really have ripe seed. Some flower heads will look like they are full of seeds, but after cleaning there will only be two or three ripe seeds. You need to know how many seeds you have to be a fair trader. It's a good idea to limit the amount of duff as you collect seed heads and pods; snip away leaves, cut off excess branches, etc. before you put flower stalks or pods into a paper bag to dry. In many instances, you can simply shake the seeds loose inside the bag when they've dried sufficiently, then remove the stalks or emptied pods. With more stubborn pods or those which are more easily opened and emptied while still leathery, use your fingers or scissors to roll, crush, or pry the pods open to release the seeds. Once the seeds have been separated from the stalks or pods, they can be cleaned in a shallow bowl; one with a light-colored, slippery surface makes seeing and moving the seeds around easier. Use tweezers, a knife or straight edge, your breath, and/or a wire sifter to separate seeds from duff. Commercially-made sifters of increasingly small sizes of mesh are available for this purpose, but probably unnecessary for cleaning small amounts of seed. With larger seeds, you can simply try tossing the seeds and duff up from the bowl, and allow the seeds to drop back while gently blowing the duff away with your breath. After the seeds are cleaned of all debris, you may notice that some of them are still a little green. If so, it is a good idea to let them ripen and dry for a few more days before packaging them.

there is a plant propogation book i have wherein the author describes his own mist system. that author has a large black coil of hose in the roof of his greenhouse so that water can be heated before reaching the mist nozzles. that's at least one vote for using warm water and keeping the cuttings reasonably warm as they root. just thought i would toss that in! lol. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: mosaic z8 LA (My Page) on Sun, May 11, 03 at 11:59 With such a setup you could probably root roses under mist all winter here in Louisiana. And then as an added bonus, you could save on your power bills all summer by using it to steam your veggies :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: tammyinwv z6/WV (My Page) on Sun, May 11, 03 at 16:05 i have been unable to find the mist heads even within an hr from my home.Someone mentioned here they found them for .50 each.would anyone be willing to get me a couple and mail them? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: wild_garden virginia z6b (My Page) on Sun, May 11, 03 at 16:32 at my lowes store the mist heads where in the indoor gardening area next to the register, i doubt the people at lowes would have even know what to look for. it was with the drip irrigation supplies, as i said in the indoor gardening area next to the big outdoor area where they sell trees and things. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mist heads supply source Posted by: RoseHawke 7b AL (My Page) on Mon, May 12, 03 at 10:37 For you folks that haven't been able to find the heads locally, try going to this site: Dripworks or here's a direct link to one of the pages with some heads:Misters . I just a couple of weeks ago ordered some irrigation supplies from them and received them quite quickly. About 4 days if I remember correctly. Haven't had a chance to put it together yet, which is probably just as well as the flood we had last week would've probably washed everything down the creek ;-). I also have the Melnor timer, and it does seem a bit confusing about its ability to do a mist cycle, but what you're doing is programing it to do one cycle (on in the am; off in the pm) and punching in a choice of watering pattern, in this case the off for 10" on for 2" pattern. I believe the idea behind the pattern was/is actually to help prevent water run-off when doing overhead watering by allowing the water to soak in between the on phases. I bought this particular timer though because when I looked at it my mind said "Ah! Mist!" (heh), even though the reason I bought it at the time was to keep a new patch of zoysia sod watered until it rooted in. My batteries did last all season last year, but it was only opening that valve 4x a day for 3 weeks, and then 1x every 4 days for a couple of months. I can see where a misting pattern of opening and closing that valve many times during the day may eat batteries, but as ShamanSherpa pointed out, it's still cheaper than a $100+ misting timer! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: patclem z7 (or 6) TN (My Page) on Fri, May 23, 03 at 8:32 Regardless of how much water it wastes, etc, I decided to experiment with misting. I am TERRIBLE at rooting cuttings. I've tried baggies. I've tried jars. I've tried special cutting trays with plastic domes. I've had one rooted cutting out of probably 50. I had the same problem finding true super-fine mist systems in the south. None at Lowe's, none at HD. They're not popular here because they don't have the same evaporating effect they have in less humid areas of the country - they make you wet here. Here's where I found mist heads. They didn't charge me anything for shipping. They were super-good to deal with online. Web Page - Phone/Fax 888-693-0578 Local/Fax (719) 495-2266 Qty: 4; Sku: 6W401; Product: Monarch Misting Nozzles M-1; Amount: $7.40 Qty: 4; Sku: 6W519; Product: Reducing Tee for Monarch Misting Nozzles; Amount: $4.40 You have to go to Lowe's or local hardware store and get a hose adapter, timers, 1/2" PVC, PVC caps, etc. I have mine set up with 2 mist heads, and about a 6' diameter section of my grass is soaked! I don't have mine on a timer yet. Results? I don't have any yet, except none of my cuttings have turned black yet. PS - I AM NOT AFFILIATED WITH THIS BUSINESS IN ANY WAY! Here is a link that might be useful: Mist Heads -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: fuselighter 7/WA (My Page) on Thu, May 29, 03 at 21:41 I am so excited about the misting bed. I went out and bought all the supplies today. Total cost was about $15 (my husband had PVC and elbows left over from installing the sprinkler system). I would like to go to an intermittent system eventually, but for now I am going with continuous. The water bill is not an issue because we have an irrigation system (there is an annual fee but it is not based on usage). I set the whole thing up in about an hour. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: debbinard Z4CO (My Page) on Sun, Jun 1, 03 at 10:54 Shamansherpa -- I could not open your picture! I live in Colorado, it gets very warm middle of June (up to upper 90's) and stays low humidity. We are on outsidewater restrictions 2xweek, so I'm not sure this method would fly. Am wondering how visible this is, or if inside is an option under lights. At any rate, I would like to propigate some rose cuttings now (is this a good time?) My daughter in law is moving and would love some plants from a rose with sentimental value. Is the rooting hormone used just the usual or special for roses? Thanks Deb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: mytrid Zone8b Florida (My Page) on Sun, Jun 1, 03 at 13:48 Deb, Maybe you could call your water extention office and see if you can get special permission, exsplain to them how little water it uses. Yes you use rooting hormone, there are many available. Dip and grow I here is supposed to be really good. I got some of the more exspensive stuff from a friend whom bought it threw rose imporium on line. But you can always use something like dip and grow. Deanna -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: rose_enthusiast z7 TX. (My Page) on Sun, Jun 1, 03 at 15:47 Hi there Deanna! It seems to me you've managed to help a lot of people with your invaluable info. And I would like to thank you for inspiring me to start a misting bed to root my cuttings. I have one question to add to the many others you've been getting though... What rose company is it that you get your rooting hormone from? Is it Rose Emporium or the Antique Rose Emporium? I would like to purchase this product as well, since you and this company are using this to successfully root your cuttings. Thanks Again, Carlos -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: mytrid Zone8b Florida (My Page) on Tue, Jun 3, 03 at 1:31 Carlos, Thank you but we should all thank AngieAnders, she is the one who did all the research and work to discover this method and then post it here for us last year! She truly diserves all the credit. I just wanted to keep any new people aware that have just started rooting this year. Best of luck all and don't forget to post your sucess! Deanna -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: epiphany z5b PA (My Page) on Tue, Jun 3, 03 at 9:28 I found the Arizona Mist system which is by Orbit as mentioned at Wal-Mart. It has 12' of tubing, end cap, six misting heads and hose adapter for $14.95. Of course, it is once again cold and wet here,......all of a balmy 56°. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: auntnana 6 TN (My Page) on Thu, Jun 5, 03 at 13:06 I ordered the misting heads mentioned above from Dripworks last year and they don't put out a fine mist as much as they do a fine spray/droplets. And even though I had a pressure regulator on there, I kept having a problem with the heads blowing off! (Their drippers work perfectly by the way so it's nothing against the company) I ordered foggers from Misty Mate this year and they put out a super fine fog. Perfect for propagation. They are a litte more expensive than the ones from Dripworks but worth it. And if you ask they will ship the misting heads for $1.50. I went to HD and bought a 10-24 tap and drill set (3.00) and drilled holes in my 1/2" cvpvc and the heads just screwed right in! I bought a Melnor timer at HD for $39 and it has 1 minute spray options so I've got it set for 1 minute every 10 minutes. Can't remember the model number but it's not the one on the HD website. I hope to finish my new propagation box soon. I built one on a stand this year so I can move it around easily. Wouldn't you know, HD has plastic sheeting made just for greenhouses that I used! It's not the real thick heavy stuff either. It's only 4mil and is crystal clear see-thru! Hopefully I'll be finished this week!