has any one tried using praetor nematodes and praetor mites to control spider mite, broad mites and thrips. They are like little lions feeding on the pests, praetor nematodes live in the ground killing any thing they find and most of the pest live part of their live there. Thrips spend the first part of there live under ground. The praetor nematodes come in a little sponge that you cut 1/3 of put in a spray bottle of water and let it sit for a 1/2 hour, shake it up and spray the surface potting mixe and then water them in good. It cost $18.00and the 2/3 that you have not used put in the cooler and treat you plants ever 2 weeks till it is gone. They will live on the sponge in the cooler for 6 weeks. I also treat my plants with praetor mites at the same time , they like to find the bad mites and lay their egg among the spider mites and broad mites eggs . When the praetor mites they are hunger an the love to eat mite eggs. they come in several different ways praetor mites"NEOSEIULUS CUCUMERIS" come in quick release packets $1.99 and it is enough to treat 1-2 plant racks 4 shelves 48 in. long. You springily the product which looks (it is ) wood saw dust over the plants It is import to do these after dark. sun light kills praetor mites nematodes & praetor mites mites!!!! Praetor mites"NEOSEIULUS CUCUMERIS"also come in slow release pack $1.99, you but pack on each shelve and as they hatch they leave the pack ove 6 week periodAs a Added protection !!! They best thing is they very best Insecticides /Miticides likeForbid 4F Miticide, Avid EC Miticide and Marathon a systemic insecticides do not kill the praetor nematodes and praetor mites so you can still use them!!!! YOU CAN NOT USE NEEM OIL Why because it kills every thing even the good praetor bugs then you have nothing to keep spider mite, broad mites and thrips under control!!! The day beforetaking your plants to a show put NEOSEIULUS CUCUMERIS mites "in the slow release pack in your box with your warping- material and leave it there for the whole trip with your plants

Man. I don't know what to say everyone. Really, I am so discouraged. I suppose if I live anywhere further south than where I do, I think my plants might have more hope to produce these beautiful flowers. I can't undertand how Logees can get some as small as a foot high, the miniature ones, to flower of all thing, and me, when I buy them IN bloom, like last year, this following year they produce nothing. In fact, I went back this spring and actually bought one with an inflo growing to see a reward, a short cut way, to the point of ready flowers ready to open last week, until I went out the other day just to watch them all fall off from blackened bases and shriveled up blooms. They just bent over and fell off. I wanted to cry, and I never cry. They were my only hope to show off any of my plumies... To make matters worst, on my cuttings, I lost all the inflo's too.. Just want to say thanks for trying to make me feel better. If I do decide to give up, I will offer them to everyone here. I saw pictures of some on a plumeria thread recently, about a show that went on in California one day that many here went to, and when I saw those plumies in one gallon buckets pictures all spread out on tables, mind you, with one stem in flower, that is when I felt that age had nothing to do with it. I am begining to think enviromental factors play the biggest role, and my area just doesn't have what it takes to produce such beauties. Sheesh, I am so sad writing this! :-( Thanks everyone for caring enough and for your support... Mike

Hello fellow China Collectors. I am collecting dessert/salad plates in mismatched patterns. I collect the sugar bowls and creamers too. I am working on a business plan to rent props for parties. I have always adored "girlie golden items" sweet flowers...painted tea pots items the pin up girls from the curvy era would use on their kitchen tables dawning an Apron and a smile. I do not care about the value of the dishes. I use them all every day. The trade name of Shabby Chic which still has all of us women in admiration of it's sweet design, calls my name in every dusty shop - mothball smelling - church basement - ninety degrees in the sun venue. I so enjoy the treasure hunt that my IBS starts to rumble. I am caught up in the frenzy of my own accord...fortunately prior to stepping into the hunting grounds...I prepare my quest with great walking shoes...cool loose clothes...a light meal. I can not Thank You all enough for posting pictures of your lovely finds and prized China. My seek and find missions are the highlight of my weekends. I am now collecting cute plastic - backyard fun acrylic plates and wine gobblets for my event planning company. I paint old furnishings. One day...God willing...I will either get this business rolling or my Family will sell it all in an Estate Sale - when I am old and grey. I hope they will keep my bird bud vases for these little pink birdies take little space up on a windowsill.. I am certain a nice Middle Aged Women like myself will see them and use them or loan them out for a grand Tea Party some fine day - after I have left this sweet soil. Enjoy your finds...no dust on the dishes...fine or dinnerware...Share you collection with a few girl pals paired with crumpets because girls - or boys - we all just go around once.

luvs2click, now *that* is a brilliantly-displayed collection! I love it because it's in the room that the pieces normally would have been in as functional elements, but made into design elements instead, with their functional significance still resonating. Great work, DH :) I'm finding myself collecting NW Studio art pottery and Blenko/studio glass, and a bit of vintage NW fiber art and other craft...the last is the most challenging to display, since it takes up so much room! We're planning to create some dedicated, fishing-line-protected shelves in the living room for the glass, so it can be up where we can see the sculptural lines. I like collections of originally non-decorative items displayed where they would normally have been used. I could see tiny lamps being displayed somehow near their larger cousins, in a few places throughout the house, rather than isolated from function in a display shelf somewhere. I have a vision of maybe two other little lamps put on a little riser near a larger functioning lamp, and repeat that maybe two other places in the house. Rotate the collection. That way, the lamps are in dynamic conversation with their environment and you get a sum that is more than its parts, iykwim. Decorative items? Somehow in significant groupings or in such a way that each one can be appreciated, rather than the whole seen as one big obsessive mass LOL (I'm not excluding myself from this -- a bit afraid of the day my Blenko/glass collection tips this point).