There is one thing I do question with your set up Chris. You're using an aluminum turkey pan as your water tray. I could be wrong... I've been wrong before... but using a metal tray could lead to eventual break down of the materaial and could put unwanted metal in your water. (I tried turky pans too but I ended up trying a garbage bag in them then finally gave up on them) I have gone through several water tray options and here are the ones "I like best" so far... At Walmart I got small cat boxes, you know, the open plastic trays... for about 2 bucks each. I tried the medium but found they didn't fit in my aquariums. Since then I found some of those plastic seed propagation tray things at Lowes (they're everywhere this time of year) and found that they sold the bottoms of those (11x22 water trays basically) for a buck. They don't fit in my aquaiums but only about a thrid of my plants are in aquariums so it works for me. Here is a link that might be useful: Aracknight's Deadly Delights

I agree with Rosemarie and lzrddr about a possible xGraptoveria. The problem with identification is that Echeveria and related plants can have quite different form and color depending on season and cultural conditions. This is particularly true of XGraptoveria 'Fred Ives' which has this general form and leaf shape. More sun may bring out a very different color scheme. I suspect the plant is a little etiolated also. andrew78: please refrain from dispensing cultural advice until you know what you're talking about: It may be a good idea to not water right away after you repot it but I did and i don't think it suffered any. You were lucky. It is NEVER a good idea to water ANY succulent right after repotting. Succulents by nature have sufficient water stores to survive for weeks to months (even years) without water. You only run the risk of allowing fungal infection by watering soon after repotting. Small cuts and abrasions need a few days of dry conditions to heal. If a transplant has no roots, then watering must wait until the plant has grown them. Patience is required. Then you wrote: Several people here will tell you that the peaty mix is bad for succulents and they are right, it really should be avoided but I had an echervia ina mix like yours for quite a long time and I never had any problems. I didn't water it a ton either so maybe that was the reason it lasted so long. Certainly it is possible to grow many succulents in 'peaty mixes', but it is never ideal, and begs disaster. Peat simply retains too much water for potted succulents. Avoid it. Ban it. Burn it. But don't pot it! :) Brad

I bought my body bag roses a few weeks ago from Aldi and I'm very pleased. The following have been a success: Tiffany, Kordes Perfecta, Oklahoma, Oregold, Olympiad, Gold Medal, Tropicana, Sundowner, Love, Toro, Golden Shower, Pink Peace, America Climber, Chrysler Imperial, Red Masterpiece, John F. Kennedy, and Intrigue. The duds (they haven't broken out yet but still have green canes are Double Delight and Josephs Coat. Not bad given that my success rate for body bags used to be much lower. The only rose that has survived the thirteen years of change that my yard has undergone is a Don Juan. Your pic, Sultry, is so nice. The color on my DJ is a bit different, but the form is dead on. Where in Florida do you live? I don't think I'll see any body bag roses down here in Pembroke Pines.

Well, I'd like to start with the disclaimers. I live a few miles away from Jon's home, he and I belong to AW.org. Like Joel said above, yes, it's all true, he has spent quite a lot of time and money developing Rosalie's Zero Suds. It does not take much to make him talk about a lot of stuff he tried etc. With that out of the way, here's what I've heard from people I know and trust who actually tried the detergent: some did not like it because the scent was too faint, some did not like it because the scent was not faint enough, some did not like it because it wasn't unscented. I've heard people claiming that they could NOT deal with a detergent that basically made no suds, they are too used to seeing suds. Some couldn't deal with the detergent being so concentrated that just a tiny scoop would do. Most agreed that it was a competent detergent and that it cleaned well or really well. A lot of the "problems" expressed above could easily be solved by a large corporation just by offering the same product with different scents, concentrations and suds suppression, but this is not the case here, there is one formula, not everyone will be pleased. I have been using this Rosalie's since it was released -- Jon gave me a free box, and I already bought another two from Gray's Appliance since. When it was released it was *clearly* the best American detergent for sale, after that, Henkel released Persil ProClean which forced P&G to release Tide HE Turbo, which have similar performances, but produce more suds than Rosalie's. I would have probably bought more boxes, except that, I don't know if y'all have ever heard of this condition, I find it very hard not to test any laundry detergent I see at the supermarket that have wordings to the tune of "New" or "Improved", so I have a stash of Tide HE Turbo, Persil ProClean etc competing for attention with Rosalie's. I find it funny to see people talking about the price not because they shouldn't but because *I* have succumbed to the temptation to buy *imported* German Persil *multiple* times. I find Rosalie's and German Persil to be mostly tied for performance, one cleans some stains better but change stains and you might need the other detergent. Here's the thing: the "use one scoop" direction is for High Efficiency washers with about 8 pounds of regular soiled clothes. This is not that different from what many of us here have been using when we use German Persil. If you have more than 8 pounds, or the clothes are very dirty, or your water is very hard etc, you will need more. If you are using a deep fill toploader with the traditional agitator, the box directs you to start with 2 or 3 scoops and increase from there. Here's what I like about Persil and Rosalie's -- with the water I have available to me (0-4 grains most of the year, thus "soft"), I can use enough to clean most things. I have had one of my frontloaders washing about 16 pounds of *heavily* soiled clothes and I used, if I remember right, 3 scoops in the pre-wash and 6 scoops in the main (hot) wash, everything came out clean, the washer did not suds lock in the interim spins and the last rinse was clear water. The clothes were clean with a very mild scent that reminds me of old-time detergents, not the sweet cloying stuff on the shelves today. The dosage I used of Rosalie's is very close to the dosage of Persil Megaperls that I got from Germany when you use the Persil scoop provided. I don't know much about business, so take the following with a grain of salt: I've heard that when All was released in the 40's or so, they released a small box to emphasize how concentrated the product was and it did not start selling well until they started selling it in a large box and people who failed to read the directions (we don't know anybody like that, right?) started using a heaping measuring cup of All instead of the intended dosage (I forgot if it was 1/2 or 3/4 cup), which of course made it clean and rinse better than other detergents of the time. I think that might be the case here -- if Rosalie's came up with a box 4 times the current size and an oversized scoop directing people to use the same quantity they tell us now, a lot of people will use the full scoop (or about 4-10 times as needed) and the thing might start flying off the shelves, because it will rinse well and clean well. I am sure there will be some absurd dosage that will make it oversuds or even sudslock, but I have not found it yet. Maybe people with different water quality will experience differently than me. The other thing I want to say is that if you look at the ad in the webpage, the two women are holding a box that appears to be twice as tall as the current box, but with the same number of loads, I think. So, I commented in person to Jon that I was surprised the box was shorter (changing box sizes and having to print a new different run is expensive) and he told me that one of the problems he found out a bit too late was that he had to experiment with the formula and make it more concentrated because shipping depends on the volume of the box and also the weight. At that time, boxes were about 2 pounds, if I remember right, and his goal was to make it under one pound because anything above one pound gets *much* more expensive to ship. This is not a huge company that can tell FedEx or UPS that they'll go with a competitor and get a much lower rate. Someday, if the shipping company starts parking several trucks at their docks everyday, shipping might go for peanuts, right now I think the company is paying about as much as I would if I shipped it. Anyway, I believe he was offering free samples. I would suggest people take him up on it and make up their minds. I like the product, most people I know liked it too, a lot of them find it too expensive, but such is life until production can ramp up significantly. I would like to add here that the opinions I've expressed above are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone at the firm that researches, develops and/or manufactures Rosalie's Zero Suds -- I have no connection (financial or otherwise) with that company except for knowing the inventor of Rosalie's. Cheers, -- Paulo.