Reptibark is WAY too expensive for my tastes as well. You'd be better off looking for pine bark mulch, rather then "fines". The labeling on what is useful for the mixes can vary. In fact, last summer, I went to a landscape outfit that sold pine bark mulch in bulk, with the intent of simply getting mulch for my garden. I filled two 55g barrels, and being a "fill your own" deal, I scooped from the bottom, where the smaller particles were. I was pleasantly surprised to find that with some sifting, I could have easily gotten quite a lot of "fines" that would be suitable for gritty mix or 5-1-1. I payed $12 for the 2 barrels full, and could have probably gotten the equivalent of 3 or 4 two cubic foot bags of fines. You might want to see if you can find a landscape supplier or sawmill that has pine bark mulch. As for the perlite, if you lived closer, I'd give you a huge bag for free. I bought a rather large bag, for around $15, figuring I was going to use lots of 5-1-1 mix, but now I realize I have too much. Personally, I'm not all THAT wild about the 5-1-1 mix, because if you let it go just a bit too dry, it's VERY difficult to water, due to repulsion. I'll tell ya though, for outdoor stuff, 5-1-1 is a good choice, but for your indoor plants, just skip the 5-1-1 and go gritty. You may try the barkless mix, but be cautious of fertilizing, and Foliage Pro 9-3-6 is a must. I got mine from Amazon for $23 for a quart, which looks like it'll last me a few years. I'm no pro, and am only a year into this gritty mix thing, but I'll assist you in every way I can if you choose to go barkless. I made the choice to do it not knowing how things would turn out, but so far, so good. I'll probably never use the bark again, and stick with my turface/grit combo. Another advantage is that when you lose the bark, your mix will literally last forever. Nothing in it breaks down, so you can just repot with the same mix over and over. Basically, you buy a couple bags of turface and grit, and you're good for eternity! Joe P.S. I have no pics, because I think you need to use some sort of host or something, and then use html to link to it. I am a somewhat old school 32 year old, not liking the hassle involved with a lot of the internet stuff, especially social networking stuff. I haven't a clue how to post pictures on this forum.

Karen that looks like a great setup :) I'm looking forward to hearing more about your blooms that are surely forthcoming. Jane - that was my fear too. I think another one of my problems is that my tank isn't completely sealed, so I lose a lot of humidity that way. I know humidity is over-rated, but under the T5s, things get dry pretty quickly, and it's tedious to have to water the mounts every day. Brooke - I once saw a setup where someone actually had 3 inches of water inside the tank, with a filter pump to keep the water clean. In my mind this could avoid the algae problem, but then again I've never kept fish, so I don't know. I've also come to realize that I'll need *a lot* of gravel to cover the floor of the 90 gallon tank, so water might be a better option..what do you think? Bob - that's a really good idea. I'll have to look into the reptile liner stuff. I assume that's available at any sort of pet store? And you don't find you have any sort of fungal/mold problems? I'm suspicious I don't have enough fan action going on so I might need to improve that.

Dunno if I can talk about long term success stories when my Olympia garden was eight years old when I moved, and my current garden is about seven years old. Of course, most of the roses in both gardens were/are considerably younger than that as I bought/buy roses every year. The only rose that comes to mind that declined after growing well was the 'Mme. Plantier' by the front door in Olympia, which was a mature plant when I bought the house. It was so excessively vigorous that I put most of my efforts into curbing rather encouraging its growth, and possibly I was too successful. Aside from that one case roses in general either grow for me or they don't: they don't make 180° turns in their behavior. But I've never had a garden for a long enough time to be able to give a good answer to this question, which is an interesting one (thanks, Sherry!). If I begin to think of roses that did act in this fashion I'll report them. Oh....a few years ago I cut back 'Noella Nabonnand' hard, and she hated it and refused to grow. I'm hoping she'll get going again this year. It would also be interesting to hear whether the roses mentioned are grafted or ownroot; what the growing conditions are; whether the environment has altered over time (getting shadier or sunnier, for example); and what extraordinary events might possibly have triggered a decline. Melissa

I buy a product called Sea-90 which is harvested ocean salt. A lab found it contains 92 minerals, trace elements and organic compounds plus more than 50,000 organic substances in the just the right proportions. Crop production benefits from enhanced micro flora populations include: Enhanced nutrient uptake Significantly improved flavor Greater production and yields Reduced days to harvest Reduced transplant shock Reduced drought stress Reduced heat stress I add it to the soil and also use it as a spray for leaves. Aphids hate it and it will cure many diseases as well. I swear this i something you'll want to know about. There's years of research behind it. Read amazing and detailed info on the sea-90 website. [seaagri.com] Not an ad. I don't benefit from this, I just think our soil needs the minerals.