Hi Jessie I sent you an email with what I have to share. I have a bunch of leaves started with new babies. They won't be ready to send until the spring. I can either send in 2" pots or grow them to 4" pot size. I would just want to be reimbursed for the postage and the pots. Best way to respond is by email because I don't check this forum page too often. Joanne

That is a lot of leaves. But, to look at it another way: where did the leaves come from? did they all come off the trees in the woodland you just transferred the leaves to? If so then it's not too many leaves, it's how much leaf material the woodland produces and you can expect it to process them all itself. But if on the other hand the leaves came from trees not growing in the woodland, and the woodland is already producing as many leaves as it can process, then piling on way more leaves is going to depress the herbaceous understory. If they were soft leaves I'd be inclined to not worry about it, but oak leaves do take a bit longer to decompose than average. So they're still going to be around in spring when things are trying to come up.

I won't even begin to list how many cleaning products are in my house. It's. Absolutely. Terrifying. That being said, I'm working on getting rid of much of it and using more natural/earth friendly methods. One thing that I am having a tough time giving up is my toilet bowl cleaner with bleach. I just haven't found anything that makes me feel like the toilet is as clean as when I use some bleach based product. Just mixed up a batch of baking soda, essential oils (eucalyptus and peppermint), a little bit of Dawn dishwashing liquid, and enough water to make a paste. This was used to scrub the tub which gets absolutely horrible because it's an old porcelain tub (but the finish was messed up from the previous owners)...it got it as clean as the harsher cleansers I've used with about the same amount of effort. Bonus is that it smelled lovely, way better than most cleaning products you can buy in the store. Looking forward to hearing more about some of the alternate cleaning products that people use.

Harvey, I grow outside on my screened patio and I could not have roots the size of yours either! I must keep my orchids down to a manageable size. I dread up-potting because I have so little room left and don't like to crowd them. My Catts get huge and outgrow their pots each year. I cannot keep moving them to larger pots. Same with some Oncids. I refuse to buy another orchid. I feel I must devote more time to the plants I have to grow them better. I do not like how they do outside under trees. They do not get the attention from me that the orchids on the patio do. They also develop more fungal problems and critters! Right now, the birds have decided there is nothing better than sphag for their nests. Beautiful roots though. I envy that you can grow your plants so naturally. They all look so healthy and happy. But I agree with Bob. Although I grow in Florida now, I am practicing the same things I did when I grew in NY. Space is still a premium. Jane