I know ST is related to zoysia, but the texture is incredibly different and grows so thick compared to my zoysia. Depends on variety. Some like Diamond and Emerald are extremely soft and silky. Sounds like you might have Z-52 aka Meyers. What do you mean by sprigs vs plugs? Zoysia grass is very much like Bermuda as it reproduces by stolons (above ground) and rhizome (below ground) runners. To make sprigs you simply rake the yard and pull up the stolon runners, and plant them. Rather than me telling you the process, just Google sprigging Bermuda or Zoysia. To make plugs there are two ways: 1. Take sprigs and plant them in pots. 2. Cut sod, then chop them into 2 x 2 squares and plant them in pots.

I am new with this as well. I love Kabocha squash and I had saved some seeds from one I bought at the health food store a few years ago. I was late in planting, probably late July and it took them about a month to really get going. The male flowers came first followed by the females about 3 weeks later. It is now August 2 and we just hand pollinated our first female flower this morning. I am so excited! We don't have many pollinators in this area and I had read before that if you want to ensure you get fruit you should probably hand pollinate, so, that is what we did. I planted only two squash this year. We have about 10 more female flowers that are not mature enough to open yet. I check them every day because the flowers are only open for a very short time, so, the window of opportunity is very small. I can't wait to watch the babies grow. I am hoping I can get about 10 squash off of the two plants. I have read you are lucky if you get one per vine, but, with hand pollinating I am hoping for at least two. I now have 5 vines growing. They are very aggressive and seem to take over whatever is in their path. I have a second year carrot growing for the seeds and the squash seems to be taking it down, literally. I also have spearmint growing to the side and so far I have been able to detour the squash by simply picking up the vine and moving it away from the spearmint. If you move them as they are first growing outward they seem easily deterred. I didn't have to move them much, maybe only 5 inches. I love these plants and have gotten a lot of joy out of watching. I water them every night when the sun goes down. I planted them in a manure enriched soil I bought at Walmart. I have not used any other fertilizer on them and they are growing great. However, I did read that the key to growing these squash is Patience, patience, patience. They are not something that grows overnight. Also, don't be too anxious to harvest them. They are suppose to stay on the vine until the vine dries up and falls away from the fruit. In the end they stem looks like that of a pumpkin. I hope you are enjoying your plants as much as I am mine. I am planning to plant a lot more next year and in a place in the yard where they have lots of room to branch out without worrying about them taking over any other plants. Good luck to you. :)

Hi Candice!! The one directly behind the fern is the AWESOME 'Kiwi Full Monty' that was gifted to me by a lovely person (BluePoppy in '08) who use to post more frequently here (hope she's doing okay)! She has an amazing garden and I loved her pix! She knew I was trying to grow a healthy 'Striptease' and decided I needed to try the KFM, instead. She is right--it is a totally awesome plant--softer and bluer than 'Striptease'. It has done AMAZINGLY well in my garden! I need to email her and let her know--in fact, was just thinking I should the other day! Thank you for the nudge! The other one, is another 'gift' from 'DavemidOhio' who also posts from time to time, and he knew I had loved/lusted after his 'June' for years, (due to my high praise of it as one of the best looking I had ever seen). About 2 wks ago, he showed up at my door, literally mins. after I returned from the nursery with a 'June'! He lives about 50 mins. away from me and due to a great loss of trees he's abandoning the growing of most of his hosta! SOB!! He had so many absolutely stunning specimens! I'll always refer to that one as 'Dave's June'! He also gave me his 'Abiqua Moonbeam' years ago that I dearly love! In case I've not targeted the one 'next to ERC' the other one with the creamy margins is 'First Frost'! :o) I love them ALL!! Some of the best hosta I have, are gifts!!!

What are some plants that you have propagated using this method? Does that dome have air vents in the top? I have seen them in gardening books with those air vents. Do you mind sharing where you purchased the dome that fit over the sectional tray? I purchased dianthus seedlings from Home Depot in one of those sectional trays(I don't think that's the proper name for it, but I think you can figure out what I'm trying to say)The tray was filled with polka dot plant seedlings. It had 32 plants in it. I wondered if they weren't started from plugs. Can you buy the domes separately to fit over the sectional trays? Guess I will have to know the size and I would imagine you would want the dome to fit snugly over that seedling tray. Now another stupid question: Are you sitting these outside in the shade or light but not in the sun? Or are you starting these indoors? I see the heat mat which indicates to me you are starting them indoors. I am so eager to learn new things about propagation. Today I finished planting the Emerald Blue creeping phlox that I dug up on Monday. Monday afternoon I got 3 "hunks" planted before the temps climbed to 90 and above; saving the rest of the creeping phlox until I could get back to planting it today. It was soaking in a small bucket of water since Monday afternoon to keep it from drying out. I planted the rest today and I read where you shear the creeping phlox after they are finished blooming so I sheared off about 3 in. after they were planted. The tips that I sheared off, I didn't want to throw away, and a light bulb went off in my head, why not try to root those tips? I stripped the leaves/foliage about an inch from the stem bottom and dipped it in Rootone and potted about 5 stems in a 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 in. nursery pot. Watered it well and we just had a good rain. I just went out and looked at the rain gauge and it shows 1 in. of rainfall. Yeh! It will cool it off and we needed that rain as everything is so dry here. I know I have read that it is best to have a grow light and heat mat when starting seeds inside. I don't have room for a set up. I was wondering why I couldn't start the seeds indoors in something like that container tray or even ind.small pots and put them in window sill? Will they get too leggy without the gro light or shop light? I might could start them on a computer storage cabinet in the office and I could always buy a single shop light system and use that. As long as I put something on that furniture to protect it I won't have to deal with dear Hubby. I also have some wooden snack tables that I could set up by the window where there is natural light all day long. Sorry this is so long. If you feel like you don't want to respond to all my questions here, feel free to email me direct.