First for those who have offered their suggestions input and advice and taking time to post on this thread and help me, thank you. I very much appreciate it and you have my gratitude. People have told me numerous things regarding what does transplant well. However I do have some questions still because I'm a little unclear on some stuff that has been said regarding transplanting. According to what some have said most of the time anything that is leafy and green (any kind of lettuce, spinach, and collards) is normally direct sown. However are the reasons that these crops are normally direct sown is because they don't make good candidates for seedling transplantation, or are they able to be started from seed ahead of time indoors and will they transplant well? Is it recommended that they're direct sown (as with root veggies) because they just don't transplant well or can you do either or with leafy green stuff (start them as seedling transplants indoors and then transplant them outdoors or is it recommended you direct sow them where they're to grow). Another question I have is that people have strongly recommended that I plant scallions, onions, and chives indoors then transplant them outdoors. However I thought as a rule-of-thumb that root veggies are to be direct sown because they don't transplant well. Are members of the onion family (chives, onion, and scallions) considered root vegetables? Another thing I have a question about is people who have responded to this thread said they normally direct sow peas. Is this because peas don't transplant well or does it make any difference whether or not they're direct sown or can they be started in peat pots indoors and the seedling transplants transplanted at outdoors at a later date? Also what is a root ball? I know that the root systems of seedlings that are started indoors have to be well developed before they're transplanted or when you go to transplant your seedling transplants they will just die. Justaguy2 something I don't understand is that you told me the secret to successful transplantation is starting seedlings quickly and having them transplanted 2-3 weeks after germination. What I don't understand is wouldn't that be transplanting the seedlings too soon? I don't really know anything about seedling transplanting but what I do know is that if the root systems of the plants you're transplanting aren't sufficiently developed when you go to transplant you're seedling transplants they will not transplant well at all. The other questions I have that people failed to answer that I asked are these: *I'd like to use the method of emulating a breeze for the seedlings via using a fan. When should I introduce this to the seedlings (how old should they be)? How many times a day should I use the fan to emulate a breeze for the seedlings and what is the length of time I should keep the fan on when I do this for the seedlings? The reason I'd like to do this is because it will overall make the seedlings stronger. I know that with seedlings when you transplant seedling transplants you are supposed to follow certain guidelines with temperature, time of day, and weather conditions. What are as a rule of thumb, these guidelines? When during the day should you transplant them? Morning? Afternoon? Evening? What should the weather be like? Also this is going to seem like a very dumb question but how do you carefully transplant seedlings well? I've never done seedling transplants so I don't know how to carefully transplant a seedling. I could use advice with this.

I second the advice to get a soil test. It is relatively inexpensive, gives you a lot of information and comes back fairly quickly. You can get it through your U of A extension service, I think it is probably still up on Campbell. Until you do that, you're really feeling your way around in the dark. You should also let them know about your specific issues, there might be extra testing they can do for some common chemicals. Burning in and of itself should do no harm, only add to the alkalinity of the soil, but who knows what they used to suppress the fire...? No idea if that would affect it or no. Your soil will cake up if you are working wet clay, a big no-no. The mulch and compost is great for softening the soil and make it more moisture retentive, so checking it wouldn't be a big deal, and even then you can just scratch a little back. Mulching is *huge* in desert gardening, be it organic or even rock - anything to aid in cooling the roots, especially of non-desert plants of the type you're planting. I'm guessing you're saying that your soil is a mixture of sand and clay and not that you're mixing the two - that would = cement, and could be a part of the problem. Have you seen any of your plants growing well in your neighborhood? Also, longer term residents might be able to tell you if something happened on your site. But from your description, my best bet is that the holes that you're making in the caliche may not be sufficient to let the roots spread out; you might want to dig one of the dead plants out and see if it stretched out beyond the original root ball, or did they run into caliche immediately? You also want to test your drainage - caliche tends to form in sheets and if you had to get thru one, there is a good chance of another below it. Anywho, "they" now say that it's much more important to make a wider hole than a deep one, for the root spread problem precisely. BTW, I wouldn't waste my time asking folks at Lowe's for plant advice, although they put a few through some master gardener classes, few have the experience to do much more than scratch the surface of gardening. And steer manure... well.... unless it's really well composted, you're adding a lot of salt to an already salty soil. I saw an ad on Craig's list for horse manure today, you might think about that or the city of Tucson used to make compost out of their clippings and give it away. Hope this is helpful, best of luck to you!

Hi guys thanks for all your help- I am not going to repost in the other forum at this time b/c I think I got some very good information here. I went to walmart today and they were out of cactus mix. Sigh. They did have a bag of perlite tho- but I wanted to check with you guys first if this is the correct thing to buy, and if so- what do I do with it. I have a bag of miracle grow potting soil- I am assuming I need to mix these two together. I also have some small gravel- about bean sized. I plan to put him in a terra cotta pot since plastic holds the water and doesn't breath. I could use some instructions on the dirt mix tho- and as an aside- I purchased a succulent that needs to be repotted- do I use the same type of soil for him? I also have two lemon trees I grew from seed that I wanted to put into citrus mix, however they didn't even carry that this year. No they don't ever grow lemons, sometimes they flower but that's ok- the leaves smell really nice.

Hi Winnie, Streps can be grown cool or hot. Some varieties are more tolerant than others to a wide range of conditions. I have also found that who I buy them from matters as well. Some streps don't like big changes whether their soil or growing conditions. But I have found that all of them do well when wicked, although others say there are some varieties that do not like to be wicked. My soil mix is 3:2:2 of Schultz potting mix, vermiculite, perlite. Before wicking I found that they wilted and browned easily. So as soon as they can be potted into a 3inch pot, I wick them. Self watering pots from Zellers or Walmart work well too. But these are only available in larger sizes, so I grow the larger streps in them. I grow in a cool basement (never warmer than 70F and as low as 60F) with a few in the living room (72-78F). I have found only a few varieties that won't grow/bloom in my basement. Whereabouts are you located? There is a Toronto Gesneriad Society. Linda, warped leaves will stay warped. The new growth should be fine.