So....here is how I have digested all this info: (BTW, when I went three yrs without repotting, it was because I did not know any better and I have NO IDEA how I got so lucky with such hardy and healthy plants. They were all 7 bucks from Costco!!! All have been repotted since and most have lived on and bloomed.) Yes - light and root rot seem to be my issues. So, I am tracking the light and moving plants around. Was not ready for harsh autumn sun low in the sky. Watering...am "listening" to my orchids more now. The Yellow Boy that was in root rot crisis...had a nice little trim of his roots and potted him shallow in clean medium. Happy plant! Blooms are busting out all over now and the one scary, curly leaf is just ready to fall off. My sad Vanda that was under-watered for so long....drum roll please....has 2 new leaves AND 2 new spikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gee, amazing what some water can do :o) I love the idea of creating a monthly calendar and index cards for each plant to keep track...that is right up my alley and I think it will be important in assimilating information and making sure each has what it needs. I do not plan on mounting any of my orchids at this time. I have cats, so mounted orchids are just cats toys waiting to have their roots ripped off! I love having my vanda as a hanging orchid and will likely stik with Phals and Cids from here forward. Fertilizer and lights (artificial) still have me a bit stumped, but I know there is tons of info available here for me to search. I love the simple and basic stuff best and am happy to have the tip on peroxide. I have mostly clay pots but have plastic liners...considering removing the plastic as an aid to prevent root rot. Thanks for that tip. Water quality: well, I use the same water as the guy down the road who has prize winning orchids, so I am guessing it is OK, but I have learned to heat it in the microwave for a few seconds first and my plants really seem to like that. I will likely join the Cape Fear Orchid Society, but thanks for the tip on AOS...think I will look in to that too. I have reviewed the recommended books and added a couple to my christmas list. Light light light...that is where I am going to direct my focus next. THANK YOU...ALL of you! :o)

Once the pseudostem of a banana flowers and produces fruit (edible or inedible) it dies. The pups will take the mama's place, grow, fruit and then terminate as well. The corm is the underground part of the plant. The pup is the new offspring, and the pseudostem is the above ground growth (some folks would call it a trunk but it is not) with leaves growing from the pseudostem (which is really part of the leaf). From your description, I would not alter anything you are doing. In particular, don't cut the main plant back because the flower and subsequent fruit will help you identify which banana you have. Steve

Has anyone tried the breeder's trick with citruse from seeds? Well the trick is to graft a budwood from a seedling tree unto an old fruiting compatible citrus cultivar. This will shave off significant number of years of waiting for a citrus seedling to fruit. And yes, this trick is the other way around and has worked very well for pome and stone fruits. In order to save time to know the type of fruit a newly hybridized seed will have, instead of growing it and waiting for it to fruit, they graft it unto fruiting trees of the same type. The resulting interaction has been proven to significantly reduce the number of years of wait time for a new hybdridized seedling to bear fruit. I was wondering if this could be true for citrus. In the specific case of the grocery grapefruit, most likely it would be nucellar and so is the exact clone of the parent, so why not use the budwood from the original parent and graft unto the seedling instead? However, if the seedling is suspected to be a hybrid, for sure it will have different character and particular mix of the parents, and now that it is twenty years old, grafting buds from this tree unto a fruiting grapefruit should shorten the wait time, but the probability that it is a hybrid is not on the good side. However for those who have been hybridizing citruses and wanting to know the type of resulting fruit you have, you might do the trick of grafting the seedling unto a fruiting mature tree.

I've never dried ES specifically, but I recently dried a bunch of hydrangeas and I'm really pleased with the result I got. Here's a couple of pics: I've never had luck with drying hydrangeas before, as they always seemed to crumble up. This time, I left the flowers on the plant until they were starting to dry out. They were still supple, but the petals had started to turn downward and the colors had changed to the more muted colors they turn before they begin to really dry out. Then, I put them in water for a few weeks and left them in a darkened room. After 3 weeks, I took them out of the water, and they were completely dried (except for the stems of course. Now they've been in that vase for about a week and I think they look great. Anyway, from what I've read and my own experience, the trick is to dry them out slowely over a few weeks in water. It remains to be seen how long these will last, but so far these are the best results I've ever had, so I'm optimistic. I'm sure you'll get other suggestions, but I wanted to share what worked for me, even if it's not specifically geared to ES blooms. Good luck!