Hey, Pam! Here's what I'm thinking. Your VP/drystall is going to be very water-retentive unless you make the Drystall a large fraction of the soil, but let's assume you're not going to use a lot of Drystall, because I know you're leaning toward the VP. First, perlite would probably be a better choice than the drystall because it will be more effective at reducing water retention. Perlite has no internal porosity, so would hold less water than the Drystall - and it's less expensive. If you have more questions in that area, just ask & I'll help; otherwise, I'll leave you to figure out how to deal with the 'making' part of your soil. How to rig your containers to take the most advantage of gravity to help you drain your containers: Hang them by a corner, or from wherever you need to to ensure the container hangs at as close to a 45* angle as you can make it hang. Drill your drain hole in the lowest spot, and insert a wick. This makes the soil that the perched water occupies cone-shaped or pyramidal, and a 6" pyramid or cone standing on its apex holds only about half the soil as a 6" cube. Since the PWT will occupy only (about) half the volume of soil it normally would if the container is level, you'll reduce the perched water volume by half PLUS whatever extra the wick will remove. You'll lose some soil volume because the container is tipped, but that you'll have a much higher % of soil with air i it instead of being saturated, you'll actually GAIN volume in the 'healthy' soil dept. You aren't the only one here trying to escape the mud-in-a-bag you referred to. Many have passed this way and embarked on a path different than that which they arrived on. I'm glad you see the folly in remaining chained to what you already know wasn't working. I applaud your initiative. ;o) Al

Hello Hummingbird Lovers, I too have had a bully hummer (Rufous? He’s got a bright ruby throat). This guy terrorizes my other birds not just by attacking them but also by loudly chirping as the birds get near any of my 2 feeders. My other birds have shared the feeders in the past especially just before sunset for their last feeding. While they obviously don’t like to feed near each other, they seem to unpleasantly coexist. Not the bully. He is not letting any of the other birds near the feeders to a point where I don’t see my regular hummers come around at all. I’m in an Apt so I don’t have too much of a choice than spreading my two feeders as far apart as possible on the balcony. Today I decided I was going to bully the bully (am I going nuts?!). I know my other birds will feed near me so I stood in between the 2 feeders right in front of the bully and every time the bully tried to zoom in to terrorize my other birds, I’d get in front of him. He finally gave up and left the hood, probably temporarily. Immediately some of my regulars came back, still a bit scared. I feel bad doing this but I miss seeing my sweet hummers who either feed together or at least wait for each other to finish feeding before taking a turn (no joke. They do it!). Even the alpha Anna’s aren’t as mean and aggressive as the ruby throated Rufous. Im going to try placing a number single feeders around the balcony and see if that helps. I do have other flowers around me but my hummers love my nectar recipe of water mixed with organic cane sugar from Trader Joe’s. I clean and refill the feeders very 3 days whether they’re empty or not so they’re nice and fresh. I happily spoil the heck out of my sweet beloved hummers!

The reason I asked is because I have already frozen several with the intention of processing them later, seeds and all. So I was wondering if those seeds were any good. I will indeed remove the seeds from the fresh ones going forward. Thanks - ya'll are the best! Rd

There was certainly nothing stupid about that question! Welcome, Maryl. You have to go over to the Gallery section and look at some of the awesome collections folks have posted there. A few internet sellers have great Sansevierias, but for the most part, there is no combined, concerted effort to market or appreciate these plants. You sorta fall into love with them the more you see the different varieties. Then you seek out sources for your 'addiction'. I found a great source in my local Cactus & Succulent Society. Which is where I buy most of mine. I started with a pup off of my grandmothers plant, and now I have sixteen different varieties. Nearly all of them are easy growers, the hahnii varieties being a bit trickier. You can see a great photo of a S. hahnii in the upper corner of the start page. These are also known as 'birdnest' types. They are smaller in stature and more sensitive to water than many other varieties. You can go to your local library and request they bring in a copy of B. Juan Chahanian's "The Sansevieria Trifasciata Varieties". Great color pictures. There is another wonderful book by Hermoine Stover, can't remember the name, nor do I own it. Its been out of print for awhile. Found a copy in my local C&S library and enjoyed checking it out for a month. I'm not sure if libraries do that anymore, but when I was a young girl in a small town, I could request that our local library bring in from bigger libraries, copies of books I wished to read. As long as I had the author and title, pretty soon a copy would be there for me to check out. Our discussion pages go back for 10 pages, with 30 posts per page. You can read all about questions, issues, and progress reports as well as see all the photos we've taken in the last year on the Gallery pages. This forum runs a little slow compared to other GW forums, but there are some awesomely knowlegeable people who stop in here. Welcome, make yourself at home, pull up a chair an pour a cuppa.