Hi - I'm a future (hopefully not too distant - my DH has been working in SC a year while I've been in New England trying to sell the house) Carolinian, and I hope I can help. With WS, you will have better success if you ditch the mini-greenhouses (we're talking about those flats that hold 12 six-packs, right?) and go to deeper containers. A lot of folks use milk jugs or 2-liter soda bottles - I use, for uniformity, containers that are about the size of 1 lb. margarine containers. I purchase them in lots of 50 from a restaurant supply store. However, there's no need to purchase containers - you can use margarine containers, provided you cut out the center of a lid that doesn't let light through and replace it with plastic wrap. The clear containers I buy salad greens in work well, too. The key issue is soil depth - the 6-packs just aren't deep enough to sustain the seeds once they sprout. While you are still getting nights below freezing, you want to leave your containers with their covers on. You can gradually open the holes in the top to start hardening off if you want. I'm considerably north of you, in a zone 6b - I have some sprouts, but I've left the lids exactly as they are; haven't widened the holes at all. We are still getting hard freezes up here, but I haven't lost any sprouts yet. What I do not have, that you do, is 70 degree days. If I were there, I would look to keep my containers in a moderately shady location, still keeping covers on, and watch the moisture level, too. If your temps get to mid-70s or higher, I'd think about widening the transpiration holes, even if you are still getting freezes at night. If your temperature variations are really extreme, uncover your containers, and cover them (use towels/sheets/remay if necessary) at night - WS veterans repeatedly say they lose more plants to heat than to cold. I hope that's somewhat helpful. I'll be moving to the Greenville/Spartanburg area of SC when I get there. It's only one full zone warmer than where I am now, and I am confident I'll be able to adapt my WS techniques to the location. And oh yeah, happy Equinox to you too - this winter was the worst I can remember in a long time here, and I am soooooo ready to be a Carolinian!

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