uh oh, what are fungus gnats? There are a lot of little fruit fly lookin things down there... I thought it was the humidity... *holds breath for reassurance* You guys are great by the way. I really appriciate all the help. You've saved my butt a few times already. lol. ok, I'm gonna go for it... I LOVE my plants but if they die they die... I've got a lot of great advice to work with now and actually I just read another thread that really helped to... I think -They all have evil super mites -My Peace lillies are overwatered -Perhaps fertalizer burn on some of them... from what i just read it sounds likely.... My treatment plan for the smaller pots is: -Dunk the pots in water in case of spider mites lurking in soil -Run some water through in case of fertalizer buildup -Dunk the tops (the actual plants) in soapy water, then rinse. (I dunked the baby spider plants in soapy water last week because they were too hard to spray and they are doing better than any other part of any other plant in the room. lol) -Spray down the giant plants and icolate them, I think they have the best chance, even the ones that showed webbing for a while are doing MUCH better than the little plants are. They all look pretty good until you scrunch right now next to them and get all clinical squinty eyed. ;) So, do we think this is going to work? lol... -Plantkiller oh, any Jade plant experts out there by the way? Mine has recently started dropping leaves like crazy but I dont know ANYTHING about them. This one is my moms but shes in mexico for 5 weeks so i'm looking after it.. badly I guess. lol... It started with the mites, some kind of fungus growing on the soil on one side but thats gone now... now the leaves are curling and dropping, some look crystalized???

They don't sound like spider mites to me: spider mites would leave webbing and wouldn't be on the top of the leaf. Whitefly or fungus gnats would fly, so that's probably out too. Scale wouldn't crawl around fast. That doesn't leave much: I think we're down to aphids or mealybugs. I think I know what you're talking about, because I think I've got them too, but I'm not sure what they are. I've been thinking they were mealybugs that just weren't old enough to get all fluffy and cottony yet. (According to some sources on-line, male mealybugs aren't fluffy but do fly, which I hadn't heard this before. It may or may not be true. The idea of some kind of Mealybug Boystown happening on my cacti disturbs me, somehow.) Whatever they are, the basic strategy winds up being pretty much the same. Rubbing alcohol, sprayed on or rubbed on with a Q-tip, will poison some and weaken others. Spraying with water will dislodge some. I don't know Safers personally, but some kind of over-the-counter pesticide should also help. If it makes you feel any better, I think I've gotten these off of some of my plants (Sansevieria, Euphorbia, some cacti) before. Others, I've been fighting since November (also cacti) and they still haven't gone away. So it can be done, but you may have a bit of a fight.

I've never heard of using a fungicide for spider mites, an insecticde but not a fungicide. I'd take your plumie into the shower if you have a hand held nozzle and spray the heck out of it. Just try not to saturate the soil. After it's shower take a cotton ball dipped in alcohol and swab the entire plant paying special attention to the new growth, undersides of the leaves and any little nooks and cranies where the little beasts can hide. I don't like to use insecticides unless absolutely necessary. The shower can be repeated frequently until the mites are gone. Keeping the humidity up helps keep spider mites in check. They are a big problem for me inside but I've never had an infestation when the plants are outside. I guess that would be another reason to move to somewhere in z10 : ) BTW beautiful pics! Karyn

John, I am not sure the lights you have bought will give you the intensity in output to make a significant difference. The so called 100 watt equivalent CFL bulbs give you only about 1,600 lumens each. Just for comparison my 400 watt metal halide grow lamp puts out 32,000 lumens. Take a look at these bulbs, they are much brighter: http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-105-Fluorescent-Daylight-Photography/dp/B004L75BGQ/ref=sr_1_17?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1360072582&sr=1-17&keywords=daylight+cfl+bulb http://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-105-Fluorescent-Daylight-Photography/dp/B004L75BGQ/ref=sr_1_5?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1360072904&sr=1-5&keywords=daylight+cfl+bulb+studio IMHO, multiple lamps are not ideal. It gives too many sources of glare to the eyes. I think a bounced even all around ambient bright illumination feels the best. I believe humans react to light more than just visually by eyes. That's why blind people can also have SAD problems. Also, a blue incandescent light does not give more blue light than a regular white incandescent light. You may also look into getting a dust/dawn light to wake you up in the morning, and to put you to sleep at night. Looking at the picture of your office, I have a few suggestions: 1. Have your monitors oriented away from the window. Your pupil react to bright window light and contracts, making it a strain to view the text on the monitors. So you compensate by turning the screens to their brightest, but that create another problem to the eyes when it gets dark outside. In addition, for visitors to your office, the displays on the screens can be a distraction. I don�t know in your line of work whether it is important to provide privacy to the materials displayed. For some businesses that is a legal requirement. Do you have glass wall/door to your office? I noticed that you hang your coat on the chair, and not on the coat hook behind the door. 2. I am sure you have tried to set up your monitors most comfortable to your own preference. To me, it seems the monitors should be about 3" lower. I think that would be more ergonomic. Also, if you stack the monitors there will be less neck issues. Most multi-monitor traders have there monitors stacked (see link below). Where you spend the most time, everything contributes to your general well being. Gina, "--A friend of ours had us look at a site where you can figure out the solar azimuth angle over your home - but it was, uh, geekily complicated, LOL.�" It can be complicated to figure out the angle of the sun based on the time of day, the day of the month, the month of the year and your geographic longitude and latitude. Solar panels are coming down in price quickly, in anticipation of using solar energy, I have designed and built an instrument known as Heliodon, which can give the angle of the sun based on many criteria in seconds without doing any figuring. It can also be very useful in building a house to optimize orientation, window locations, and placement of gardens. dcarch My Heliodon Here is a link that might be useful: