If anyone is interested here's a link to the zinnia study. According to the university of Kentucky, Lilliput (an heirloom strain) was the strain that pulled in the most butterflies, about twice as many as the other strains.... But then I found a couple posts with people saying Lilliput was not a popular one.... So go figure. Maybe the Kentucky butterflies have different tastes? With sedums you can't always say for sure it's blooming unless you look closely, Plenty of them look great long after the blooming is done, you're admiring the red seedheads and finished blooms... It's only when the flowers are putting out nectar that the insects will be interested. Oh and I have a ton of bees and wasps this year.... Many wasps feast on caterpillars, so maybe one goes up the other goes down? I love butterflies, but when people talk abou encouraging beneficial insects they don't usually mean the butterflies.... Butterflies are sorta freeloaders, the caterpillars eat the leaves and the adults eat the nectar, but they're not the best pollinators. Bees are much better since they really get in there and do their thing. Butterflies long legs and thin 'tongue' don't move a lot of pollen. Here is a link that might be useful: Zinnia study

Ima's smooth. I read it like a fisherman throws a net. +oM, Don't go with the strain Ambrolauri. They're no good. I was on the phone with a friend today and he said he was thinking of ordering extra fir for his grafting and said he was going to ask the supplier if they had the 'hardier' nordmann strain. I wasn't sure what he meant and brought up "Ambrolauri" -which he had no clue about! Apparently, there are colder seed provinces similarly as with lots of species... three come to mind immediately: Pinus armandii, Cedrus libani, and I'll throw in Pinus parviflora because he and I spoke of that today. Osprey, good to know. I'm going to keep notes on the conifers you can grow because there are always creepers coming in and you're not around like you used to be. Thanks. TommyTsuga- thanks for heating up the conversation...;) Dax

Thanks, thedogsLL...I was pretty sure that's what they're doing based on how much castings I have in the bottom bin. Before I changed to a cloth cover, I noticed worms on my lid as well--I think they actually like the condensation and moisture, which is probably why they go down to your bottom bin too. My system is relatively dry, so I have to keep spraying the bedding in my bottom bin to keep it from drying out, which might be what attracts them. Also, can someone describe how big the cacoons are in comparison to castings? I think I've even found some of those in the bottom bin as well. I did quite a bit of "digging" in my main bin today and I already have a lot of castings in it too and noticed that it tends to build up a lot more where I've fed larger quantities of food. So does anyone have a rough idea of how quickly a ten gallon bin with two thousand worms might be ready to harvest the castings? Thanks! BB in FL

The Edit or Delete functions only apply to the originator of that comment/post. No one else has the ability to alter your comments and there is a time limit attached as well that even restricts the author's ability to do so. But the flagging option remains viable indefinitely.....and that is how spamming or contentious posts get removed. And I tend to approve wholeheartedly with that!! Spam - or blatant advertising - has no place here and some comments can be so personally abusive that they should not be allowed to stand or remain unchallenged.