Here's my take. I know we all have our preferences but I never blame a medium for problems. That is just me. Here again, however, we have a testimonial from someone who deciding that their mix is too 'soggy' repots into something more open but then experiences continued problems now perhaps due to too dry conditions leading to brittle, dead, roots that don't develop. The unassisted (by artificial light) west window is at once too much light and too little! Your area can see frequent clouds and I suspect an atlas would show your locale receiving less than 180 clear days out of 365. IMO this is too little for good growth of anything but 'low light' species. OTOH when the sun 'is' shining and temps are up in the mid-80's possibly higher that is too much, even I admit that. The only recourse is to shade away the worst of the natural light. What is left will not cause heat stress or scorch but neither will it be able to put size into a p-bulb. The difference must be made up artificially. If someone knows of another way I would like to hear it. When orchids stall, sulk or otherwise go on strike the reason will always be found outside of the pot. Too litttle (rarely too much) light, too little or too much heat, too little or too much ventilation... external causatives. Water 1x/wk for a plastic pot, 2x/wk for a clay pot regardless of what is in it and call it good! Do not spray or mist or otherwise try to 'top up' orchid pots. That way lies madness and also root rot. With experience will come the ability to experiment in ways that will not harm your plants. Until then its best to follow some rules. They won't always be a perfect fit but they work for quite a lot of growers new and old. H

Good day. I'm a greenhouse manager and I have a few thoughts that you might consider in building a greenhouse. 1. Plastic vs. Glass Double-poly is much better for heat retention (higher R value) but transmits less light than glass. Poly does not last as long, but is much less expensive to set up. Generally, unless you are building a GH (greenhouse) for commercial practices, the savings from building plastic are probably worth it, especially in a climate where you want to heat. 2. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Generally the bottle-neck of photosynthesis is CO2. In the general atmosphere there are about 340 ppm. In a greenhouse, the plants tend to use CO2 quickly as they grow and so the CO2 ppm (parts per million) drop. One way to solve this is to vent a lot of the time to keep the ppm closer to the ambient levels you would find in your garden. A commercial greenhouse would increase the ppm to 800 or 1000 ppm (maybe higher depending on the crop) and get about a 50% increase in photosynthesis. If they are venting a lot, however, they may only try to maintain 500 ppm, because it's a cost to add CO2. You might look into a CO2 generator that runs on natural gas. They are not terribly expensive (although I have no idea what budget you are working with) and could give you a 50% increase in photosynthesis (and, thus growth). 3. Moisture Regulating humidity levels is tricky, and if you're not around a lot can be a problem. This is especially true in a soil floor GH. In the GH, the relative humidity will climb, especially at night, leading to problems of botrytis and other diseases much more easily than would affect a garden plant. (This is one of many reasons that almost no professional greenhouses leave exposed soil in their GH, though there are some old school places and a few types of cut flower production still done in the soil where exposed soil is necessary.) Commercial greenhouses use computers to keep the RH (relative humidity) regulated, generally below 86% depending on crop, since many serious diseases require environmental conditions slightly above this to germinate. If you really have to grow in soil, you might consider using plastic mulch and planting the pumpkins in the holes in the plastic sheets. This would minimize the exposed soil, and help keep your RH more in control. You also really should get Horizontal Airflow Fans (HAF). Install them so that there is a continuous circulation of air above the crop. This keeps pockets of higher moisture from accumulating around the plants and significantly decreases diseases, aside from a number of other benefits. 4. Pests There are a number of pests that are more likely to infest a GH crop than a garden crop. The conditions are particularly perfect for certain insects. It means that it is well worth your while to learn to identify them, and watch your crop more carefully than you would a garden crop. You might want to put in yellow sticky cards and keep track of how many insects of various types are trapped on it. There are a lot of good biological insect controls available that are more useful inside an enclosed space than outdoors. If you know what insects are affecting your plants and in what quantity, you can use these biologicals and avoid spraying (in Canada, almost no commercial vegetable greenhouse sprays biologicals are almost exclusively used. This is a change in the industry in the last five years.) Having an open floor also means that some insects, such as thrips, are more able to breed. (Another reason to cover it, in my opinion). 5. Watering The greenhouse gets hotter easier and plants dry out more quickly. But timing of irrigation is important because the moisture from irrigating is more likely to affect your RH negatively. Be more careful of when you irrigate (try to avoid it at night even more so than in your garden). Anyway, I've rambled long enough. Good luck with it all.

Hi, Did you resolve your problem? If not............... Treat this like a watermark on furniture. A few options: Goo Be Gone. If it is on the surface, this will loosen the stain. Start with a small area so you can see what is going on with the finish. You can also try a Magic Eraser. Be careful with this. Use it just on the faded area and again, watch the finish. Finally, check your local Walmart for Formby's furniture cleaner. If it will come off, this will take it off without harming the finish. If there was a finish on your hardwoods, it isn't likely that the stain went through to the wood. Good Luck.

Hi Karen, I agree completely and I can relate to your story too. I gained 30 or so pounds since meeting my DH, 15 of which are already back off... but I was never so grateful that he never NEVER mentioned it. He's happy I'm losing it and gives encouragement, but he always said it was me he wanted to be with, not my body. It was me who had the issue of being overweight. I think Straycat speaks for all women when she says... "...Whether she is fat, skinny, built like a brick house or a bowling ball-she hopes and she prays her husband shes the woman inside the skin and loves every inch of her inside and out. But, when he doesn't she slowly becomes more and more empty and that is when the numbness sets in. It's hard, very hard for that to ever be replaced with love, the trust just isn't there. When that happens it's hard for her to give herself-to the same man." "...You are still in the physical stage of a relationship after all these years. Too bad, and to think...you've been married to the SAME woman all these years and you have never SEEN HER. " "...If you'd seen her through the eyes of love how would she have looked?" WOW~WOW~WOW How many of us have felt invisible/are feeling invisible right now? That Straycat can speak so completely for me, with all of our differences in opinion, says a lot. I think this is one of the core truths. THIS is how a woman (or man) becomes empty. This is the hole through which the love pours to the ground. This is the echo never answered.