Stitz - I love tillandsia and I have a little one I bought years ago that has now spontaneously split into 3 plants. They hang around my mounted plants and catch all the moisture - I really want some spanish moss but can't find any here in Canada. Tommyr - these are really neat but always struck me as being too small and overpriced. What is your take on things? Terpguy - as I said: I like to tinker :) As for watering, to each his own! I really do not enjoy watering at all, and my plants suffer for it. I had automatic misters that I wasn't happy with so now I water daily by hand. It is enjoyable but I'm not organized enough to wake up on time to water and also make it to work at a decent hour. This is life. Let me clarify a little what this sort of setup would be like. An aeroponics setup wouldn't actually involve dunking. The plants are grown in baskets that are sunken into a mist reservoir. If the mist is set on a timer, then basically you would have mist pumping through every few hours through the roots. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6o5LTl6GJw&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brvJ2fGXusU (under 32 bucks) As for aesthetics, this is where the fun and creativity comes in...your reservoir could potentially be anything, from a rubber maid tub to a sleek transparent acrylic tank, to a beautiful lined mahogany cabinet. My orchidarium is an ugly thing, but it gets the job done...that said, there are absolutely gorgeous tanks out there. When I have the time and money, I too will get one. I would love a green house, but living in a townhouse with 0 garden makes that an impossibility - I make do with what I have :) Anyway, you're completely right in saying that the average windowsill grower will have no use for such a device. Personally I would never suggest actually marketing this in any way. It's the same reason why laminar flow hoods for seed flasking, or ready-built orchidariums are really not very popular at all in the orchid growing world; most people are content with windowsill growing, or can afford the luxury of a greenhouse. But for those of us who just 'have to' grow some plants, alternative innovations are inevitable (try growing draculas in a downtown apartment!) and sometimes when you're bitten by the bug, it's surprising how far a little stretching of the imagination to create the perfect environment can accomplish. This is, of course, the reason that despite the hassle, money and time spent, there is still a huge group of people who enjoy constructing orchidariums, cold-grow boxes, terrariums etc.

Beautiful jagasian! Congratulations and thank you for your well organized list of techniques and observations....plus the reminder to change my reservoir water. I've been doing aeroponic cloning of conifers on and off for a few years now with mixed results. My sprayers are on a timer which has them come on for only a few seconds at 30 minute intervals (which is hard on the pumps). I really like the idea of a fogger and wonder if you would please post a photo of how it is positioned in the cloner? I've always waited until the cuttings were well rooted before transferring them out of the cloner, to the point of sometimes even having to trim roots. Mine are potted into the smallest container the roots will fit into (usually a 3 inch pot) using my propagation mix of 3 parts coarse perlite and 1 part fine coir. The roots are fragile and may clump together so I gently spread the roots apart inside their empty pot, then carefully add media around the roots. If your potting mix is dry it will flow nicely around the roots, then water immediately. Since cloners are usually indoors, along the shock of being transferred, the newly potting cuttings should be babied for a while with humidity and shade. Ken's suggestion of continuing your experimentation by potting up cuttings at different stages of root growth is definitely worth doing to find what works best for you. Please post updates as things progress! Barbara

i have never found ANY use for peat pots... frankly.. based on my historical multitude of failures with them.. i decided you needed to use them in a very high tech greenhouse ... of which.. you aint got ... i would suggest.. that you find the latin name of anything you are trying to 'propagate'.. and the add that word after.. and google every single plant for information about how to do it ... otherwise.. you are basically asking us to write the book for you ... in a post reply ... you might also want to look into Dirr's book on propagation of woody plants .... there are no generalized all encompassing rules.. that shotgun every plant ... but one i might suggest .. is most of this is not done.. with cutting.. in summer ... air layering is.. but not cuttings.. but general rules are usually wrong .. lol .. just wait and see .. lol also ... there are very specific requirements to the age of the wood that will root ... also google nearing frames.. the first link looks pretty interesting: http://users.stargate.net/~rocketmn/nearing.htm and finally.. i would suggest you learn to sterilize EVERYTHING ... 10% bleach for the hardware.. and temp for media ... see link ... good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Yes, I use seed starter soul to do all of my cuttings because it is very light and fine soil with very good drainage. That's what the Jiffy disks are made of. It also retains moisture very well which is key to getting cuttings to root. You have to keep them damp but not soggy or they will rot. You can buy small bags of the seed starter soil and they are a little cheaper than buying the disks I think. I use small clear plastic cups with a hole punched in the bottom and stick my cuttings in those. That way I can SEE when I have roots forming through the clear sides of the cups! No tugging to find out if it's rooted yet or not. I lost several doing that in the beginning. Keep at it. You'll find your success rate improves with practice. And don't be afraid to experiment and try new things. That's how we all learn!