Hello ladies! Been raking leaves like a crazed person as I live below at least a million maple trees and alders and wild cherry and they would bury my house if I didn't keep up on a daily basis. That wheelbarrow with the remaining corms is STILL sitting on my porch, taunting me every day when I stagger home from work. I wish they would just GO AWAY! And now, like the nitwit I am, Brecks sent me a catalog with a coupon for $25.00 worth of free bulbs! Guess who immediately sat down and figured out how to get those free bulbs without paying a single penny? Yup, yours truly. So now I've got the wheelbarrow full of the damn corms and another bag full of way too many iris bulbs! I think I need to go to "bulb rehab" or something, I can't stop myself and now I'm in even more trouble than before. I didn't know where to put the remaining 2 million corms and now where do I possibly think I'm gonna find a spot for the bloody iris? I'm sick I tell you....sick! It is nearly mid-Octobre and these things gotta get in the ground, so I think I'm going with the "dig a trench and dump" philosophy of corm and bulb planting! I know you real bulb people are all having cows regarding my sloppy methods but why didn't you all write to me and tell me to not plant things that were going to multiply like angry rabbits? I blame you. Totally! IT'S NOT MY FAULT. Nothing is. I am blame free and sleep like a baby. Only on occassion do I wake up with the fear that a huge bag of corms is lying under the covers. Ademink.......I'm gonna try to find you, just a warning! And if I can find this "plant exchange" you talked about, I will send you, free of charge, a massive amount of crocosmia corms and then maybe you won't find me so "amusing!" Greenlydia

Jo, it could be next year or the year after that your Fragrant Dew Drop reveals its true identity. Then no mystery. I'm wondering if the new registration by IdiotHe might be one I asked him about too. If so, when it becomes available for general distribution, I would love to have it in my garden. My DH's youngest child is named that. Or so I presume if it is the hosta I saw listed. Also, I have to go through my Back40 and retake pictures of the hosta which arrived all on one day, 4 orders, almost broke my system of record keeping. They are all looking pretty spiffy now. Only, I've avoided working in that area a lot since the mosquitos are bad there, where the air is still. I cruise through it looking for southern blight and such, but don't stand around long. That's where I bumped into a square plastic pot that was very heavy, and punctured my leg...wound up with leg up to avoid infection until the hole filled in and the red stuff went away. Plus my new Brothers P-labeler is here now, and I can make name tags to view without removing the originals from the pot. Also, have not watered in about two weeks, there is more than sufficient rain, like 4 inches in about an hour a few days back. Our temps are in the mid 80s but with really high humidity. Oppressive heavy air. Even my DH, who poo-pooed running a fan in his workshop, now has it going. It's his first summer this far south, and he cannot get over the humidity and its attendant health issues for the plants, hosta and veggie alike.

While I agree with all of the above statements, my take on it is this. First only one person waters the plants just in case there is miscommunication in who watered what with what. Take off a good leaf and start it. Just in case you lose your mama plant. Second and this seems to be the most important in your statement. it sounds as if you are "yoyo" watering. Being inconsistent in watering. This forced the plant to alternate between too wet and bone dry. Kind of like feast or famine. Many mediums soak up water at different rates depending on what they are made of. If they are mostly peat you can water and the water will run through but that doesn't mean the entire root ball got watered the way it should have. In your case you may not have watered enough from the bottom to the top. If your plant is having trouble soaking up water put ONE drop of liquid dish soap (no it doesn't matter what brand.) in the water you water with. You don't want bubble bath, but the soap breaks the surface tension of the soil, allowing the plant medium to soak up water better. Bottom watering should mean you place the plant in a pot bigger than it is, add ONE drop of soap to the water (also keeps bugs away.), water the plant from the TOP and let the excess drain into the pot. Then let the plant soak up as much as it can in about 1/2 hour. Drain and don't water again until the plant is ALMOST dry, just a little damp. Don't let your plant go so dry that it is bone dry. When you do this you will lose fine feeder roots that sustain your plant. You should water again when the soil medium is still slightly damp. If you take your dry plant and put it in a larger container and literally water it from the bottom without wetting the top first, it may work if you have a good soil mix. If you don't have a good soil mix, it will work eventually but it may take a loooooong time to get wet again. Also run a small fan to circulate the air around your plant(s). And space them apart. If you only have one plant this won't apply. But make sure you are consistent in watering. As far as tea or coffee, I put my left overs in my plants. I dilute it with a little water first just to be sure. (of what I don't know! lol) I don't think it hurts but make sure there is no sugar or cream in it. Don't laugh, had a friend who put coffee (with cream) in her plant until it started to stink! Rosie

I'm outta sunny rm when it comes to bringing all my EEs in for the winter. So most of their corms will be cured which I'll try for the first time. But I will bring some in. The first one will be the Mojito because I don't want to chance losing its tuber after reading that...thanks. It's just 2ft tall and only keeps about 3 leaves up at a time. Spider mites have been a problem on my indoor plants over the past 2 winters so I'll be looking for a better solution for that. My Freida Hemple Caladium was full grown on April 20 of this year when I bought it and that's when the below pic was taken. It nearly doubled in size before it went dormant: Around Sept 1 its last leaf died. So I removed the root/soil mass from the pot, let that dry for a few days, then removed the dirt & cut the longer roots and dried it a few more days. I'll probably pot it again soon so I can have it growing inside for the winter. But how long should I wait before potting it again? What's the minimum time? Below are the 3 bulbs/rhizomes that are from the above plant and are shown on 1/4" mesh. The 2 on the left are upside down. There are less roots on the bottoms and more near the tops. The one on the right has 3 large main nodes. I left some of the petiole remnants on them so I know which way is up: None of my other Caladiums are at this point yet, but my Thai Giant EE stopped growing in early August...it still has 2 good leaves on it. Hmm. I may try a Amorphophallus konjac if it grows well indoors in the winter. Why do some have green leaves only, some have green leaves and an inflorescence, and others have only the inflorescence?