Hi, Peppers like it real real warm. Last year, not knowing this, I tried starting them from April with no success until June. This year however, I started my bell peppers, Indian red hot peppers on March 3rd. I put them in a closed Ferrymorse seed starter tray with the transparent plastic lid on and left it in sun every day and brought it back in at night so as not to lose the warmth gained. Also, I would mist them with warm water when the pellets went dry. The yellow bell peppers sprouts were seen on March 16th. So, it took 13 days for these and most of the seeds germinated. My Indian red hots however took until March 25th (most if not all pellets had sprouts) and just a couple days ago I could see my red bell pepper sprout(just one out of 10 seeds). The not so many sprouts for red bell pepper may be partially because I am using the seed packet that was purchased for the 2008 summer season. If its not sunny, I put my seed starter trays on top of the clothes dryer when its turned on so that the heat helps. Do not get discouraged if you do not see sprouts soon, cos it may take a while, as peppers like really warm weather like upto 80 degrees. I observed that the more sun they get, the more the harvest and the more the heat. Good Luck!

Hi Mehitabel! I have no idea - I didn't really do it on purpose. The first time (2 years ago) my grandpa tipped over my japonica by accident and 'repotted it' by shoving it, roots and all, into a larger pot with pellets around it. It flourished! And then in the summer one of my dends toppled over and I did the same thing because I ran out of everything except pellets. It was supposed to be a temporary thing, but it grew roots into the pellets, so I left it. The only time I did it intentionally was last summer when I repotted my neofinetia - I mounted the sphag into the ball, and put the ball into a larger pot with pellets around it. It's growing roots down the sides of the sphag now, so we'll see if it likes the pellet thing. Anyway this doesn't necessarily mean this technique DOES anything positive at all - I mean, it's highly possible that the plants would have had the same root growth anyway. Who knows? I don't have enough of the same plant to do a well controlled experiment! :D The only evidence I have is that I have 2 sedireas and the one in the 'weird' potting is doing much better than the one in the conventional potting material (they're both fine though). Hey - maybe one pot was closer to the window and got more light! Who knows. The barrier to drainage thing isn't making sense in my head - if you have sphag in a clay pot with the sphag right up against the clay, versus sphag in a larger pot with a layer of pellets around it, isn't the sphag in contact with a different material in both cases? Jane: yeah I thought along the same lines - with pellets in media improving airflow and all that jazz. I haven't tried mixing it in extensively though. I may experiment with some plants just to see what happens - we know that sometimes things behave differently in different conditions! I like trying new things, even if they were never designed for something in the first place - I know someone who grows catt seedlings in styrofoam pellets which were left-overs from packing Anyway yeah usual disclaimer - I'm not advising anyone to follow in my footsteps - just presenting what worked for me, and I'm still in the 'experimental' stages of orchid growing (do we ever really leave that stage??)

Good Day, ladies, Lucille, I'm so happy you got your trays and book. Great news. You'll be busy for some time playing with your new toys and book. You're saying the trays come in different sizes? When viewing the site I only saw one size, but didn't have time to read all the info either, so probably missed it. I was shocked by their shipping costs. 30 something dollars..Yikes. How did you talk them down? LOL..I'm wondering if 30.00 is actual shipping costs or they include handling like so many other sellers are doing. How did you determine the right size? How many plants fit on each tray? Do they fit according to pot size. I think you said you bought 29 trays..How many AV's fit on each tray, and what size pots are your AV's in? You also mentioned these trays are thicker than those sold at Walmart. Are the trays you're referring to used for sowing seeds? The type Peat Pellets or Jiffy Pots are set in? If that's the case, I've got several. Before getting a gh, I used to sow annuals seed every winter/spring. Still have most of the trays. I agree, they are lightweight, so I double or tripple.. You've given me an idea though, Lucy..thank so much. I use two trays for a Coffee tree, a couple small Hibisucs, Azalea, and Ming Aralia. Since I have extras, I'll see how they work with AV's. Each tray would probably hold, 12, 4" pots. The minimum, 9 pots. I don't have an extra shelf to set AV's, they have to sit atop 3 single shelves in the LR windows. One shelf w/lighting isn't sufficent for AV's, so in winter, I place lower light plants or plants in dormancy. I'm really happy you got your goodies..I wish you'd take a pic of AV's on a tray to give me an idea what it looks like. BTW, I was reading your Bio..You have parrots? Do you mind if I ask their types? birds are the best. Anyway, thanks for the help.. Irina, it's too late..I've already contracted the AV bug..LOL..I'm planning on getting a Tiger, but waiting till cc statement is PIF. LOL. I also want to order the two books, Growing AV's and Growing to Show, but that too will have to wait. But I will, definately buy both books. About soil or soil less mixes, I'm afraid to pot in a completely soil less mix. I've been growing plants in soil so long, to change now is frightening..LOL. Don't get me wrong, my mix contains non-soil mediums like Perlite/Peat/Vermiculte/sand, but I still add soil, too. There are so many experiements I want to try, one is using a completely soil less mix, another is deadheading flowers so nutrients focus on foliage, last, breeding flowers..LOl..Is that what it's called? In my AV Orthos books, one article details how it's done..It sounds easy enough, but waiting is the thing..How long does it take for an AV seed to germinate? Its' been some time since reading the article. I beleive it was stated AV seeds can take up to a year to germinate.. Also converting soil to completely soil lees would be like starting over. I don't water any plant by schedule. (Fertilizing and ST is planned by date.) The AV magazine should soon arrive. I'm hoping between GW and the mag will explain AV care from novice to pro. I hope..(S) How are you girls today? Do you garden outdoors? How about indoor plants? Or dedicatated to AVs alone? Toni

You just might think you have 2 or 3 "Active" squirrels gardengrl. I betting you're wrong. I thought I had been averaging about three locals that have stripped a plum tree bare 7 years running. Since I've started growing more produce in my yard I've observed the following about FL Squirrels. They will eat plums, lettuce, swiss chard, spinach, tomatoes, green beans, green bean flowers, rose buds, grapes, blackberries and blueberries. I have personally observed them eating all of these things in my yard. I have also had them in the attic on more than one occassion. I thought I had rats making all that noise - surprise, it was a squirrel in my peanut butter baited rat trap. They are destroying all my hard work so I finally resorted to a squirrel specific tube trap. What I thought were 2 or 3 has turned out to be 13 in less than two weeks and there were two more investigating the trap this morning. You likely have a plague of squirrels brought about by peanut pushing neighbors. At least that's my problem.