I'm sorry about your loss also. I felt so badly. I would have removed her if she seemed stressed but she seemed to be doing just fine. I knew I'd end up having babies one day but this is so special because, one it is my first and second because I lost mama. I'm just so full of smiles with my little fishies. On a side note, Summer (my senior dog) must like them too because she tried to take a swim with them tonight. Thank God she is okay but my knees are knocked up from the rocks and my rocks are a mess. Now I'm going to have to give her a good inspection and make sure none of them hurt her. I just noticed a bit ago that a pretty big one fell in the pond and I hope it didn't fall anywhere on her. Not a good night to start my work week on.

- I've been taught in the past that for outside pots - especially big ones - it is necessary to place broken dishes or gravel at the bottom of the pot. I've used styrofoam popcorn for packaging to do this too. Is this really necessary? No, it's not really necessary, as long as the pot drains well .... and you don't plan to move the pot around too much. They can get heavy when full of wet soil. People use stuff in the bottoms of pots for a number of reasons - portability, drainage, saving $$ on soil. If you're using the styrofoam peanuts, make sure they're the kind that don't dissolve with moisture. - Are saucers below the pots necessary too? Last year we had so much rain I had to constantly go around and empty those saucers. They're not necessary either, unless you're concerned about water damage to wooden decks and such. Generally, I don't use them, but I do have a few pots with saucers, only because water runs out of them just as fast as I put it in. Drainage holes are too big, I guess. - Can you reuse the soil in a container from the previous year? A lot of folk who garden in containers say no, don't reuse the soil, but I do. It's hard enough hauling that stuff up here to begin with, and potting mix is not exactly dirt-cheap. Unless the particular pot of soil previously held a diseased or really buggy plant, I'll toss the top inch or two of the soil and mix in a little fresh soil, or compost. Mix in some worm castings, or bat guano, or Osmocote, and we're good to go. Works for me. - What about barrels... I obviously can't change the soil in there - OK, I could, but I have other priorities - so how do I amend it? Can I put Compost in there? Don't have any experience with barrels, but they are just really big pots, right? Treat them the same. We'll be waiting for the pics .... PV

Your plant is a Peperomia obtusifolia, aka 'Baby Rubber Plant'. But that name is a bit unhelpful as 'Rubber Plant' usually denotes Ficus elastica and until I saw the picture I thought you had a baby one of those ;-). They are very easy to propagate just by cutting pieces off at a node and inserting in growing medium, or even a glass of water. You'll find plenty of help if you have more questions over on the House Plant Forum which is much livelier than this one. Here is a link that might be useful: House Plant Forum

Thanks Vagas and Tclynx. I had the cocoons in a plastic bag w/o air or food. Just worm doo and cocoons which aren't that recognizable to me yet. I could not imagine leaving them in the plastic bag vagas, so I prepared a bed of peat moss/a couple cups of cornmeal/ and a couple cups of wellllll rotted bagged cow manure that has been laying out in the weather for about 3 years/and a few handfuls of small shredded paper to break up all that dirt looking stuff. Well Mixed and damp. I poured the plastic bag of worm cocoons out onto this mixture in the bin and covered it with a layer of dry shredded paper. I did put some drain holes in the bottom, and I did put another container w/o holes under that to capture any liquid excess or baby worms that might fall through and of course the brick to keep the upper plastic container from falling down below the air holes. And I did put a soaked piece of cardboard box down in my bin to cover the holes for the babies to lay on,first thing. I did that about 3 days ago with the cocoons and I don't see any babies yet, but since I am still afraid I will damage them if I put my hands down in the mixture to look, that doesn't mean they aren't there, I'm sure. In the meantime, I am down to opening and looking at the worms only about 3 times a day and that IS a struggle for me. I put the 3 containers together like Vaga said. The worms are awfully skinny and aren't moving too fast just yet. It has been only about a week and a half since I put them(1000) in there and NOW I can see that they are eating the bedding up and pretty quickly. So, Friday, I set the second prepared container that makes the tiered bin on top of that W/Oa brick (The worms around outside are all laying under heavy stuff so I figured the small weight of the container could be helpful) and I put about 1/2 lb or less of kitchen scraps and coffee grounds and of course shredded paper in it in case they wanted more to eat. They really are skinny. I have never seen such skinny little worms. I am sure they must grow (red wigglers)bigger. Anyway, Today when I looked at them, I DID find that they are migrating up into the food...or at least about 20 of them have so far. Out of fear that they would attempt to escape and inadvertantly commit suicide, I placed the whole 3 layer bin in a large black garbage bag leaving it open and loose in case they try to explore outside the box while I am gone. That way, I won't find them dried up on the floor or step on them. Once I saw that they weren't trying to get away, I took the bin out of the bag. Not one fatality due to escape...not one worm in the bag either. =o) So, I am learning not to sit and prowl through their bedding to see what they are doing.....all the time. Just nervous about them I guess. Trial and error is the way of life, I suppose. I will either get more worms, or they will not do well for me. Thanks so much for your input. It helps to know that you guys are out there willing to share the information with me. =o)