Hey Deburn..love your last line--this girlfriend thing takes a lot of time...lol.. Don't forget it was she who bought you a really nice gift. lol. Deburn, are green/red berries that grow after Murraya flowers, seeds? If so, do you sow the entire berry, 'after it's mature/red,' or are smaller seeds inside the berry? Two of my units take two bulbs, the others, one..Since your kit takes one bulb, go with a Gro-Light.. Home Depot sells one Gro-Light type, 'at least our nearest HD,' but many nurseries, 'local and online' sell different varieties. For instance, Gro-light for flowering plants, a second for foliage types. Do you mean two prong plug with a ground? Another item you can buy at most hardware stores. Prongs are slipped into the adapter, 'adapter has a hole for ground.' The adapter then fits in a two-prong, standard outlet. No biggie..Adapters are usually under 2.00. So, have you set up your kit? Toni

Whitecat, In keeping with the title of this thread, I killed my first three phals and most of an oncidium--then I received a phal as a gift, and for 3 years it refused to die, grew and bloomed despite neglect--then I decided I should learn more about orchids, and take better care of it...needless to say I nearly killed it, over fertilized I think, burned the roots right off, three pairs of leaves got all limp and wrinkled I kept it that way for about 6 months before I got the nerve to repot (from tight sphagnum moss to a bark mix) would you believe it perked right up, two months later the leaves are firm and upright, there are several new roots and two spikes that are about 6-8 inches long... Now I have 20 orchids scattered around my living room, half are phals, one phrag, three onc, 2 catts, a vanda, a paph a zygo and a tolumnia. I've rebloomed most of the phals and the phrag, most of the others I've had less than a year, so we'll have to wait and see. I'm putting together an order for some seedlings from Byrd's... nick

Grant, I am keeping it simple with the tomatoes this year. Last year I bought an assortment of heirloom seeds off eBay and lost track of who was who, so I had delicious tomatoes but no idea what I was eating. This year for seeds I am trying aunt ruby german green, cherokee purple, and a variety of cherries. I am pushing Summer Winds here in Mesa to get in the new batch of heirlooms early, and will check the Phoenix farmer's market. I found someone who will give me 15 gallon plant containers, so I will be growing in compost/ steer manure mixtures and in the ground. Grant, were you the one who posted pictures months ago of tomato plants in compost bins? Not sure if it was someone else. I tried it, and that plant is still thriving even though I never cover it and never water it! Can't wait for Feb 15th-- will put everybody outside and watch the weather (just in case of a freak frost.) Dale

Phil, the term F2 is usually used to mean a hybrid that has been self-pollinated. This rescrambles the genetic material from the various species that make up its background, so the resulting seedlings will not be identical to the parent. The more complex the parentage of the hybrid is, i.e. the more different species involved, the more diversity you will get from the F2 generation. With a species, on the other hand, there is no diversity in its background, so a self-pollination should produce a fairly uniform population. A selfed seedling of B. vittata is still B. vittata, so there's no need to add F2 to the name. Domingos Martins is a cultivar of B. vittata (not a hybrid), so theoretically it should come pretty true too, but none of my seedlings look exactly like the parent. Pretty close, but I would be disappointed if I bought one expecting it to look exactly like the original. That's why I add F2 to the tag so people will know it's not the same clone. I don't know what the official rules are in cases like this, but a cultivar is supposed to be a distinct and recognizeable clone that has been propagated vegetatively (by pups), so it doesn't seem right to call a variable seed-grown population all 'Domingos Martins'. They're still all B. vittata, but there are other forms of vittata too, so that didn't seem like enough either. If anyone here is fluent in the rules of botanical nomenclature, please chime in!