I wouldn't fertilize now either. I agree rooting in spring has its benefits, but since you're trying to save the leaf at this time, you can't hold off till spring.. Like Rjm stated, diving the leaf is one way to root. Actually, I've seen pics of how rooting Sans is done..One leaf is cut into 2-3" pieces, set upright/angle in well-draining soil. The problem is, since your leaf is yellow, which normally happens when Sans are over or underwatered, this leaf may not root..When rooting, heatlhy foliage is recommeded..Neither the oldest nor youngest leaves are advised. I'm not saying your leaf is unhealthy, since it's still firm (no rot, right?) So, it might have a chance of survival with some work. It's also a good experiment. I wouldn't use the entire leaf to root. You've a better chance at success cutting into pieces. If you decide to go this route, there's no need for plastic (humidity) In fact, you want the soil to dry out to a degree, adding plstic will keep soil too wet. The best container is a small, shallow dish/tray. Set cuttings a few inches apart. Place tray in medium light (no direct sun) If you use Superthrive Hormone and Vitamins, add a small amount once a month..If you don't have/use Superthrive, perhaps a light dose of Fish Emulsion will help..a very light dose. Good luck, Toni

Dorothy, You are such a better country woman than I ever will be. I cannot bear to even look at a snake much less stand close enough to chop one with a hoe. We have lots of black snakes and the first few years we tried to tolerate them because they control rodents. Once they started wrapped themselves around our little keats and chicks and squeezing them to death, we stopped tolerating them. We see them a lot more than we see actual chicken snakes. Among the venomous snakes, I see Timber Rattlers (commonly called velvet-tail rattlers here) more than I see anything else, although I see a lot of copperheads too. We've always had lots of non-venomous water snakes but the last three years we've had cottonmouths in the lily pond. I am just about done with the lily pond for that reason and think more and more of filling it in. I'd miss the water lilies but I wouldn't miss the cottonmouths. Helen, Between our house and the Red River to our west there is one old farm/ranch. It is used mostly as a weekend place now by one of the adult children who grew up there. He has so many copperheads on his property at night that he says when he sits on his front porch at night and shines a flashlight into the yard, there will be this huge amount of snake eyes looking back at him. He just sits there on the porch and shoots them, but no matter how many he kills, more of them just keep coming. Larry, He surely did kept his wonderful sense of humor, didn't he. Dawn

Jo, any time you catch and release a critter, you can pretty well plan on it coming back. It's fine to be a humanitarian about it, just as long as you know that's what they're going to do. I think that some of them can beat you back to the property, and dumping them where they'll be a problem for someone else is not a very good plan either. I hate to have to shoot things, but there are times when it's really the only thing to do. Dawn, I know what you mean abut every day being an adventure. When I went out to check the tomatoes earlier, I found a small turtle that was feasting on a small fruit I had tossed aside. Not a terrapin. An actual turtle. I just left him alone. One of the more exciting things that happened is that I have a big bank of windows in front of my computer and around to the side, so I get a really good view of most of the pasture. One day during the heavy snow, in the middle of the afternoon, I saw something swoop down and grab a small prey and then fly up to the top of one of the sheds. I figured it was a hawk. Naturally, I got out the big binocs, because I wanted a closer look. Imagine my amazement when he turned his head and looked at me and I realized it was not a hawk at all. It was a huge owl, out hunting in mid-day! As far as those black snakes, we tried the artificial eggs, and I tried jamming the holes full of bird netting, and we shot a bunch of them. I was horrified to learn that they can kill a full-grown hen. My neighbor who raises chickens as a business is the one who told me what the problem was, after I had him come and look at a dead bird. What seemed to finally cut the population way down was when I put out that Snake Stopper powder. I've only done it once, and probably need to renew it pretty soon, but we haven't found a snake in the chickenhouse since then. Not that they can't come in and steal eggs and leave again. I just haven't seen any of them this summer. I scattered the powder when I figured snake season was about to begin, as soon as it really warmed up, and it seems to be working.. Pat

Hi Wayne, I also love snakes and do my best to relocate them, but a few years ago we came across a very pretty snake that was after a toad in my yard. I live in deep south Texas, 7 miles from the Mexican border just to give you the territory of where the snake was found. This snake was about 2 feet at most and was a light tan color with extreme pronouced brown diamonds. It was the end of February and a cool morning (low 70s) so it was moving very slow. My kids were looking at the toad and I noticed what I thought was a stick next to the toad and grabbed it to move it out of the way when I suddenly realized what it was. I dropped it right away but it moved very slow due to the cool morning. we put it in a container and took it out to a shrubby area just outside of town. Somehow I have always wondered what that snake was as I have never seen one like that before. My thought is that it may have been a copperhead snake since they range from really light to reddish copper to really dark almost black colors depending what part of the valley they are found. Still those diamonds were very pronounced on a short and thick snake. We have quite a few species down here but few poisonous ones. Any thoughts? Josie