i want to do trade for hosta green and maybe your green white 2 email jimandshelia1976@wmconnect.com

Thanks for the nice words, everyone! Allegan Fog is in its 5th or 6th year, I am not exactly sure. It it was scraggly for the first few years. I am really proud of that one. Yeah Moc, what do I have to lose. I will send it in although they do have a number of pictures of it. I did send in three last night and they only accepted one. Nippers looks better than that, I took that pic after it rained and it had mud on it. Gotta get some mulch in there! I swear, Summer Breeze glows in the moonlight. Dark Star is wonderful. I love the cascading, ripply leaves. Hostapedia says size is 21"x52", but this one is about that and looks like it might get a little larger. chris

hey all ... i am going to try to do this in sequence .. if i start skipping all around .... i will miss things ... so culling will not be covered for months ... seeds are all OP .... from all my streakers .. and some neat others.. like deep blue sea, Niagara falls, golden gate ... heat ... i did remember that i got my heat pad.. believe it or not.. at a beer making store.. go figure on that ... as noted.. i will use it to warm soil for germination .... i don't know as of today if i will use it beyond that ... as for ambient heat ... the house at 63 .. zowee ... you are brave .. .lol ... lets step back and think about what the hosta do outside ... 63 sounds about consistent with my late may .. the plants are expanding .... but the issue is soil temp i would think ... think about the effect of the sun on the soil ... though the temp might only be 63 .. i would bet a buck the soil could be a lot warmer on sunny days .... so if you house.. or your basement is this cold .. i think that if you want to do a good job .. you will have to think about getting the temps up ..... especially soil temp .... i doubt the leaves care what the temp is.. its the root temp that matters .... also think about when you might see volunteers in the garden .. you do not see them in early spring.. it appears they will need a higher SOIL temp to germinate.. and grow... also ... soil temperature will be an issue when the lights aren't on .... i usually run the lights all night long when the furnace kicks down to 62 ... and have my off time during the day when the furnace is on ... so the lights moderate the temperature fluctuations .... i cant really solve your problems regarding temperature for each of you .. i only offer suggestions as to what parameters you need to work with ... if it were cold in the house.. i might consider tenting the setup ... but it would be a big tent .... like a mini greenhouse in the basement .... even a plain old 100 watt light bulb inside a tent will add heat ... if you think it all out.. you don't need to spend all that much money on stuff .... but working with water and electricity means you HAVE TO BE SAFE ABOUT IT ALL .... the lights are hung with #16 hardware chain ... as noted .. and are adjustable .. they must ALWAYS be within 2 or 3 inches of the plants ... BUT IF YOU PLAN ON LEAVING FOR A FEW DAYS ... you have to adjust the lights up .. or the hosta will grow into them and scorch ... a dollar store thermometer.. is a good addition to the growing area.. so you can keep track and make adjustments ... i can tell you right now.. on a 37 degree morning.. my cement room is holding at about 65 degrees ... when i finish putting the stand all together ... i will run the lights all night .. and see what the temp is in the area .... guessing just doesn't work ... knowledge is power ... go figure on that ... lol .... and i want to start thinking about these things BEFORE I START THE SEEDS .... link to trays is below ... i built this setup to grow violets a lifetime ago ... the down side to the trays is that i can not put nursery flats across the short way ... but i only use those for sprouting ... as you will see later .... the upside is that spills are contained ... away from electricity .. since they are stacked on top of each other ... culling.. we will cover that in a few months .... the early answer is BE BRUTAL.... it is my position .. that if you focus the bifocals .. even a one inch plant has all the traits it will have in 5 years .... there will be waves.. red... streaks ... plain old greens ... must die .... maybe if it has a lot of red .. or some nice waves.. it will survive the first cull ... if i plant Niagara falls ... and i get a yellow out of it .. with a wave.. now that might be cool ... if i plant golden gate .. and i get a blue out of it .. etc ... i am looking for something unique ... the point of doing your own crosses is to have a goal in mind ... once you establish a goal ... then culling is very easy .. because .. only the ones that further the goal are kept.. the downside to growing OP seeds .... is that you have no goal .. so you think you have to save them all ... that by definition is a nightmare.. been there.. done that .. lol ... a goal ... lets say i want a manhattan that is yellow ... i would take manhattan pollen to a good yellow plant ... and try to get a corragated yellow.. so every seedling that comes from those pods that isnt yellow. .. will die ... culling is easy when you have goals ... too much white ... they are called TERMINAL WHITES .... you may get them to live in a perfect setting in your little Eden ... but they will die ... so why fool with them for months ... this is enough for now... i hope i answered all the questions above this post .... be patient ... we will try to cover everything ... we have nothing else to do all winter.. lol gotta run ... so forgive me if i cant reread the whole thing .... ken Here is a link that might be useful: tray info

johnatemp, ty so much for the tips. I'm going to copy this and save for DH. He'll need all the help he can get when coming time to paint :) kmc, I really do love the antique what. I just wonder what it'd look like with my bright white trim. rose, I'd love if lowes or someone here would offer making us a template, but I asked. They said they'd only do that if THEY were installing. I even offered to pay them to come double check measurements, and they said nope. I did find a local company yesterday. They claim the starting price for their laminate WITH install is $8.50. Goes up to $9 something, depending on the edge. And just $6.50, if I wanted them to just slap some new laminate on my existing counter tops. I actually talked to two smaller companys, both were about the same. Sooo..we'll see what kind of estimate I get. Both are coming out next wk. I just know I don't want to pay the $1400 for laminate that Lowes priced us at. And I know painting the cabs may be a turn off for some. But, I can't live with them any more. I really can't, lol. I've consulted my realtor, as well. She knows the area, the neighborhood, the block, my house AND my cabs, lol. And she says go for it. She thinks if I can pull it off, it'll only help set ourselves apart from the rest of cookie cutter land :)