WP - I do not think this observation is in the books My friend Thad is one of these people who talks to plants and understands their language- so it is his approach to adjust the variety to his conditions. I just can add - that's why it is better to start with a younger plants or leaves - than bring the Show winner home - it will never be as good again, Second - there are growers that have similar conditions - and I am not talking about climate - probably soil, humidity, lights etc. - you get a starter from them - it will continue growing without a shock. I get a plant from another seller - and it just sits for 6 months doing nothing. At the end - the babies I started from the leaves taken off this plant on arrival - outperform the original plant. Third observation. Several years ago there was an article abuout micronutrient toxicity in AV Magazine authored by Barbara Pershing. Basically if you neglect your AV for so long - that the soil turns very acid - you will eventually kill it. Even if you repot it - it will be permanently stunted - and even babies of it will be stunted. It is practical just to chuck the damaged goods and get it from a new source. The reason - if pH of the soil is very acidic - or very alkaline - the plant start absorbing some micronutrients in a much higher rate that i needs them - and not absorbing other nutrients and microntrients even it is starving for them. As a result the plant becomes pickled and poisoned and will never recover. I had a chance to talk to one of the consultants for this article, the lady with PhD in Chemistry. I asked her - what can I do if it is a rare plant and we need to save it. She said - try to start a leaf in distilled water and change the water often. You have the chance to leach the chemicals and get a decent progeny - may not in a first generation, but in second. So - do not give up, try to restart it from a leaf or a sucker. In my culture these trailers grow large and floriferous and bloom well. No terrarium - they wouldn't fit in. I would say that they love good light. 2 T8s are better than 2 T12. Good Luck Irina

As I was looking online for scented cultivars, I am finding that unless one finds a smaller breeder, the selection is even more limited than I'd originally thought. Was looking on Ebay, and placed bids on a couple of streps. It seems there's tons of room for smaller breeders and hybridizers in the market place than I would have expected. Noticed that at least one of the sellers on Ebay said he has a state-inspected greenhouse. I wonder what it would take to accomplish that.... :-) By the way (if anyone's interested!), one of this guy's own hybrids is now at $35.00-with an entire day+ left to go on the auction! Wow! It is a stunning plant though. If anyone's brave (and rich!), just look up Midnight Thunder Streptocarpus on Ebay. The link was way too long to post! Best, Judy

I can not agree with the McAfee praise I had horrible problems with it. Kaspersky is an excellent pay for AV program. I would never allow anyone on my pc to have admin rights especially kids they should all have very limited accounts and no access to the admin account that would stop a lot of the problems. I do all my bill paying online through my bank, I do it on my linux computer. I have not had any problems. Choosing strong passwords is essential also for any important sites and changing them from time to time is a good practice. Many banks are now considering offering free linux live cd's to their customers to do their online banking, when you put the linux live cd into the computer and boot from it you have access to firefox browser and can go online and do your banking while on the cd so that when you are done and you eject the cd and reboot to your regular windows all traces of what you did are gone. Very much like sandboxing. Here are some recent articles about this. I really urge people to pick up a linux live cd to have on hand they can be used for a lot of stuff, most all linux magazines you find in bookstores will have a free cd of some flavor of linux in it and you can of course burn one free online or order them for free. Can Ubuntu save online banking? Avoid Windows Malware: Bank on a Live CD E-Banking on a Locked Down (Non-Microsoft) PC

I have used Norton security since our first internet computer with windows 98. I know the experts say to ditch it but the few times I had trouble like when my brother's and my friends computer got infected and were sending out emails with a virus Norton caught it for me and took it right out to protect me so I guess based on that experience I keep it. One time a legit website I visit got hacked with porn and Norton blocked me from getting in. A few years ago I decided to try the free AVG to see if I would switch and 2 days later something got in and infected the computer after years of never having trouble using Norton. I don't know if I didn't use AVG right or what so could have been my fault but I know how to use Norton and it seems to work for me so I am set in my ways. I will say the limited experience I have with Norton tech support is awesome. I screwed up a program update on my sons computer and had to call tech support and tech from the other side of the pond had to take conrol of my computer and he had it fixed in no time and he had a very nice speaking voice and was easy to understand. Recently my friend didn't realize about automatic renewal and didn't disable it. She wanted to by the CD from BJ's since there was a good deal going for the latest version. She called Norton and they appologied and credited her charge card and gave her 3 free months so I thought that was nice. Mary