Here's my take. I know we all have our preferences but I never blame a medium for problems. That is just me. Here again, however, we have a testimonial from someone who deciding that their mix is too 'soggy' repots into something more open but then experiences continued problems now perhaps due to too dry conditions leading to brittle, dead, roots that don't develop. The unassisted (by artificial light) west window is at once too much light and too little! Your area can see frequent clouds and I suspect an atlas would show your locale receiving less than 180 clear days out of 365. IMO this is too little for good growth of anything but 'low light' species. OTOH when the sun 'is' shining and temps are up in the mid-80's possibly higher that is too much, even I admit that. The only recourse is to shade away the worst of the natural light. What is left will not cause heat stress or scorch but neither will it be able to put size into a p-bulb. The difference must be made up artificially. If someone knows of another way I would like to hear it. When orchids stall, sulk or otherwise go on strike the reason will always be found outside of the pot. Too litttle (rarely too much) light, too little or too much heat, too little or too much ventilation... external causatives. Water 1x/wk for a plastic pot, 2x/wk for a clay pot regardless of what is in it and call it good! Do not spray or mist or otherwise try to 'top up' orchid pots. That way lies madness and also root rot. With experience will come the ability to experiment in ways that will not harm your plants. Until then its best to follow some rules. They won't always be a perfect fit but they work for quite a lot of growers new and old. H

Hello all. Thank you for the feedback. What a crappy morning it has been, I went to my little seedlings and oh my gosh, finally I had a beautiful new peach bloom, my first bloom, it was perfect... I was dancing around joyful with excitement and then... I found myself jumping out of bed in such a hurry I stubbed my toe, ran limping down the hall to the "green house" only to find my tiny little seedlings, with no bloom :o) It was all a dream! GRRRRRR! Back to reality... Over the past 8 days I have had a few changes. I lost 3 more seedlings. First, one of their leaves start to turn brown and then over time all of the leaves turn brown and wilt, leaving only the stem that soon dies too. I have another 4 seedlings showing signs of browning and wilt. Here is a photo, arrows pointing to brown wilting leaves: Anyfeedback to what I might be doing wrong?? Or are the seedlings just not healthy and there is nothing that can be done to fix the problem?? I have tried not to over water or under water. I water each day, throughout the day with a spray bottle containing water and peroxide. The grow light is approx. 3 inches above the seedlings, I have kept the heating pad on low so not to over heat them. Not sure what to do for them. Today I decided to cut off the brown and or browning leaves and give them a little extra water to see if it helps. Now, a little good news, 7 of the 9 germinated seeds from last week are seedlings and I had another 7 seeds germinate over that past 3 days. For the question asked about harvesting the hips: The same day I brought the hips home, I cut each one open, removed the seeds and placed them in a measuring cup of approx. 3/4 cup water mixed with 1/4 cup peroxide. I had forgot the instructions on soaking them overnight, so the only soaking they received was the time it took me to cut open each hip, remove the seeds and place them in the water/peroxide solution, thus total soaking time for the first seeds removed from hips was around 2 hours or so, the last seeds removed from hips, maybe 15 minutes or so. I then drained the seeds via stainless steel strainer, placed the seeds on a paper towel soaked in the water/peroxide solution, placed them in a platic bowl with airtight lid and set them in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator, pretended they did not exist for about 10 weeks and then started checking them for germination about every 2-3 days. Around week 11, every 3rd day or so I would give the seeds a very light spray with the water/peroxide solution to prevent and or cut down on mold and keep them moist. (As for the hips, I didn't wait for color changes, I cut open each hip... red, orange, yellow and the green ones all the same day. As for the seeds, I kept them all, floaters and sinkers.) So, for today, with each throb I am still feeling in my toe, I am reminded my dream just might soon be a reality :o) Never stop dreaming. The Lioness

i agree to a point it would be much better to reassure that mommi loves her but she cant be here because she has to be(wherever she is ) to (work,school..or what ever) Bus she knows how much we love you and wanted us to be together to love and watch over each other when she cant be here. You never want to give specifics to a child..they latch onto them..especially something they think is a bad thing. always reassure them that everyone loves them ..have them make a list of people who love them always is fun and helps. the reason the little ones want mommi when they are being punished is that "mommi wouldnt punish them" you might want to give momi a call and have them talk a little if it's possible so that they maintain the connection ,and she knows that momi is supporting your rules and disipline.

Thank you for comiserating (I think that is the word LOL) with me. I feel better, at least my head isn't pounding anymore nor is the guy across the street. I don't know why this noise got to me but it did. I think it was his rythm of taps. Roof went up across the street at another neighbour's the other day and that didn't bother me at all. I found the headphones in a hat box but no batteries for my old Walkman. I had 1 aspirin left which I took then I went to bed, pulled up the covers and put a pillow over my head and woke up just now because someone was knocking at my front door and Loki barked. I guess little Lucy was sleeping on the pillow on my head and when I jumped up startled she flew off. LOL Poor kitty! I also guess I shouldn't have said I have a toothache. I have a mouthache under a tooth LOL. My gum was sliced just under a tooth from a chicken bone and the glands under my tongue swelled and my bridge has been pressing on both and irritating it. The pain feels like a toothache though. I never thought of using ice on it. I can't believe I slept as long as I did and I didn't move once I got into bed. Thanks for your concern and the tips if I ever have another headache which I hope is none to soon. Thank you Mommy's. Anne