Thank you all for the advice and encouragement. It's nice to hear that I may not have screwed up after all, lol. I checked the bag of African Violet soil I bought at Giant and found that it wasn't the right blend… So I went to Lowes today and bought some different soil that was perlite and peat, and got some small pots for them. They've all been repotted in the correct soil and their new pots, and placed back in their bags. And that's where they're staying. No more potting for these guys! What I've decided to do is leave them in their bags for a week just to let them adjust to a new pot on the half wall in the living room (where they will get light without "cooking"). After a week, I will open their bags and let them readjust to the new room. and gradually remove them from the bags :) Hopefully they'll do much better now that they've got the right kind of soil and the right size pots! I've included a picture of my plants. The biggest ones have some really neat ceramic pots made for african violets. There are two parts to the pot: the outer round part and the pot part that settles inside. It supposedly self waters so I'm interested to see if they work well or not :) ---- @Karin: I found the commercial mix was also staying wet too long. The new perlite mix I bought today seems to be much lighter. As per your advice, I've put them in smaller, more suitably sized pots, so hopefully that helps :) And I'd seen someone do that with the cupcakes you can buy at the grocery store that come in the plastic boxes! It seems really convenient :O too bad my house is in diet mode, at the moment haha. Thank you for the support! @Diana: I haven't, mostly because I wasn't sure how much to give them, nor if the soil I was using already had fertilizer. I think once they're weaned off the bags, I might give them food. I'm certainly done potting them :P Thank you for the tips on the fertilizer :) And in response to your second post, I think that's what I meant? I took the plants off the mother leaves and found that it had split into multiple crowns in one pot, and repotted them. @Linda: I didn't realize that you had to let them get used to their new climate (though I should have, given that I own an aquarium). I'm more confident in them now that they're in a lighter mix. To answer your question, yes, they split into different crowns. After I cut the parent leaf off, I noticed they'd split into different crowns so I removed them from their pots with the intent of cutting them apart. For the first time since I've had AV's, the different crowns just… fell apart. I removed the plants from their first pot and all I had to do was tug on the crowns gently to get them to come apart. The second pot, well, they just kept coming off! I was almost starting to get annoyed by how many there were, haha. I suddenly went from (what I thought was) 2 big AV babies to 7 much smaller but very much independent babies. I'll give solo cups another try if I need another pot size for my tiniest ones and the local stores are out :) Thank you so much! Your advice has been really, really helpful and I'm gonna keep hanging in there! (PS I always want more more more, haha) @Irina: I don't know if there is a club in my area, but I'll consider looking into it. You all have been really pleasant so far and it's been really nice to meet such kind, knowledgable folks :)

thanks...can u tell im an engineer? lol... i call it the Gino trellis... im proud of the trellis, because it was very very cheap to make, though it took awhile to figure out the best way to weave the poles through and to make it tight. i bought i think 100 lineal feet of the nylon netting for like 20 bucks. and the conduit poles, a ten pack at home depot for i think 1.50 apiece. i actually have four more of these trellises this year. its also great b/c i grow pole beans in between, or cucumbers, and some borage that seem to need support where i am due to very strong winds. i dont think i trained the tomatoes properly last season, which was my first season growing anything, because the stems tended to grow along the 45deg angle. but i did quite the stupid thing...id let the stem grow through every single vertical hole, and then when the lateral stems grew outward and then the plant continued to grow, that the lateral ones would get stuck below in the first diamond they went through... oops!! ive never used twine or ties.. the reason i started this thread, was to ask, if i should maybe have the all the plant, say, go through only the first diamond, and then rest of it above the first diamond, have stay on one side and grow outside of the netting, and simply hang the fruit trusses on it when they come, and then have all foiliage from the ground to the first diamond, removed. anyone agree with this idea????? i'd be as if the plant had a single florida weave support about 18in off ground, and then the fruits (and most of the weight) be supported by the trellis, and im thinking the plant will grow straight and proper.

These are essentially the same as they were 15 years ago and the cost is also similar. Quality is the price of doing business at the big box stores that cater towards the price shopper who sometimes ignores quality. As you go up in the Whirlpool and GE lines, the quality is certainly better than on the 12-16 cubic foot models. That is not to say they're junk, just that you get what you pay for. I just wish Vlasic hadn't caved also because their picklin process is certainly different. Walmart didn't want to refrigerate those cukes like a true supermarket so we're left with a pickle that's a Vlasic in name only.

We have an FMI gas zero-clearance direct vent fireplace installed by the first owners and is 15 years old. It is working fine, puts out really good heat. We are getting ready to remodel and part of it involves a new stone surround and drywalling the wall above it. We are trying to have the unit inspected, but are running into trouble b/c there is no manual (contacted the company and they will "try" to print something off if I send an envelope - nothing online since it is so old) So my question what lifespan should I expect from this unit? Should I just go ahead and replace it now?