There are upright and prostrate forms of P afra, and only the upright lends itself willingly to the formation of a heavy trunk. If you don't have the upright form, remind me come May, and I'll make sure you get started cuttings if you'd like them. Determining whether a soil is good or bad depends on what you're contrasting them with. MG isn't so bad when compared to all the other commercially prepared soils as a group, and that are commonly available and used for houseplants; but, on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being perfect and 1 being almost unusable, I'd rate it at about a 3-4 - LOTS of room for improvement. When you think of potting soils and what to use as your base, think of larger particles, like pine bark or other inorganic particles much larger than peat particles. In your mind's eye, picture a soil made of particles the size of BBs, and see all the healthy air spaces between the BBs. No matter how much water you pour on the soil, those air spaces won't fill with water. Now imagine a soil based on peat, compost, topsoil, sand ..... The air spaces between particles are very small and tend to fill up with water when you water - like you said the peat your plants are in does. If you mix the peat and BBs 50/50, the peat just fills in around the BBs, robbing the BBs of their air space, so a soil that has mostly larger particles and very few fine particles so the air spaces stay open is going to be much healthier for roots than a soil with all the little air pores filled with water. The primary difference between these two types of soils is that because the more open soils hold less water, you need to water more frequently. You'll need to decide if the extra effort is worth greater promise for your plants to grow to the potential they were genetically programmed for. There are 2 sides to that coin. Some feel the soils that I and many others grow in hold too little water, and robs them of the convenience of longer intervals between waterings, but since we build these soils with the plant's well being in mind, I know without doubt that soils that offer extended intervals between waterings hold too much water to NOT be limiting in their effect on growth and vitality. One of the most important considerations is that well-aerated and fast-draining soils are far more forgiving and much easier to grow in. They forgive your watering mistakes readily, as long as you don't FORGET to water, and make fertilizing easy. Because they promote such healthy root systems, they have the potential to produce much healthier plants with robust metabolisms that make the plant better able to resist insects and diseases. I'll leave you a link below to some information that explains the soil/water relationship. An understanding of the concept it defines almost automatically puts you far ahead of other container gardeners as a group. It shouldn't be too difficult to see what other growers that have read and applied it think. There are other threads similar to that one about other aspects of container culture, like nutritional supplementation, when/if you're ready to move on ..... or you can just not respond & I'll take that as a 'not interested'. The comments I left on YM's thread today might also be of interest. What my houseplant's feet are in: Al Here is a link that might be useful: I'd like to see you put this in your tool box!

I feel your pain about your faux wood floors. Unfortunately, I don't have a choice, I am an apartment dweller. 🫤 When they first put them in, I was thrilled, they seemed so "cool," "modern," and neutral (yep, in that fugly "greige" that's so popular now for some strange reason). Shortly thereafter, I discovered the awful truth: they're cold... in look, feel, and insulating properties (I'm in the Midwest). They're very hard and uncomfortable to walk on without shoes or squishy slippers (did they even put an underlayment down first?), they make me sound like an elephant when I walk on them, they have a weird rough "grit" to them that I can't seem to get rid of (is it because they're new?); there's no shine, they always look dirty (probably because they ARE); and every drop of water leaves a mark. It seems I'm constantly sweeping, Swiffering, wiping, vacuuming...and my apartment always has that weird "new car" smell from either the glue or the plastic itself (yay, health hazards). Not only that, but the installers were very haphazard: there are many areas of the floor that sound literally hollow when I walk over them. I then made the mistake of seeing the type of flooring that my next door neighbor has. Because her apartment is older, she has the "older" style of faux flooring: warm, gorgeous, honey colored, and inviting. It was such a marked difference from what I have, I was shocked...and very jealous. 😭 Even my former apt in another state had darker "wood" floors, but they were fabulous: soft underfoot, didn't show water or stains, easy to clean. But not these. So I'm stuck with these until I happen to move again....and since I just moved in, that will be awhile. Sigh. REAL WOOD RULES!

Seaweed is supposed to have low levels of both auxins and cytokinin. They are also unstable and exposed to elements they break down quickly. I have not done what I suggested myself since I did not face a situation like yours. There are artificial cytokinins but they are tricky to use properly. The dilution has to be very precisely controlled. Nurseries and commercial growers use them in all sorts of fancy ways to increase fruit production. May is a bit late to ship bare-root but it is still OK. General rule for pruning deciduous/evergreen tree when they are growing is to prune just above at least one or two leaves or a branch with a few leaves. Otherwise it may end up in branch death. When they are dormant, you can be more aggressive with established deciduous plants as long as they are strong and healthy. I do that frequently. Scratch the bark off in a little spot in the top inch of the scion and see if you notice any green. If it is green the scion is still alive. If not then try a little lower. Use a knife to scrape the bark. I bet the bark is pretty thin and should scrape off. Since your scion is not showing any sign of growth, I would let one branch grow from the rootstock and keep that pruned to 5-6 leaves. Keep the height of the rootstock branch below the first bud on the scion. That will keep the juices flowing and feed the roots. If the scion is still alive it may push growth. I will be inclined to provide all day shade for that plant.

I am adding to an old thread here but I have a similar dilemma... I am painting my new bedroom walls silver chain /harbor gray.. I was going to use simply white on ceiling and trim but I questioned the lack of brightness in simply white on my ceiling .. I have northern and eastern light and some southern but it doesn’t make it in due to a farmers porch. I was advised due to this I might want to try Chantilly lace on the ceiling and that simply white trim could work but it’s doesn’t seem so ? Maybe the gray is causing my dilemma .. i am used to working with two colors not three... I also have vaulted ceilings and a tray... on top of it I need to come up with a complimentary color for master bath.. or stay the with the same ?Any help would be MUCH appreciated!