WC8 - The ikea fixture (around 8 dollars I think) is essentially a light socket attached to a cord that you plug into a regular 2 pronged electric outlet. What's neat about it is that it has a ring of plastic that can screw in around the socket. Here are some diagrams I made quickly..it's kind of hard to explain in words! The parts. Sorry the font is so small! Something went weird when I resized the pictures. Essentially the batwing thing can be made if you're savvy with hardware...you can bend an aluminium sheet into the shape, drill some holes into the top and paint the inside white. I bought mine for 27 dollars, including the metal mount. The ikea thing is 8 bucks, and the 65W bulb was about 30 bucks. Wire for mounting the entire thing onto my shelf was 4 dollars. The total is around 70 dollars, but you can probably get it cheaper if you made it yourself (ie cutting drainage pipes in half etc..) Here is the ikea socket in detail. If you can't find this, then you can buy a metal clamp with a screw-on ring from HD which accomplishes the same thing. I have that on the setup in the photo above, since I'm not using an ikea socket there (couldn't find it until a few days ago) and just a regular socket. And here is the complete thing: Clara: Just another AWESOME bonus of these lights! I haven't monitored heat in detail, but with the 65W and the 4 24Ws under the hood, I do feel like things are significantly balmier. With a fan, hopefully things will be a bit more cool, but as you said: In winter, things get chilly, so the heat during the day is a big plus! What a great way to get the diurnal drop. The phal leaf went like that in like a week, and none of the other phals around it (same artificial lighting since I brought 'em in) are fine...so I fear for the worst. I'm going home to check on them tomorrow...fingers are crossed!

well if a hosta looks like this every year and its too long a time period before dormancy that it just annoys the dickens out of you... just move them slightly... maybe a hosta width back into shade more... if you have room... you'll about be fine tuning their perfect placement...this kinda look is totally expected this time of year tho, I mean you are in texas..bout the same here in Kentucky, we've had less than half the overcast days we had the year before, and you have to take that in mind too, have you had less clouds this year than normal? If next years sky's are more overcast will you be planting in too much shade?... but since they are mature.. you can move them into deeper shade and not worry about their growth rate.... The one thing you have to remember is that you are dealing with nature here... lol.. its always gonna be a different scenario...one year it rains more..one year the wind blows like hell.. one year it hails... one year there's giant squirrel invasion in northwest north dakota and it affects the birthrate of the norwegian uber beetle which in turn.... lol get my drift? use your garden to relax =) In all good wishes! John

"I try to have my plants under as much natural sunlight as possible as early as possible. I find I have a much easier time hardening off the plants that way." Ditto!

When you look into the facts of dishwashers, a lot of people have quit using them. Of course there's a place for them, and PROPERLY USED they can be a valuable tool. But therein lies the problem. So many people think they can put them in there, then try to save money by turning down their electric water heaters to the point that Legionella can grow. Then they use that underheated and bacteria-infested water in their dishwasher to splash day-week old food around, not totally unlike a petri dish, and then disable the dryer to save money on the economy cycle and sit in there until the next use. Now anyone who has even basic grade school science background may remember that bacteria grows well in warm, moist surroundings. Hmm. Where would that be? There's a lot of differing opinions out there. I've read many of the arguments on both sides of this and have formed my own opinions. Hand washing properly can be better than machined improperly and vice-versa. But to say you won't get sick using a dishwasher isn't using much common sense but I certainly understand the sales pitch. I haven't had a (mechanical) dishwasher in over 25 years. The doctor visits I've had were primarily for broken bones and other things that certainly were not caused by handwashing dishes. If you like dishwashers, good for you and enjoy using them. Just don't get caught up with all the misinformation that is available on the internet. The internet, like the dishwasher, PROPERLY USED, can be a valuable tool, but there's so much misinformation out there, plus outright lies that believing everything can cause you a lot of trouble. And Dorothy is certainly not spam. A couple seconds of checking, even just looking at a member page should have removed that question. But some just seem to want to...