You really have to take those packet days to maturity with a grain of salt. It's a guideline only and really only useful to compare maturation times with other varieties. The reality in the garden is that sooo many things affect days to maturation that there's no way a seed packet could cover every situation. I also doubt it was your soil. We have a very heavy, silty soil here that acts much like clay - super heavy, crusts easily, drains poorly - and we grow carrots with no trouble at all. Carrots are low-demand, root vegetables, so unless you were dealing with severely terrible soil, nutrition shouldn't have been an issue either (especially since clay tends to hold on to nutrients). Carrots are really slow to germinate when the conditions are anything less than ideal. If it's too dry/wet/cold/crusty, they just sit and wait... and wait and wait and wait. They also need to be weeded diligently. If you were lax in the weeding department, that will have delayed them as well. I've gotten behind myself this year and you can distinctly tell which carrots in my rows had thistle competition and which did not. Four or five hours of sun a day probably isn't enough for quick growth either, though I'm sure they would get there eventually. Except for the weeding, I really don't think you did anything particularly wrong except not wait long enough. The variety you chose looks like it would have pushed through clay nicely (unlike an imperator type, for example). I'd almost bet money that if you'd left them alone for another month or two, you'd have had some nice carrots there. If you're interested in some sort of reference, I grow varieties of nantes carrots that range from 55 to 75 days to maturity, according to the packet. I plant mid to late May and dig up the main harvest (for winter storage) usually mid to late September, depending on when our first frosts show up. That's roughly four months (at least) from seeding to harvest, regardless of the variety.

Hello Brooke, When I suggested to Larissa if she uses a Ziploc that she not use any potting medium because she is fighting scales. If you have an orchid that has no roots you also dont need a potting medium. Here are some pictures of small paphs growths that broke off during potting that I ziplocked. This is the paph pictured in the bag above. You can see the new root growth just where the brown meets the green. There is a similar new root on the other side. This is after two weeks. This is another paph broken off during repotting. Root after about a month in a ziplock bag. There is a new leaf also growing from the apex, but you canÂt see it in this photo. When the roots get about an inch I will pot them up in bark, continue zip locking until the roots get well established in the medium. You can use sphag but it breaks down very quickly in this environment. What is happening is that the Ziplock bag is air tight, so the little bit of moisture that is in the bag stays in the bag creating 100% humidity. You donÂt need medium to hold the moisture. The bag contains it. Moisture travels into the cells that are desiccated. When you blow into the bag you raise the CO2 level up slightly in the bag helping with the plants carbon fixing. This helps in creating new growth. I admit not to do any experiment to prove this against not breathing in the bag and just filling the bag with air, but I feel reasonably assured that that is what is happening based on my experience and knowledge. I assume this bag would be out of any direct sunlight during recuperation? Yes. Whenever any person, animal or plant is recuperating the less stress the better. The bag method does not guarantee that a unhealthy orchid will recover. Some are headed south no matter what you do. Hello Sheila, How long in the baggie is 'a long time'? a week, a month? Once a orchid has fully recovered or reestablished roots into a medium you can take it out of the bag. I once did an experiment where I had a paph that had no roots. I bagged it grew the roots, potted it, put it back into the bag, and grew it for about three years in the bag. I wanted to see how long I could grow it in the bag after three years I decided it could go for as long as one wanted. One caveat was it didnÂt flower in the bag. During the three years I would add water from time to time, once the roots were established a little water with fertilizer. The roots grew well even outside the pot and you could see the fuzzy root hairs found on paphs. There were a few growths and a strong root system when I took it out of the bag and flowered it. I either gave it away or sold it. I thought I had pictures of it, but canÂt find them now. 'Every now & then opening the bag', same question, once a day, couple times week??? Once a week usually but I admit to be lacs-a-dasial about it. I would sometime blow up the bags whenever they looked like they were going down. If you blow into them more regularly you will probably have better results. Incidentally, I also use this trick if I am going on vacation, and some orchids need to be watered during the time I am not there. I havenÂt lost any healthy orchids

bcskye, I try to answer as many posts as I can, but I'm no indoor container expert. So, I usually leave those questions to our container citrus experts. But know that not everyone is able to be on the forums all the time. People have things happen, they get sick, family members get sick, they're working full time or more than full time, etc. We're not purposefully ignoring you. Just re-post to your original message and let folks know you're bumping your own thread, as you still need some help, and haven't had a response yet. Could someone jump in and give you some assistance. I would have to go through the past messages, but as Kippy mentioned, be sure you've got some photos posted, as well as much info as you can provide (watering, fertilizer type and frequency, amount of light, potting medium, etc.) Patty S.

1. Did you make sure your pan was grease-free? Any fat (on the pan or even a tiny bit of yolk) can deflate the batter. Helpful hint: Rinse the pan in hot water, but don't dry it just before adding the batter to the pan. This gives the batter a little warmth, and any remaining drops of water will add a little steam. (Tip from "BakeWise" by Shirley O. Corriher.) 2. Did you use a scrupulously clean bowl and beater? Avoid using plastic bowls because there can be some fat residue remaining. Fat doesn't just sit on the surface of plastic, it actually bonds with it. 3. Use very fresh egg whites for stability, and definitely use cream of tartar. "...which increases the volume, whitens the crumb, makes a finer grain, and makes an angel food cake that shrinks less." 4. Did you sift the flour and did you use cake flour? 5. Was the oven preheated to the baking temperature? 6. Did you cool the cakes upside down? This stretches the cake as it cools, producing a light texture. Hope there's something there that will help. -Grainlady