Hi Socks - I set it up myself...well, my six year old son and 12 year old daughter helped a bit...pretty easy. Now, I am definitely not as confident in my ability to get it to pop 'down'...we'll see... I am mostly concerned about squirrels and chipmunks, I think. They just tear into everything around these parts. One summer they used every singly seat cushion on my deck furniture chairs to pad their nests! I really despise them. Maybe they won't be interested in this (I hope). Not sure what to do to keep them away, really. So, I am trying to extend the amount of time I keep a bunch of my cacti and succulents outdoors, rather than jamming them into my sunroom this year. That way, I may try to segue them into a dark dormancy in my garage instead of the sunroom - giving them a deeper sleep perhaps AND freeing up growing space under HID lights in my sunroom. They just wouldn't get the same dry cold in the sunroom that I think I can give them with the greenhouse - maybe end up with better flowering next year, too? By the end of November, I think they will all be indoors somewhere - either garage or sunroom. Then, the snows come...seems so far away with 90s forecast all week for us ;-). Josh - I see what you mean...just hope it doesn't get overtaken by marauding banditos! T

Hi Mehitabel You know I was very stupid. It did not occur to me to photograph their condition when they came to me in the beginning. I do it now. I do have some photos that are from the phal rehab but it was well under way (5 or 6 months in). The link is below. It really depends on what is wrong with them. Usually: underwatering overwatering and/or not enough light. I posted pics of 2 phals we'll call the green one "Phal A" and the Violet one "Phal B". Both were rootless and dessicated from being mounted. Phal A had one aerial root which I forced into the spag. Break it if you have to. Whe they're that far gone, every little bit helps. He could not stand up, so I put him in a clear plastic cup with spag inside a pot, ie the spag and bag method but with plastic wrap. Lava rock on the bottom to keep him upright. I kept both in my "hot room" 80-85F with ~80% humidity, really good air movement and lowered the light a bit. I grow in phals in higher light. When he started growing aerial roots I buried them. I had to forget about him. Very easy on the water (know that's hard for you. hee hee) The Violet one was also mounted and had literally a nub for roots and the lower wrinkled leaves. He is still in rehab. I chose to put him in bark lava rock on the bottom to fill the pot. He is very over potted. I think it helps keep humidity at the roots to overpot and use rock. Rock is really wet but the roots are not touching it. My theory is they have to reach for moisture if they want it, ie grow roots. I wrapped the entire pot in plastic. Every time I saw an aerial root, I forced it down or covered it in medium. I sometimes weigh them down with large chunks of lava rock or whatever. I prop there flopped leaves up with chopsticks so as much leaf area as possible is exposed to light. Once they start to recover and it looks good, I bump the light gradually. They key is to run them dry. Phal B started growing these really odd violet leaves. It was kind of scary but I kept going. They would rip too. It was really frustrating. I knew the violet was not his normal colour. That comes from low light. I gradually increased his light. I have him outside now and he has greened back up. He not perfect yet but he will be. He now can take a lot of sun. He does not have the plastic on outside, it would trap too much heat. I also tease roots out by placing little pieces of wet spag on top if they are not in spag. This works like a charm especially for oncidiums. As soon as they are able to reach the spag, I take it away. It trains the roots down when you are running plants dry. They were lucky if they got watered every 10 days - 2 weeks. Locking them away in a humid room really helps as long as you can move a lot of air At this time of year, you may have good success outdoor with starting a rehab. Eventually when things start to get back on track, you should take them in. The leaves get too beat up outside. The sun is moving all the time and I really have to watch it. Constantly moving them. The rain can over water them too. Phals are really easy to recover. Oncid's are 60-40. Had one that was so thin and dessicated there was just no way to save it. If you want to post or email me about your Queen Beer I am always happy to share info. I was also an over waterer. There are ways around that. Pumice is a great medium. Its dry. Either potted or in S/H. If you water a lot you need a great amount of light . Thats the only way to avoid root rot. Hope that helps! Clara

"Was anyone able to get rid of the gray banner with adblocker. I use firefox and the adblocker plus eliminated every ad except the gray banner at the bottom where AL used to live. " olychick, I had the same thing. Originally got rid of the ad itself but the gray box remained. I restarted Firefox and in the upper right corner of the gray box there was a little tab with "block" written in it. I clicked on that and that added that little ditty to the Adblock Plus list.

All the pop-up pages I have ever seen are in pretty bad shape. They are fun, but don't hold up well with use. Maybe save them for a fun album for the kids that isn't meant to last forever.