I can't really help you with the first question (I'm trying to fruit a Dwarf Orinoco inside myself) but I can help you with the second: To keep the plant from getting too big, keep it inside a smaller-sized pot. I would say an 18 inch pot would be a good size for indoor use (correct me if I'm wrong; I don't have as much experience as some of the members here.)

Hi Kswizz, Don't give up hope yet. I suspect you have nearly solved this puzzle due to your methodical approach. Let's try to work through this step by step and hopefully isolate some possible suspects. 1. Given the 4x repeated results with varying brands of nutrients we can safely assume that a bad batch of nutrients that slipped out of the factory isn't to blame, lets look elsewhere. 2. It seems you have been keeping the pH of the reservoir in check so lockout due to extreme pH is unlikely. 3. No noticeable burning of the leaves. You have been carefully following the directions prescribed by the nutrients and keeping the EC within range so this together would indicate the plants aren't dying from excessive nutrients. 4. Your environment sounds good as far as ventilation and temperature go. Is the humidity of the room reasonable? Something around 50 to 60%? I'm going to assume yes, but an extreme in either direction could be a contributing factor. 5. Young plants would be extremely challenged to deplete a five gallon reservoir of it's nutrients in less than two weeks. It's safe to say they aren't running out one or more nutrients and then dying from a deficiency. I concur with Greystroke's suspicion that the roots could be rotting. If they are brown, slimy or undeveloped instead of being white and fuzzy as Greystroke described it's likely the problem can be isolated to the root system and now we just need to determine the cause. Assuming the roots are rotting away: A likely culprit is that the roots aren't getting enough oxygen. Plants absorb oxygen through their roots and water with low levels of dissolved oxygen promote certain harmful bacteria. If the reservoir is much over 75 degrees F this could be be contributing to the problem. If the water gets too warm it can't retain oxygen. Having a small air pump that can bubble the water while it's inside the reservoir, preferably with an air stone, can help add oxygen to the water. Are you starting the seeds in soil that's mixed with coco-coir or using straight coco-coir? Adding soil to a hydroponic system can introduce problem causing bacteria. If you are using strictly coco coir then you should be fine. When the system is running how deep is the water that's running through those plastic channels? NFT systems are usually a thin film of water that runs 24/7. I'm not sure exactly how your system works based on that video. If the channels fills with a couple inches of water and then drains that works too, just shoot for 15 minutes on once every 2.5 to 3 hours. It may help as Greystroke mentioned to fill the cups with some pearlite and get the roots further out of the water. Couple other things to think about. Did you clean the system thoroughly between the 1st 2nd and 3rd and 4th try? It's possible that some bacteria or mold that killed your first crop has been living in the system ever since. A good cleaning with hydrogen peroxide or bleach followed by a rinse should eliminate this possibility for the subsequent try. Also in the unlikely event you have some kind of mold living in the water pipes of your house you could buy RO water from the store and use that following a thorough cleaning of that system using a biocide like bleach. RO water costs around $0.65 per gallon here and for a few dollars you could get enough sterile water to last through the first few weeks. At that point you should be able to see signs as to whether or not history would repeat itself. Good luck! - Bilberrybrian

There was certainly nothing stupid about that question! Welcome, Maryl. You have to go over to the Gallery section and look at some of the awesome collections folks have posted there. A few internet sellers have great Sansevierias, but for the most part, there is no combined, concerted effort to market or appreciate these plants. You sorta fall into love with them the more you see the different varieties. Then you seek out sources for your 'addiction'. I found a great source in my local Cactus & Succulent Society. Which is where I buy most of mine. I started with a pup off of my grandmothers plant, and now I have sixteen different varieties. Nearly all of them are easy growers, the hahnii varieties being a bit trickier. You can see a great photo of a S. hahnii in the upper corner of the start page. These are also known as 'birdnest' types. They are smaller in stature and more sensitive to water than many other varieties. You can go to your local library and request they bring in a copy of B. Juan Chahanian's "The Sansevieria Trifasciata Varieties". Great color pictures. There is another wonderful book by Hermoine Stover, can't remember the name, nor do I own it. Its been out of print for awhile. Found a copy in my local C&S library and enjoyed checking it out for a month. I'm not sure if libraries do that anymore, but when I was a young girl in a small town, I could request that our local library bring in from bigger libraries, copies of books I wished to read. As long as I had the author and title, pretty soon a copy would be there for me to check out. Our discussion pages go back for 10 pages, with 30 posts per page. You can read all about questions, issues, and progress reports as well as see all the photos we've taken in the last year on the Gallery pages. This forum runs a little slow compared to other GW forums, but there are some awesomely knowlegeable people who stop in here. Welcome, make yourself at home, pull up a chair an pour a cuppa.

The "trails" you mention suggest a type of leaf miner, which is a microlepidopteran (very small moth species) that, as a caterpillar, actually eats tunnels through the insides of leaves. I'm not sure it they can cause as much damage as was done to your plant - I haven't had any serious problems with leaf miners on my plants. You could possibly have a nutrient deficiency (when is the last time your plant was fed?) or it could be a disease as well. I think a deficiency might be worth looking into, since a 5-foot potted tomato plant will use up a lot of nutrients, and could easily have depleted the nutrients in the potting mix. Try giving it a good dose of all-purpose water-soluble fertilizer and see if that helps.