FINALLY Nic! I was waiting for you to stop being so nice and speak up to Mr. Bigshot over here with his PhD in bonsai growing. He's only on here to belittle others. ALL the posts I've read from him are to tell you what you're doing WRONG....in a demeaning way. Never to just chat or write a friendly comment. Oh, wait...he does occasionally post to show off his bonsai jades, which would "end up in the compost pile" if they were mine (sound familiar??)....and by the way, I wasn't asking your opinion in that post....I could care less what your aesthetic preference is. Don't worry, you're the bonsai master and all the beginner members on here have NO place here. How dare they ask questions??? And then they don't get YOUR point? Oh my, the audacity. You're doing all the beginners a favor with your negative remarks...I'm sure that's why they posted in the first place, to be made to feel small. P.S. putting a smiley face after a snide comment doesn't make it any less snide. Gabi Here is a link that might be useful: Thread I referred to (

You were given good advice by both people who replied so far. It is all about the soil. I would think an Ace Hardware would carry a reliable line of planting soils. The reason that a cactus mix soil was suggested is that it is fast draining and you can lighten it up even more by buying a bag of perlite and adding that in also. I have come to realize that most potting soils really are too heavy and do hold too much water for too long. Of course then the plant goes into root rot and dies. I would bet that more houseplants die due to overwatering than to underwatering. Remember also after winter to fertilize regularly but use about half of whatever fertilizer that you use. That is another area that is commonly overdone. The fertilizer, if put on too heavily will burn your roots and again another dead plant. You can improve your soil each year by adding in some compost that will renew the soil. All houseplants need this. When I have done any cutting back on my ficus, it never showed any signs of decline. The tree really didn't react at all except that it continued to put out branches and leaves. If you need to do a bit of shaping up, I wouldn't be overly concerned about doing it. I would suggest buying a book on houseplants or looking through several books to get the idea of what an ideal ficus should look like. Then you can trim your trees appropriately. Do some heavy duty searching on line for info on the plant also, then you will know exactly what it's needs are. Mine sits in front of a southwest facing window so it gets lots of sun. I don't have any window coverings or blinds on that window either. My ficus seems to love it. In fact my whole house has huge windows that have virtually no coverings and my houseplants absolutely thrive. I don't believe most people who keep houseplants truly understand what low, medium, or sunny light is in their homes. I feel that most people don't have enough light to support many houseplants. A really handy tool to have is a moisture sensor, light sensor, ph sensor all in one. I'm sure Ace would have one and they are not expensive. With this device you will know if your light is adequate for your ficus, if the soil is dry or overly damp, and of course the ph level which should be between 6-7 for most plants. Choosing the proper fertilizer is important because it determines if your soil stays neutral, or acidic, whether it promotes green growth or flower growth. This is why I suggest people pick up a SIMPLE book on houseplants or outside gardening. You should take a look in your phonebook under nurseries, or garden to see if another source exists other than what you have mentioned. Feed stores surprise me with the wide variety of goods they carry. Perhaps one by you will have a wide variety of goods also. It isn't a sin to shop at WalMart for gardening and houseplant needs but with some knowledge from your houseplant book you will know precisely what you are looking for. I think the trick in the garden dept. is to stick to big brand names and not the WalMart brand or an off brand. This is one area that generics just don't work very well. So get yourself some knowledge from a book, the internet, or find some people in the area who have success with their houseplants and you will have all you need to grow plants well.

"So I guess it depends on what you are trying to propagate." Absolutely! " I generally use media rather than water" Me too, depends on the plant, cutting size, time of year, weather... ...but I read that "water roots" don't always transition to media well." Yeah, "they" do say that but they never elaborate. There's a huge gray area from when a cutting is stuck in water to when it is moved to media, an indefinite time span. I think it's good to put a lot of cuttings in water for a short time first, depending on the plant, until one sees roots *start to develop,* not fill the bottle or even get to a measurable length. Once it's obvious the entity has gotten the message that roots should be formed, I see no reason to wait in water any longer. Other things would just rot, and should actually dry/callous for a few days before attempting to propagate. A general rule is wilting. If you take cuttings that wilt immediately, they're going to have a hard time rooting in media (without the aid of some type of humidity augmentation, as mentioned.) For these plants, constant/consistent moisture, at least at the cut end, is necessary to stay alive long enough to form roots. But cuttings of something like Tradescantia zebrina, jade, or most of the succulents that do not wilt will not release their moisture quickly enough to need to be in water. For these plants, it is the search for moisture that inspires roots. Actual moisture may likely result in rot. I can't speak experientially about propagating Scheff as I haven't done it many times, but it is known for growing slowly, which would apply to anything, like forming roots. For the others, I've done it countless times, 4 of my fav plants. Tradescantia zebrina is extremely succulent and unlikely to wilt for a few days, immediately forming aerial roots if not already present. T. fluminensis, more prone to wilting but will also 'heal' at the cut and send the aerials. Heart-leaf Philo cuttings take several days to wilt also, though enjoys a few days in water as a cutting if the 'money node' doesn't already have fresh aerial roots. All three will take root if simply dropped on the ground outside during summer (and can make contact with the soil.) You've pegged the Coleus as a wilter, so why people often radically trim the leaves to prop in media. If put in water for a few days first until roots appear, a cutting can retain much more foliage, IME. I also think a lot of the problems people have prop'ing directly in media are due to insufficient size of buried part. Submerging 4" of stem is much more likely to produce success than 1". The last of the moisture tends to be at the bottom of the pot. No doubt that humidity augmentation can make a huge difference for some plants in some situations. Sadly, though, plants that don't wilt are much more mysterious during the prop process. If they're dying, it's not usually apparent until they're just kinda gone one day, like...

I love this blog on the Christmas tree debate. Well, I will be 80 this September and I never put up a Christmas tree last year because my beloved Westie passed away around last Thanksgiving, then this year there was a family issue which has not been resolved and also lost our beloved Scottie; therefore, I feel like Christmas has never really happened yet. I have a beautiful tree in my dining room with children's vintage toys under it and a beautiful flocked tree, more formal, in my living room, both decorated with 60 years of collectible beautiful ornaments. I don't light them unless for a special occasion, but they give me inner peace, comfort, and helps me de-stress. I know that some people think this is strange, but I remember reading when Carrie Fisher passed away, she always had a tree up year round. At my age, I think everyone should do what makes them happy!