Pottery intended for food typically uses glazes without lead or other contaminants. I have read that inexpensive pots (these were!) are fired at low temperatures which require special low temperature glaze which may contain lead or other heavy metals. There was a scare a few years ago about cookware from outside the USA using lead glaze. I don't know what's in the Malaysian glaze but since the pots are for plants there's unlikely any control. The pot interiors are permeable (I tested with a few drops of water which soaked in) so I am concerned if water can reach the exterior glaze from inside that there may be long-term transfer of lead or cadmium (which I don't know is _not_ there) or whatever to the inside. Plastic liner pots is a good idea but it's hard to find ones to fit the containers without dropping in size so much I am losing 1/4-1/3 the volume of the container. I'll hunt around since you are right, it does make them much lighter to move if it can be done as two pieces, but this isn't exactly the best time of year to go hunting for pots in Minnesota! I bought water-based acrylic finish and painted on 2 layers. I did this to all the pots so they are generally sealed against water soaking into the pottery (I could end up storing empty pots outside in freezing temperatures). For one of the fruit trees I also lined the pot with a piece of old shower curtain so there's now 3 layers between the plant and the pot. At least the plant is happy now and if I can find a plastic liner pot that fits I can transfer it later.

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...

Thanks again happyjacq - you are very special. Which is obviously why you got your very own fairy tale with your very own Prince Charming - or is that Knight in Shining Armour? lol. How many chickens do you have? What sorts? I don't know what ours are - 2 yellow chicks and 2 black chicks from the hatching at school - very technical! And the way my luck is going - they'll all be roosters. But we are committed now - we've built the bestest chook tractor ever (cost me less than $20 from Bunnings - got lots of roofing iron, timber etc from the scrap heap in the building site across the road - so I'm very pleased with myself). So if they all end up being roosters, I'll go buy a few silkies, or pretty bantams, to look beautiful in my backyard! Do poodles really make good chook wranglers? That must be funny to watch. Our babies have been in their chook tractor for a week now, and the last 3 days we have let them out in the afternoon. The first 2 days they stayed right next to their house, and put themselves back in after about 10 minutes (so we rushed and put their evening chook crumble in, and went "chookchookchook" - pretending we were teaching them the routine lol). Then last night when they were out, we moved their chook tractor from one end of the yard to the other. They didn't realise at first - my youngest son (4yo) was still with them - but when he started walking across the yard to get to us (about 25m) they just RAN after him - it looked so funny - Pied Piper of Chickens. Then they got sidetracked by a very nice daisy growing about 1m from their front door, and we were starting to get worried we would never get them all back inside. And even though they are just 5 weeks - they can get themselves to the top of the trampoline, so I was worried if we had to chase any, they might even make it over our 1.5m high timber fences. They are still growing their feathers (moth eaten straggly things they look at the moment lol)- seems a bit mean to cut them off one wing already!