Wow: Over 2.5 years since I started this thread. Scabrida are doing very well in dappled shade: well protected from wind and drying sun in winter. Have clumped nicely and this year I have new growth in the 5' range. Rufa are also doing well: only 4' but bushing up nicely. admittedly, I have transplanted 2 of the 3 and they take a season to recover, as evidenced by how well the unmoved bunch is doing. These get partial sun (2-3 hours)and one gets baked during the winter, but is reasonably protected from wind. From what I've read: the scabrida don;t take very well to too much sun. IN fact, mine never get direct sun during summer and are doing great. One gets some direct sun during winter, and is slower to grow than the fully protected bunch. Hope that helps!

In a former life, I used to work with inbred mice. The minimum number of generations of brother X sister mating was 20 consecutive generations before an "inbred strain" was considered established. In many cases, the number far exceeded F20. The advantage in that situation was that after 20 generations, the resulting population was considered to be genetically identical (or close to it). This has terrific potential in medical research. Theoretically, genetics is no longer a variable. A particular trait can be "highlighted" with inbreds. A rare mutant trait may become normal in all individuals. As bambi pointed out, fatal traits are often highlighted by chance instead of "desirable" traits. It is rare to get inbreds to F20 because they simply die out! In plants, this may or may not be desirable. Each individual will eventually appear identical. Nurseries would go broke--no variety! --Stitz--

Hi Steve, all these botanical names confuse me so I have to rely on my trusty wildflower books. This is the "grass tree" or "black boy" to us older people who may not be as politically correct as we should. Like a lot of west ausies that live in the bush, I have some of these growing naturally, but it is a whole different story trying to transplant or raise from seed. According to the trusty books these need a damp sandy soil with "sharp" (?) drainage and full sun. Propogated from seed they can take upto a year to germinate. These plants are susceptible to root rot. The ones that occur naturally around my place are all growing in really dry sand, they had never been watered b4 we built our home, so we didn't start. They don't get any attention actually, we just leave them to do their own thing and in the long hot dry summers we still don't water them. A few have come up where we cleared the land to build and they just do there own thing too, with no special attention. Hot and dry...seems to be the re-occuring theme and I will be interested to read what others (with far more experience than me) have to say. Good luck, Marie

Hey Brian6464, thanks for the reply. I have germination domes that do build up extra warmth under the lights and with the mat however due to mold concerns I don't leave them on most of the time. I've also got two clamp/spot lights with hot lights in them pointed in the corner they're in--ideally to keep the area a little warmer but to be honest, I don't know the temperature. I noticed the wilting was really bad a week or two ago when it got really cold/we had two back to back ice storms outside and I had my lights on a timer so they went off between 11pm and 4am--so no heat generation. I switched it around so they were off during the middle of the day instead. I use to have a plastic sheet over the racks but again I'm worried about mold, been picking out anything that looks moldy and trying not to let it be overly damp. I have a small clamp fan I bought specifically for air circulation I haven't' actually set up yet. I'm getting more concerned about the temperature and as you said, how they'll hardly grow if it's that low. This image is a little out of date, but that's my general set up haha.