Mark, The question of what makes a "good" houseplant is an interesting question, am curious to see peoples' responses. Maybe is we give folks a little time, at least a day or two, they'll start weighing in w/ some considered responses. [don't be surprised if someone first suggests we might have to define the term "good" for this question]. I believe we'll have to disagree completely about Exchange restrictions. I know what I read & just to be sure, I went back & read it again. I don't know how to invoke bold or underline in here so am quoting the entire text where I suggested you go to the area marked "Special Instructions for Exchanges." I draw your particular attention to the SECOND & PENULTIMATE items. I've highlighted those several items by using BLOCK CAPITALS (Copy & pasting it in here lost the bullets as in the original, I've inserted paragraph breaks in here from memory, my apologies in advance to GW/IVillage). "Special Instructions for Exchanges: This area is for the purpose of exchanging seeds or plants of the type covered by this forum. The exchanges were created to facilitate the arranging of trades of plants and seeds between members. PLEASE DO NOT use them to solicit donations, ask for free plants or seeds, or ASK FOR ITEMS IN EXCHANGE FOR POSTAGE. ALL REQUESTS MUST BE IN THE CONTEXT OF ARRANGING A TRADE. If you have nothing to offer at this time, please wait until you do. All exchanges are restricted to users from a particular country, region or state. If it isn't indicated otherwise, the exchange is restricted to residents of the U.S. To find an exchange for your location, check the the exchange index. Each post must have a type of trade, subject and a message. Trading is done at users' discretion. GardenWeb has no control or responsibility over trades arranged here. Keep in mind some traders may let you down, so it might be wise to keep your initial trade with someone limited to smaller items. Messages addressed to or meant for particular users should be sent via email and are not allowed in the exchanges. If you have trouble with another person coming through with their end of a trade, you must deal with it privately. It is the consensus of the forum users that this type of thing be kept out of our forums. Any public accusation in this forum, or elsewhere at GardenWeb, will result in the accuser being banned. To avoid problems when shipping across borders and some state lines, it is best to ship plants bare-rooted and to label the container as such. It is up to the users involved to determine what is legal and what is not. THIS FORUM IS FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXCHANGING MATERIAL, THERE SHOULD BE NO NEED TO MENTION MONEY IN ANY POSTINGS. IF MONEY IS MENTIONED, THE POSTING WILL BE CONSIDERED AN ADVERTISEMENT AND THE POSTER WILL BE BANNED. Trading of patented material is unlawful and is strictly forbidden."

Here are the fertilizers I am using: Lawn Food Plus Iron 24-0-4 put first weekend of April, June and August next is crabgrass preventer plus lawn food 20-0-3 Put down first weekend of May and July A local nursery has me on this program (however, it is no different than any other customer with bermuda). I just went out and mower again. Still have issues with the washboarding. I paid close attention to the mowers handle and that is not the problem. You have to push way down on it to lift it at all. I made sure I was slightly elevated with it the entire time. Here are some photos I took. Let me know if you can't view them. http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q607/BamaMatt42/photo4.jpg?t=1344635447 This is the backyard. The spots at the bottom are dog pee spots I have filled in with sand (just figured out recently what was causing the spots. Yard has been mowed. http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q607/BamaMatt42/photo16.jpg?t=1344635440 Another backyard. I have mowed vertically to the reel mower. http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q607/BamaMatt42/photo15.jpg?t=1344635444 Another, mowed to the reel mower. http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q607/BamaMatt42/photo32.jpg?t=1344635443 Front yard. Mowed http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q607/BamaMatt42/photo23.jpg?t=1344635444 Another front yard. Mowed. I am posting this so I don't lose it but I am going to go take more pictures of the washboarding. I realize you cannot see it in these pictures.

In my opinion, the cutting itself and the leaves will always lose some amount of moisture to the surrounding air via evaporation. Different tissue loses air at different rates depending on various factors (e.g. leaves faster than wood, new leaves faster than old, etc). In order to replace this moisture, roots (or constant misting) are required. If you have them in a sealed bin with moist air, moisture loss will be very slow or nonexistent. If exposed to indoor dry northeast winter air, it will be fairly fast. If there is one small root, it might not supply moisture fast enough to keep the new leaves. The number and size of roots necessary depends on humidity of room and other factors. Even with many roots, some leaves will almost always drop. If there are a couple fat roots and things appear to be going well, then you can certainly take it out and put it under a light. I have taken a great many cuttings this winter and put them straight away (after rooting in a box similar to you) under a HO T5 grow light for 18 hours a day and had no problems. If a few leaves drop, don't panic. This is expected and as long as they are putting out new ones you are fine. If there is good root growth, eventually it will put out leaves, and these will be fine under full light from the start.

mgleason, Thanks for your response. Potting up when the roots poke out certainly makes good sense, otherwise the little guys would be vulnerable to damage. Putting the potted up plants on a shelf underneath the system won't work for my set up, but i can have them to the side where they will receive sporadic misting. michela, Yes, this is exciting. I thought 'Oklahoma' was fast--taking only 3 weeks to root, and then 'La Tosca' took only 17 days!! I have only one cutting per container so it's really easy to move them. When potting up I use a lightweight potting mix I make up of a commercial mix (one without added fertilizer) with pine bark fines and perlite added. mgleason seems to have the answer to your questions as they are much the same as mine. Laurel