Mike!! you are living my dream mista! hehe I WILL have one of those one day :) man that is one Packed house! does it have a gravel floor,? ..so you can just start goin crazy with the hose then?? lol is it heated i guess? any supplemental lighting?? you got stuff ive never even seen before,, ..and your figs are wayy bigger than mine! [dont go there Purple lol] luv the Orchids, i got 3 on sale from Lowes recently (not-in-bloom), and just dug out an old copy of Simon & Schusters guide to Orchids,, about the only 'flowering' plant thats interests me (so far),,, man, makes me wanna come camp out in there hehe whats that last one w/the murraya-lookin flowers? that a citrus? i think i want a hanging hoya now too lol how can yo keep up with all them?? you should really thin-the-herd some mr, want my addy?? lol hey, hope all is well, and you n mom had a Great Turkey day! cheers :)

hey all ... i am going to try to do this in sequence .. if i start skipping all around .... i will miss things ... so culling will not be covered for months ... seeds are all OP .... from all my streakers .. and some neat others.. like deep blue sea, Niagara falls, golden gate ... heat ... i did remember that i got my heat pad.. believe it or not.. at a beer making store.. go figure on that ... as noted.. i will use it to warm soil for germination .... i don't know as of today if i will use it beyond that ... as for ambient heat ... the house at 63 .. zowee ... you are brave .. .lol ... lets step back and think about what the hosta do outside ... 63 sounds about consistent with my late may .. the plants are expanding .... but the issue is soil temp i would think ... think about the effect of the sun on the soil ... though the temp might only be 63 .. i would bet a buck the soil could be a lot warmer on sunny days .... so if you house.. or your basement is this cold .. i think that if you want to do a good job .. you will have to think about getting the temps up ..... especially soil temp .... i doubt the leaves care what the temp is.. its the root temp that matters .... also think about when you might see volunteers in the garden .. you do not see them in early spring.. it appears they will need a higher SOIL temp to germinate.. and grow... also ... soil temperature will be an issue when the lights aren't on .... i usually run the lights all night long when the furnace kicks down to 62 ... and have my off time during the day when the furnace is on ... so the lights moderate the temperature fluctuations .... i cant really solve your problems regarding temperature for each of you .. i only offer suggestions as to what parameters you need to work with ... if it were cold in the house.. i might consider tenting the setup ... but it would be a big tent .... like a mini greenhouse in the basement .... even a plain old 100 watt light bulb inside a tent will add heat ... if you think it all out.. you don't need to spend all that much money on stuff .... but working with water and electricity means you HAVE TO BE SAFE ABOUT IT ALL .... the lights are hung with #16 hardware chain ... as noted .. and are adjustable .. they must ALWAYS be within 2 or 3 inches of the plants ... BUT IF YOU PLAN ON LEAVING FOR A FEW DAYS ... you have to adjust the lights up .. or the hosta will grow into them and scorch ... a dollar store thermometer.. is a good addition to the growing area.. so you can keep track and make adjustments ... i can tell you right now.. on a 37 degree morning.. my cement room is holding at about 65 degrees ... when i finish putting the stand all together ... i will run the lights all night .. and see what the temp is in the area .... guessing just doesn't work ... knowledge is power ... go figure on that ... lol .... and i want to start thinking about these things BEFORE I START THE SEEDS .... link to trays is below ... i built this setup to grow violets a lifetime ago ... the down side to the trays is that i can not put nursery flats across the short way ... but i only use those for sprouting ... as you will see later .... the upside is that spills are contained ... away from electricity .. since they are stacked on top of each other ... culling.. we will cover that in a few months .... the early answer is BE BRUTAL.... it is my position .. that if you focus the bifocals .. even a one inch plant has all the traits it will have in 5 years .... there will be waves.. red... streaks ... plain old greens ... must die .... maybe if it has a lot of red .. or some nice waves.. it will survive the first cull ... if i plant Niagara falls ... and i get a yellow out of it .. with a wave.. now that might be cool ... if i plant golden gate .. and i get a blue out of it .. etc ... i am looking for something unique ... the point of doing your own crosses is to have a goal in mind ... once you establish a goal ... then culling is very easy .. because .. only the ones that further the goal are kept.. the downside to growing OP seeds .... is that you have no goal .. so you think you have to save them all ... that by definition is a nightmare.. been there.. done that .. lol ... a goal ... lets say i want a manhattan that is yellow ... i would take manhattan pollen to a good yellow plant ... and try to get a corragated yellow.. so every seedling that comes from those pods that isnt yellow. .. will die ... culling is easy when you have goals ... too much white ... they are called TERMINAL WHITES .... you may get them to live in a perfect setting in your little Eden ... but they will die ... so why fool with them for months ... this is enough for now... i hope i answered all the questions above this post .... be patient ... we will try to cover everything ... we have nothing else to do all winter.. lol gotta run ... so forgive me if i cant reread the whole thing .... ken Here is a link that might be useful: tray info

Hey there, DaWiff! I would love to swap -- haven't got anything particular in mind that I am looking for. I'm so new to all this, I have trouble remembering what I HAVE, let alone what I WANT! I do think I'd like ... see, darn it, I can't remember what they're called. Purple spikey perennial thingies. And a Rose of Sharon, and, oh, golly, anything for late summer that doesn't look like a daisy of black-eyed susan (of which I have plenty). So I have lots and lots and did I say LOTS of siberian iris, as well as a true wealth of lungwort (pulmonaria) and perennial cornflower (centaurea montana). Lots of globe thistle seeds. Plenty of baby's breath, if you want to take a chance on it (I gather it doesn't like to be moved, but I hate it where it is). I think I'd have to have you come here because I can't possibly pot it all up (I lack pots!). Seriously, if anyone wants to come by and raid the garden, I'd be happy to see you. Just e-mail me and we'll find a good time. :-) Here is a link that might be useful:

""Surely, you wouldn't prune diseased leaves off a plant and then use the same cutters on a healthy plant?" That's exactly what he is saying. It does not compute to me either." No that is not what I said or saying. I never prune healthy foliage. As much as I have talked about the problems pruning causes that should be common knowledge here. I never have any need to prune healthy foliage, have never seen any need to prune healthy foliage and consistently maintain that all that healthy foliage pruning only contributes to disease and other issues. But pruning is your choice and some seem really addicted to doing it. Fine, as long as you are willing to pay the price for doing it. So the only foliage my knife come into contact with is already diseased. And given that the plant is already infected by the air borne fungus and/or bacteria of the common diseases (I have no viral disease issues and pruning them wouldn't help anyway) it makes no difference if I sterilize my knife my or not. All I am trying to do is slow it down till I can harvest the fruit it has on it. When that isn't possible the plant gets pulled and replaced. The OP asked about "I use scissors to cut off leaves that are discolored or touching the ground ." We all just assumed they were discolored due to disease which may or may not be the case. Maybe they need to be removed by hand, maybe they are pest damaged, wind damaged, sun burnt, wind whipped, etc. in which case there is no "contamination" of the scissors. Maybe they can just be left alone to fall off on their own. Branches touching the ground can just be snapped off with your hand. But if they are diseased then sterilizing your scissors isn't going to make much difference now. Dave