I put mine into a cold frame during the day...still protected from full sun exposure (Glass shields out UV light), but getting a much wider spectrum than the shop lights. The cold frame should be propped open to allow a little wind and a lot of light. If you are concerned with too much light, place some shade cloth over the top (any light fabric will do), to give them some light shade until YOU are comfortable with their exposure. If you put them out for a few cloudy days first, they will get used to it rather quick. Mine have been in a cold frame for about a month at this point (I'm in zone 6b - avg last frost is 4/14, and I planted out a bunch of them last weekend - soil temp around 60 degrees.) I left them outside unless the temp was dropping below 45 for the first few weeks, and eventually got them used to a low temp around 40 degrees. The undersides of the leaves will go purple - that's normal. I did this with seedlings as soon as their first set of true leaves appeared. They are not quite stocky and hardy. They can take just about anything the weather can throw at them now! If your seedlings are older, and possibly more tender, after being babied, you might want to be more careful about overexposure, but I've run into no problems. Heck, the one night we got an unexpected frost and I hadn't brought in the tomatoes, they seemed to have suffered no ill effects! They are tougher than we give them credit for.

Thanks Sherry, It has been a crazy day for me. I have two Monarchs that have already formed a chrysalis and there was one fat one in the butterfly cage, so I took the top off to go to get more Leaves for the third guy. I just threw the leaf in with the others, thinking he was on the bottom of one of the leaves and put the top back on. Several hours later I was checking on him and could not find him anywhere in the cage. I looked everywhere in the room; the cats are all in my computer room. Finally after several hours I found him on my potted Christmas Cactus. I put him back in the cage, and he headed for the top to pupate. Sure glad I finally found him!!! I now am raising 9 Monarch Cats, all different sizes, and 7 BST that hatched on Thursday. Betty

Here's my take on the info you've provided. ThOSE roots look fine. Maybe a tad bit of rot on the left one. But that still doesn't mean that you're NOT getting rot on the roots that were left in the ground. Sand is normally a great base to work with because it drains so well. But it also requires copious amounts of compost, not just a little. Is the river sand possibly TOO silty that there's not a lot of porosity to allow oxygen to the roots? Again, copious amounts of compost would help here. Watering just might be the issue -- heavy rains in sand should wash through, not leaving the roots WET. The problem is you can't control the rain and if the top few inches of soil remain moist, the roots will not reach for moister, deeper areas. For your current growing style(in ground), I would add tons of compost. And then when it comes to watering, I would let the plants wilt in between waterings. I'm not talking about normal wilt that happens on 95F summer humid days -- that's normal. But when you walk out in the "cooler' morning and see them slightly wilting, you'll get an idea of how often they need watering. You want to water right before this type of wilting. Water deep, not frequent short soaks. Other solutions. Build a raised bed -- much easier to control water with your own soil mix and might just be the perfect solution for those torrential rains you get. Containers. Look up Al's 5-1-1 mix -- many people grow their peppers in a very porous, superbly draining mix just because they have the same issue as you in regards to heavy summer rains. As far as the slow down in the summer. Just a way of life for flowering, fruiting veggies. Extended periods of daytime temps above 95F just slows down flower production and pollination. So, mulching, like you do, is awesome. Heavy mulching is even better. Adding shade cloth will definitely help though. When the forecast call for high 90's, throw the shade cloth(or even old bed sheets) over the plants for those midday scorching hours. Try to let them get the DIRECT sun in the morns and late afternoons when the temps have cooled a bit. For more tips, you might want to visit the Louisiana forum. Maybe you'll find a chilehead who grows in similar conditions and has learned the tricks for that area. Good luck. Kevin

Based on what you described: Do not apply anything unless you know what the problem is. (Btw, where does vegetable oil idea comes from? Just wondering - didn't come across that recommendation yet) Chilly windowpane is no problem - unless leaves/part of plant is touching the glass, and there is frost on it. Or really drafty... In z5, I have them on windowsill a do not worry about chill.. Cooler temps during nighttime are often quite suitable for many plants. Watering 1x/week is probably too often, and even more so if the potting soil doesn't drain fast. I can see some perlite, but can't tell what is the mix made off - do you know? How warm is it in the room they are kept? As for the white spots, are they web-like? If so, it may be mealy bugs. But I really can't see detail well enough to be sure. Does it look/feel papery-like? The larger cacti may have rot problem - I never had to do surgery on something similar, so hope someone else will post with good tips. As for light, they need as much as possible - many of us use lots of supplemental lighting during dark & short days of winter. It is a good idea to isolate new or diseased plants from the rest, usually until there is no sign of disease/bugs anymore.