Karen, I advise patience personally.....the tubers you have are babies. I do not know how large mine are, but they are much larger than 1 inch in diameter and they are not 4 feet tall. I have seen a lot of griping on these sorts of forums that the so-called giant Zants, are not that giant for most people that do not happen to have the ideal conditions to gorw them in!! By the way, here in PA, the spotted leaf Z. elliottiana is a favorite of Jap. beetles as well....as are the bananas, the Cyphostemma and most every other plant it seems :o) Dan

Wow. Y'all have a bunch of great ideas. The shelter spays all animals before adopting them out. They made us have Homer fixed before we could adopt Etta. And do a meet and greet. I like the muzzle idea. If the other dog doesn't try anything. We do worry about Etta mistaking a child for a squeaky toy and our home owner's insurance not covering it. Or even if they did, it is still $1000 deductable which we just can't afford. We also worry about Etta AND Homer getting out and getting hurt. Vet bills can get very expensive too. Obedience training would be great but it's not in the budget. I don't think a shock collar would be effective. Every collar we have put on her Homer has chewed off. His too. The two of them play rough. I have look out the window sometimes to make sure they are playing and not hurting each other. They sound like bear cubs wrestling. These are old pictures of Homer and Etta: Pooh Bear

Before building anywhere, one has to look at the recently solds of the homes that your new home will be comparable to. Determine what your new home would sell for once completed. (Usually just adding up the value of the land, plus the costs of the new build will not get you the fair market value of the new home and lot) Sometimes, a vacant lot just is not economically viable to build upon. However, usually lake front lots are. Note to the OP... I work with lake homes quite a bit. You really need to get a RE agent to determine the FMV of your lot and of the lot and house, when finished. Lake front lots can vary in value wildly from the neighbor's lot... water quality, size of cove, visibility of the main channel, sunset/sunrise views, shallow areas, sandy beach, rip/rap, wake zones, endangered aquatic plants, Army Corps of Engineer regs... I would advise you to do these two steps first, to be sure the lots are priced at economically feasible values.

You need to keep in mind the type of plant it is. They're a semi-epiphytic vine, so they normally grow up trees and roots come from all along the vine and grow down to the ground. They don't grow a root ball the same as some other plants do. The best potting mix is one suitable for epiphytes and should be fast draining and organic. They won't become bushy from pinching back the growing tips, they don't usually branch. If you want denser/bushier plants you need to put a lot of cuttings in close together, or wind the vine around itself so the leaves are close. Your cuttings in the photo look healthy enough so I wouldn't worry about it. They're not the fastest growing plant but they should still be okay.