Thank you for the feedback but... Ok, say you decide to buy a questionable plant, either because its the only one of its kind on display or because you know that you have the skills to bring it around, my assertion is that you can do this without mussing a single root. There also must be a difference between a trade plant or rescue and one obtained at full list either from a mail order source or locally. In any case, good light, proper temps, etc. are going to be necessary if you do a repot, otherwise all those cut root ends are just entry sites for opportunistic infection. Well proper temps, good light, etc. will bring about the same recovery, perhaps quicker because there has not been the additional setback from a repot. Many here don't even know how to do a repot. When the first orchid I ever bought needed its first repot I took it to a local pro and watched them do it. Even though it hadn't grown in the best light ((I wasn't illuminated yet) the pro removed far fewer roots than I would have assumed. I suppose my argument is that the roots aren't going anywhere, if you don't get them this time they will be waiting next year. I say this will all possible respect for your obvious experience and talent, Richard (the Tenor of the Forum endorphins have not yet been metabolized) and Paul, I know less (nothing...) about your growing but I respect your opinions also. H

Kines, Love all your photos and add to the request for 'more'! Just like Alexa, it was your photo of Jewel of the Nile that inspired me to add it to my garden a couple of years ago. I've gotten many different hostas after seeing a picture posted here on the forum, but your Jewel has been the biggest standout in my mind. If you still have that pic handy, maybe you could post it for all the newer folks that missed it. My Jewel always takes my breath away. Every leaf is interesting. Don't think it's quite as awesome as yours, but it gets better every year!

Randy, Great growin'! Keep up the good gardening, man. Yeah we've been battlin' fungus, spots and specks all summer too. I think it's abating now though. We haven't broken the 2-pound barrier yet this year. The largest is shown above at 30.7 ounces (1.3 ounces short of 2 pounds). I think I still have your email addy at work. Just in case I don't, you can shoot me a note at tomatohead48@hotmail.com ... we need to compare notes. A few of the crosses I've made in the past two years are interesting and worth pursuing ... and a couple are just not showing anything extra-special yet. I got a bunch of seeds from one cross this summer that I can't wait to try out ... Green Giant x Yellow Submarine. I had three individual crosses of that take, but lost one fruit yesterday ... it just rotted from the inside without my noticing it soon enough. I cleaned every seed out of the other two immediately! I'm hoping to find a potato-leaf "Green Grape" type somewhere down the road with that one. Talk to you soon, Bill

Alot of us use SmartDraw--you can do floorplans or elevations for virtually any room in the house + many other things that I don't use it for. It was very easy to learn IMO. They have a ton of preset appliances, fixtures, cabinets, doors, etc to choose from. You can download a 7 day free trial to see how it works & how you like it. Cost is $197 to buy it for 1 user. If you like, you can put my user name in the search bar at the bottom of the page in the 'Building a Home', 'Kitchen', & 'Laundry' forums to see some of what I've been able to do with it. Good luck!