Al, The picture doesn't look great but two things to keep in mind: it has been over eight weeks since the plants were watered and they have been dead for a month. Plus temps have been as high as 130 and usually over 120 almost every day in the past month. The dirt pictured came from containers in which only the back of them and a small part of the front was buried. It was not hard and broke apart easily. The last time I tried a container upstairs, I had to use a hammer to break it up! Containers that were completely buried had soil that was more loose and fell apart when I tipped them on their side. As I mentioned in my previous post, I just showed the dirt because someone had asked that I post a picture after finished. My main concern was raising healthy plants, which I did. I would have had baskets of toms had we not went dark for about six weeks. I counted fourteen days at one stretch and the most sunlight I received was two hours - and that was rare! Then, once the sun returned they were doing great - the plants were full of blossoms. Even started getting ripe toms and dozens of baby fruits formed. Then it warmed up and even though I kept the GH open and a fan blowing air out, it still got above 100 almost every day, and then got hotter! The toms never completely ripened. :-( It was a learning experience - you need sun and moderate temps both. That's why I am starting plants now - they should be close to flowering in late September when the temps cool off and I can move them into the GH. Come the end of December, I'll move my operation upstairs and grow hydroponically The original post was: "So I've looked at a lot of threads concerning the proper potting mix for containers (really want to try out Al's mix) but have a problem. I plant a lot in a university greenhouse that's a long way from home (14 miles), and can't go to water the pots every day during summer. What potting mix would you recommend that is soil-less but retains enough water for a plant for at least two days? I grow mostly vegetables." That's why I suggested burying the containers. I never had to water more than once every two weeks and grew great plants - just at the wrong time! Mike

I have a "whenever I get to it" schedule. I always have something going on in the greenhouse, its as big as a small house (just under 1750 aq ft) so I usually don't do every plant "by hand". And, its a tropical rainforest, so there tons more stuff in there than just orchids. Many of my orchids are mounted on plaques and cork on the walls, on palm tree trunks, and on other media. Those get sprayed with whatever is in the hose end sprayer...that's usually either Peter's Excel 15-5-15 Cal/Mag water soluble or Jerry's Grow...regardless of species. The potted orchids (and ALL other potted plants) get Nutricote. In addition, all potted plants except PALMS get some sort of water soluble fertilizer (sometimes its Peter's Excel, sometimes its home made beer fertilizer, sometimes its Miracle Grow)a couple times a month. Palms get Palm Fertilizer or Nutricote depending on the palm (some burn with regular Palm Fert so get Nutricote) Orchids get nothing special. They get full strength whatever is being sprayed at the moment. I don't buy special orchid fertilizers. All plants (especially palms but also all the bareroot orchids like Vandas) get a chelated micronutrient spray 2-3 times a year. I get tons of blooms, and lots of growth.

Is the name of the vendor Cheap Orchids ? or ? Gin

It would be easy to design a motor or louver that didn't need to suck juice all day. Ya'd think. I'd feel the motor after some time in use and judge things from how warm it seemed. Warm is alright, almost hot enough to burn might not be conducive to long motor life. Does it seem to vibrate, b-r-r-r-r sounding, as it opens or closes? Could be a stepper motor. They are indeed made to move in precise steps, lock in place and hold tightly when "stopped," though power is still applied. Shut power off, they spin freely. Power on and locked, you can't budge it. Very powerful for their size, normally used in computer disk drives. You just tell it how many steps to travel, and off it goes, stopping at precisely the spot, reversing to exactly its starting position. A regular motor will have inertia and want to continue turning for a spell once shut off. Worm gears can control this more or less, such as in your CD or VCR player's transport emchanism. Probably more than you cared to know on the subject! ;-) -Ed