The service where all the pictures are hosted for this thread is shutting down. I have reposted all the pictures at a different site, but GardenWeb does not allow me to edit my posts to change all the links. Here's a page with all the pictures on it. Don't miss the tiny "page 2" link at the top of the page. Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures for this thread

A healthy Brug will after the 1st week have developed small white nodes on the area below the water. A brug that is having problems will not developed the nodes. After the 1st week if the cutting feels pliable is my be going bad. A good idea is to pick them up everyday and look at them you will soon be able to tell the good ones from the bad. Bad Brung- bad pic but you get the idea good Brung Notice the brug to the left without nodes- these are problem cuttings. If you have enough you might want to discard them or isolate them into a small container with rooting hormone. Small and flexiable ones should be isolated also as these will proably contaminate the bucket. If you do not have time to pick each one up then smell the bucket it it has an ordor there is a problem and it must be cleaned. Secondary growth is a good idication that all is well. Two buckets that had problems but as an experiment were continued with marginal brugs cuttings. Once these were removed the problem ceased. Rooting in a bucket is fun and you should try other items. It works very well. I have done a rose, jasmine, honeysuckle ( in the last 4 weeks) and will try some passion flower just for kicks. I bet you see other items in there. It does not seen to effect the brugs at all. Here is the last of my cuttings from 1 month ago these were the slow ones ready to go fishing-Floundering. The other are 18 inches tall. Now for the ones that do not want to put out roots but have nodes it is best to plant them. (I guess) It worked for me. I had one extremly large cutting(thick) it just would not make roots so I decided to do the lay it flat and cover all but 1/3 of the top. Well 2 10" cuttings made 9 plants. It seems to work well for very thick woody cuttings. Most of these are going elsewhere so maybe they will update the renegade bucket saga. PS- I did these with well water direct, the 1st ones were done with Reverse Osmosis water what I drink from the well. I guess water is like plasma the better the water the better the results. Municipal water should be good but let it sit for a day so the chlorine comes out. That is the update hope everyone had a happy holiday. I did figure how to add my trade list and clippings so browse if you want. Jim

Thanks, everyone! Certainly never knew about the Viceroy butterfly. I'm going to share that tidbit at work; we all assumed they were Monarchs. Iris gal--yes, Electron is spot-on. I love taking pics of that one. They all turn out beautiful. She seems to blow fast, but stays beautiful all the way through. Renegade, on the other hand, came out pink in every photo until that one. It's actually very cherry-red and tightly closed for a couple of days until it opens to that stage, where you can finally see the white deeper down inside.

Pat, I need to come visit you and stock up! I use those bar mops for everything. My non-use of paper towels is for two reasons. The first is to save money, I do laundry anyway so I just toss them in with the whites, so I don't use any more water or gas for the dryer, etc. The second reason is because we now have free recycling, so I cancelled my garbage service. Oh wait, that saves money too, LOL, about $30 a month. However, I have to take everything to the recyling center myself, there's no curbside service. So, the more I use in paper products the more I have to haul to recycling or find a way to dispose of. Dave has a big commercial sized dumpster because of the business, so anything I can't recycle or compost goes there, but I have to haul it. The less garbage I have to haul in the Jeep, the better I like it, LOL. As for paper napkins, I've NEVER liked paper napkins unless I'm eating something really messy like ribs. I like cloth napkins and have a basket that sits on the end of my counter. Those just go in the laundry too. Annie