bonsaikc- The soil is very fast draining. Is it safe to bare root the tree twice in one spring or did you mean to do this over two seasons? I did not remove all of the old soil (the soil that came with the tree from wild collecting.)Are these pines sensitive to repotting or are they vigerous root growers? stephenl- I live in Rockford, IL. There is a bonsai club at Rock Valley Greenhouse which I have been wanting to attend. I will take your advice and leave the tree alone for a while. Should the tree be out of the wind and kept on the dry side? Is it safe to pinch the fresh needles down to two or three per bud?

Thank you for further opinions/advice. ashes_of_the_fire those roots are gorgeous! For most part I tend to slightly underwater my orchids, before the ailment that is (I always thought it was fine as they flowered and looked healthy) and the roots would be slightly thinner than yours. I am especially grateful for the step by step instructions. I will definitely need them as this will be my first repotting on my own! (mum refused to help as she says last time she got involved it got them to the current state). I have something by Westland called 'orchid compost'. It says it has organic matter, bark and wood fibre. This is the only thing suitable at the shop nearest to us (and that is 30 minutes away). There is another shop that is about 1 hour away in another zone that requires 2 buses. But I am not sure that one is much better. I think I'll repot the worst first (I will do it tomorrow morning when there is more light and might post photos in case I need advise of whether they are actually alive)... to see how they take to this compost. And order the following online: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elite-Orchid-Compost-Range-for-Phalaenopsis-5-Litres-/261365464855 Does that seem like a good mix? Apparently one of the orchids is not actually a Phalaenopsis that mum owns (since it hasn't had flowers in years I did not know any better). Though she cannot remember its name. meyermike_1micha thank you for the tip ... I have been reading many websites and books about caring for orchids, but none actually go into any sort of detail. Something I read a year ago said that orchids can grow without any medium! in baskets but would require very frequent sprays. Wow! Maybe I need to do that to avoid the bugs. jane__ny thank you for the link! It is very helpful. As I said the books I could get from the library and some websites I came across weren't as helpful. Most of the books had various pictures and species, and talked about reproduction, illness and the fact that orchids depending on the type like various mediums including moss, bark, and something else. No one ever went into basics of how to physically water them (just state that you can spray or pour). Cloths were a strategy to get rid of insects. They have only been covered in them for about 3 months. These bugs are a pain to get rid of ... and one of the solutions is placing a layer of sand on top of the peat ... it cuts air supply to them and cuts their wings when they crawl out. I was a bit apprehensive of doing that (since who knows what the sand will be infected with!) So I saw someone's solution of placing denim to a similar effect ... break the cycle. Each fly lays many many eggs ... and the problem multiplies. Most of these I read were for houseplants ... as no one wrote about infected orchids. But the things is one of the orchids I bought was already infected and it was in bark! So it does happen. Probably not as frequently. I know most of the solutions I was trying were damaging the health of the plants, but as I mentioned these stuff eat roots ... and reproduce fast. So the fact that some of the orchids are still alive is pretty much a miracle. I do not wish this infection on anyone's plants. Oh and I place my stupidity/naivety to the fact that for many years that I have owned orchids they were healthy and I never saw what I have been seeing in the past 3/4 of the year. Thank you so much for your support! I also include the picture of the flies! (this was when the situation was improving too! before then you couldn't see the yellow ... it is a lot a lot better now). Just about 3 or 4 flies per sticker. Another quick question ... do I need to dry out the orchid compost completely before planting? (that is where I went wrong with the peat apparently) Lija P.S. Liquid Oxygen contains Hydrogen Peroxide. It was advised to me as it apparently burns up the larvae which seemed like a pleasant thought.

It's not appropriate to pitch a particular brand or type of rooting hormone because different plant species respond to different chemicals. The most effective concentration levels of rooting aids vary by species and type of cutting and the most effective chemical to use also varies primarily by6 plant species and can be much more important than concentration levels; so, it is a combination of the concentration AND the choice of chemical + type of cutting and time of year that determines the effectiveness of a rooting chemical. Rooting aids are synthesized forms of the plant hormone/growth regulator 'auxin'. Indole butyric acid (IBA) and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) are the two most common chemicals that have been found to be reliable in the promotion of rooting in cuttings. IBA is widely applied in general use because it is non-toxic to most plants over a wide range and promotes root growth in a large number of plant species. Some plants respond better to either IBA or NAA, some respond to ONLY one or the other, some may have a toxic reaction to one but not the other which will lead to poor or no growth and actually, mortality; and, some respond best to combinations of both chemicals, or to other variations of either IBA or NAA based on K (potassium). Both IBA and NAA are commonly available in talc or in liquid formulations of varying concentrations. I do lots of propagating of several hard-to-root species, but only use a rooting aid occasionally for the most difficult. As a generalization, you should know on a per plant basis which chemical and concentration is most apt to be effective before applying it. I have found it mostly unnecessary. Learning a little about the cultural conditions cuttings prefer and some other tricks (like methods of wounding) along with cleanliness will add more to what it takes to be successful at propagating (plants) than rooting aids (except in the very hard to root plants). Al

"I can't be bothered to go out and scout out examples for photos of ivy doing just as floral described ..." Unfortunately, without evidence, I can't feel compelled to believe your and Floral's claims. If it were true what you both say, then the physical proof should be available within ten seconds of entering the "ivy infested woodlands" that surround you, GG. The personal assurance of an ivy hater, such as yourself (and possibly Floral) might not be based on pure, objective fact. Ivy haters tend to not grow ivy or study the nuances of its habits. Instead, figuratively speaking they run from and throw rocks at it. "But it requires far more maintenance than any other groundcover I can think of ..." I know you wouldn't want to think this, but is it possible that with this particular plant, you are not managing it in the best way? I've heard this claim before -- where I lived and where I had ivy and where it grew with seemingly unbridled energy -- and found it to be baseless. In fact, when I managed ivy, I credited it for being not only the most dependable groundcover that would accept almost any and all conditions, but for being the biggest landscape time and work-saver ever!. The two half-acre properties in Atlanta I owned personally were each covered in 1/4 acre of ivy. Not even mulch -- which would need annual top dressing -- could have been easier or cheaper. I guess if one was set on hating it and their perpetual goal was to get rid of it, then having ivy around would seem like the cause of an endless struggle. But for those of us who consider how we can put this durable, disease-free, evergreen plant to work solving everyday landscape problems, find that barely any other plant is as versatile and dependable. "And if you skip the maintenance for any length of time or if you inherit a garden where the ivy is already established but has not been properly maintained, then all bets are off!" Interestingly enough, that was my initial introduction to it and ultimately, what caused me to come to love it. I bought my first property in Atlanta ... a neglected house and yard that was borderline abandoned. It was owned and previously rented out to faculty by Agnes Scott college. But their plans had changed and it had sat dormant for period of years. Ivy was literally everywhere in the neighborhood, which was primarily wooded. The yard was large oak trees, about a billion saplings, and chest-high weeds everywhere. In the house-half of the yard, ivy was front and center, In exploration of the wooded and weedy half, ivy seemed to underlie everything. I wondered if I could get rid of the weeds and keep the ivy (I needed to have something nice looking covering the ground.) It turned out that I could spray the weeds and their existence protected the ivy from a direct hit of herbicide. In about a year's time, I had what would have cost several thousand dollars, had I had to install it, of ivy. I also had ivy running amok on the house but it was not difficult to kill with herbicide and be done with it. I decided I didn't want ivy growing up the large trees and severed it all at the base of each tree, except for one which was a special project. That chore on a quarter acre of tree took probably took no more than 2 or three hours. It was much more time consuming to cut and remove the billion weedy saplings. It was a relatively short time for all the dead ivy leaves to fall off, making it much less visible. Within two or three months, all the ivy stems were falling off of the trees. All I had to do was walk around and pick it up, as a one-time thing. I won't go deeper here into how bad IT WASN'T, to convert a complete weed infested eyesore into a handsome, groundcovered landscape, thanks to ivy, but I have its general maintenance factors pretty well discussed in another thread devoted exclusively to that subject ...[Managing Hedera Helix[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/managing-hedera-helix-english-ivy-dsvw-vd~5352716?n=16)