First, florida is a land apart when it comes to gardening, so don't take advice here, go to the florida forum where there are some resident veggie experts. Second, don't use poisons. All plant weaknesses are due to a lack, and in florida you can be pretty sure that lack is soil nutrition. Combine with heat stress and the result is vulnerability to just about anything. In concert with my folks we have been gardening in central fl for a long time. The first really successful garden we have had was this spring in a new plot near a lake which provided some constant soil moisture in the root-zone, and we loaded the soil with organic minerals. Finally we got some plants that produced heavily since they were not moisture-deprived and nutrient-starved. Occasional or even daily overhead watering does not suffice in the florida climate unless evaporation is controlled. Also in florida it is getting late now for common beans and tomatoes to be productive due to heat. Only in the best of circumstances would they continue much longer. Next year have your successive crop of legumes - limas and cowpeas - sowed by May to replace the bean crop.

Well Howard, lookee here, you want to go to Chicago. Lots of company. The thing with going back to NY rather than elsewhere, for me, is that NY is easy to get into and out of, I can do a RT in one day, don't need hotels, don't need to rent a car, don't need a pet sitter at home etc, etc, etc..... That and I don't feel like taking my vacations in the States going to orchid shows. If I'm going to go to the trouble of organizing a few days out of town, I want it to be well worth it. Albeit,it's fun meeting people from the forum. Not having Paul around anymore to take care of the dogs and birds, when I decide to disappear for a couple of days, just adds another "issue" to consider. At the moment,I don't have the energy.

Hi Ohiofem, I was wondering, since you have been growing clivia for some time now what you would recommend as a very good or possibly the best yellow. I'm interested in saturated color of course, but don't want an overly huge plant. And of course the wider the leaves the better..and of course.. a nice good size flower head..(I don't want much do I.) I see that there are San Marcos yellows availible here and there as full grown plants and then there is Arturo's yellow, and I'm going to google Solomone yellow right now.. I'm sure there are many gorgeous yellows, but one that I might be able to find to purchase in the not too distant future.. I hesitate to buy a full grown plant as I promised my husband these wouldn't get very big (he believed me;-)) so if I start out small as with the seedlings I can sort of edge myself into this without making too much of a splash..if you know what I mean.. I appreciate your advice and anyone else who might have any thoughts or comments would be appreciated too.. Thanks in advance, Donna

Kasima, Enjoyed hearing from you regarding the Clivia. What I have been doing with the plant is following a schedule that I have from a site I found when I purchased the plant. The site says to only water the plant after the rest period. Do not give it any water while it is resting from October until April. Then you give it water as needed until it runs out of the bottom of the pot. It says that if you don't give it water during this period, the roots will stay at the top of the plant and you don't want them to do that but grow to the bottom of the container so I have a water meter and give it water when the meter reads dry. I am to stop using fertilizer after mid-September and after the end of October, it goes into the rest period, no water, fertilizer, just leave it alone until April. These are the rules I have been following. It didn't bloom during the bloom period but that does not concern me right now. I have not lost any more leaves and instead of pulling off the ones that were turning brown, I just cut away the brown portion and they look ok. One thing I noticed cutting into a leaf is there is a syrupy fluid that comes out of the leaf that is messy. One positive thing is the plant is growing new clumps of leaves all over in the pot. Noel