Stuart - it's kind of difficult to provide adequate light if the plant is tall unless you use very intense lighting like HPS or metal halide. These lights produce enough light that you can keep them at a distance from the plant and 'bathe' the plant in their light. The problem is, they're expensive, expensive to operate, give off a lot of heat, and are noisy. Photo intensity (brightness) diminishes by the square of the distance from the light source. This means that light measured 3 ft away from the bulb is only 1/9 as bright as it is at 1 ft. That's why it's hard to light a tall plant with CFLs or other types of lights. Usually, you'll end up with the top of the plant fairly well lit, and the lower part of the plant getting very little help. There is a saying, 'The right plant for the right spot ....' that is used frequently and carries a lot of weight with experienced gardeners. It's often used in praise when a plant is doing exceptionally well, or as a gentle reminder that the spot chosen for a particular plant is what is causing it to struggle. The right spot has a lot of influence on how well the plant does, and by that your degree of success. If you decide to try it, maybe one of those spring loaded light trees (someone help me out with what they're called?) with multiple CFL bulbs would be the ticket if you can find them. You might try the 'Growing Under Lights' forum. There have been a lot of advancements in using LED lighting that I'm not up on, and you may get some help there. I have 64 sq ft under fluorescent lights, but the bulbs are very close to the foliage. I cycle them on timers at very close to what Toni mentioned - 16 on/8 off. Best luck, no matter your decision. ;-) Al Here is a link that might be useful: Growing under lights

Thanks, Lee. It's always nice to find out that someone finds value in the things we write. One would assume a nursery wouldn't over water their plants. In most cases, plants in nuresries WON'T be over-watered for a couple of reasons. One of those is that they are good at noticing signs that illustrate a group of plants need fopr water, or for just establishing an appropriate schedule on which to water. The second reason has to do with the fact that the plants often rest on the ground. When the pot is in direct contact with the ground, or if roots grow from the pot into the ground or through a ground cover cloth under the pots, the earth acts as a giant wick to pull excess water from the soil. If you use a soil that is capable of supporting 3-4" of perched water and you set it directly on dry ground, the perched water will disappear within minutes due to the wicking action of the earth. .... to clarify. Water when the skewer/dowel comes out free of dirt/dry looking? Yes, that's right. If you were checking daily or twice daily to get a 'feel' for how often to water, the ideal time to water would be the first time the tell comes out dry. IOW, you want to wait until just before the plant might experience drought stress before you water. With some species of ficus (like benjamina), you can clearly see or feel when the youngest leaves are just starting to lose turgidity. If you wait until then and pay attention to the interval since last watering, you can often establish an appropriate rhythm that should keep you out of trouble re over-watering. Do you have to use a new dowel every time? If you're actually using a dowel, you can cut a 4' piece in half & sharpen all 4 ends. If you're using a skewer, they're cheap, so why not use a fresh one after each moist pot you discover. Or, if you wipe the end off with a rag and wave it in the air between tests, it usually dries down enough that you can test a lot of plants with just the 4 ends from the single rod you cut in half. How much water do I flush it with? I usually suggest at least 10x the volume of the pot the plant is in; and if you err, it's better to err on the generous side and use more than 10x. How often do you do it? I use a soil that I can flush at will, and I DO flush every time I water. If you're limited to supplying small amounts of water to prevent soils from staying soggy for long periods, a thorough flush every 4-6 weeks is good. What do I use as the wick? Anything cotton? Cotton rots quickly. I prefer strands of rayon. You can buy a rayon mop head and pull it apart, or buy a man made rayon chamois and cut it in strips. Too, the nylon string ties used to tie onion or citrus bags closed very often work very well for drainage wicks (but not watering wicks). I have some of those that are 12-15 years old & still working great. Not all are created equal though, so discard those that don't work well. And do you tape it on the side of the planter out of the effluent. I meant to talk to you about the effluent. Your pot should be raised so it's above the effluent that collects in the saucer, or via other means, the effluent should have no pathway back into the soil. Reason: It doesn't make sense to flush salts from the soil only to leave a pathway right back to where they came from because the pot is sitting in the effluent. Here's how I do wicks: That covers how I do it before the planting is established. If the pot supports an established planting, I simply fold the wick over the end of a straight slot screwdriver and push it into the soil far enough that the short end is all the way into the soil. That holds it pretty securely initially and as roots grow around and into the wick, even more so. Is foliage pro 9-3-6 still your go to fertilizer? Yes. I might add a little extra K for some plants (tomato and hibiscus), but I basically use it for everything. I completely avoid any high-P fertilizers in containers. I consider a fertilizer to be high in P if the middle number (P) is equal to or larger than the first number (N). ..... it seems I will loose a bunch of leaves off the bottom. Is it ever possible to get that growth back? Yes. Once a leaf is shed, no new leaf will form in its place, but above the scar where a shed leaf was attached, there are dormant buds that can be stimulated to grow. The methods of activating these latent buds could easily fill a chapter in a book, so I won't elaborate. Back-budding will naturally occur if you can get the plant outdoors in full sun and plenty of air movement, fertilize it in what's called the luxury range, and make sure the root system is healthy and has plenty of room to run. You can artificially stimulate back-budding low on the trunk by notching or pruning the plant back hard. The hard pruning is especially effective when working with healthy plants at the peak of their food-making/photosynthesizing ability, which, where you live would be in June. Father's Day or the summer solstice are the easiest markers to remember. You mentioned the kids and learning. When I was a youngster, I went to a 1-room little red brick schoolhouse that had K-8 in the one room. Obviously, it was hard for the teacher to spend as much time with each student as they needed, so most of the time I read World Book Encyclopedia and anything I could get my hands on about animals or science. I only wish that the world of plant science would have got its hooks into me at a very young age. I hope your kids find something they love to do, no matter what it is, and have the opportunity to follow that calling. Al

My feedback: I submit that no one should offer advice so specific as 'to fertilize at each watering' w/o a good understanding of the grower's soil choice and watering habits; or unless the advisor offers instruction enough that the grower ends up understanding how to prevent serious issues associated with high TDS/EC levels and the limitations imposed by badly skewed nutrient ratios in the soil. The limitations I speak of are exactly those that spawned the commonly repeated myth that plants shouldn't be fertilized during the winter months, from the reasoning it's better to withhold fertilizer than to force the plant to suffer from high salinity because 'the soil' won't allow the grower to flush salts from the soil at will, w/o the plant being forced to suffer from an extended interval during which a large fraction of the soil mass remains saturated. I also noticed that the fertilizer linked to is said to have a favorable 3:1:2 ratio, but nowhere in the details does it mention the NPK %s. Because of the very small volume of water a teaspoon of the FLF fertilizer is mixed with to make a solution of appropriate strength, NPK %s must necessarily be extremely low. For comparison, if fertilizing at every watering with Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 (another 3:1:2 ratio fertilizer), the suggested rate is 1/4 tsp per gallon, or 1 teaspoon for every 4 gallons. So 1 tsp of the FLF fertilizer Claire links to makes 16 oz of maintenance strength solution, where 1 tsp of the Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 makes 512 ounces. If I divide 512 by 16, I come up with the embarrassing fact that your FLF fertilizer is in the neighborhood of being only 1/32 the strength of 9-3-6. Note where the decimal points are in the NPK %s of the FLF "fertilizer" suggested in the link in post above mine - NPK %s = 0.28 : 0.09 : 0.06. I don't know how others feel, but I think this is dishonest, and because there is no apparent way to know what we're buying - deceitful. No wonder we can't readily find the NPK % or even what's IN the product. Micro-nutrients? Magnesium? What's the source of the N?...... I put that FLF "fertilizer" in the same 'scam' category as Eleanor's VF-11, which has NPK %s of 0.15 : 0.85 : 0.55 and actually delivers far more "fertilizer" than the FLF product. I'll make it a point to warn others any time I see this product touted. Al

The contrast between "people time" and "plant time" can cause the grower some anxiety and frustration until the grower realizes there's a distinct difference and makes the adjustment by giving in to the idea that a plant has its own ideas about how long it should take to bounce back from adversity. Fortunately, the best form of resolution is usually no more complicated than procuring a few more plants so they can work as a team to satisfy your need to nurture. SOIL: I have perlite so I will add in more of that. Not sure if this is a bad idea, but I do have gravel I could mix in If you decide to include some gravel, use it in the bottom 6" of soil where it will displace the organic fraction of your medium that would normally be filled with water. This is a form of ballast. Don't use it as a layer, just mix it half and half with the bottom 6" of soil where the perched water table (excess water) resides. This in itself will reduce the amount of perched water your soil will hold by 1/2), and my neighbor has bark in her backyard that she said I could have some of to mix in if that's a good option for now? Depends ..... all bark is not created equal. Size and type of bark is very important. BALLAST/WICK: In reading through your posts I understand there are several ways to set these up, but I have an extra terra cotta and plastic pot so I figure this might be easiest? You mentioned covering the drainage hole in this post That reference was to the overturned pot you would be using as a form of ballast such that the rim of the pot would be down and the drain hole would face up. You don't want soil to drop through the drain hole in the ballast pot, so cover it. , but I also noticed [here[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/dealing-with-water-retentive-soils-dsvw-vd~1415041) you said another option would be to leave the hole open and put soil underneath so that it acts as a wick. That is the pot-in-pot technique where the main pot is nested into another pot and rests on top of the soil in the lower pot. This soil acts as a wick. If the soil in the lower pot is deeper than the ht of the perched water table, ALL perched water should move from the upper pot into the lower pot. For this application, there should be nothing over the drain hole(s) in the upper pot - the one the plant is in. Would you suggest one over another in my situation? I would go for the pot as ballast + the gravel in the bottom 6" of soil as added ballast, and even a wick if you like (in the lower pot). I have two options for pots to put inside as ballasts, but I'm not sure which would be the best option. The terra cotta pot looks like it may not take up enough room to help with limiting PWT, but the plastic one may be too large? The plastic one is great - cover the drain hole in it. Ideally, there would be an inch or so of soil above the ballast pot. Fill in the sides with the 50/50 gravel soil mixture up to the top (former bottom) of the overturned pot - cover it with an inch of soil with no gravel - set the plant on the soil - fill in around the edges. As long as you're taking steps to eliminate perched water, it doesn't matter how large your pot is. You can put your plant in a 55 gallon drum if you like, w/o concern you'll be over-potting. ...... once I repot the plant into the better mixture and add the ballast, should I water the plant again or hold off given the amount of moisture already present in the soil? Plants do best when the soil is evenly damp/moist - never wet/soggy. Skip watering if your entire soil mass is moist. Keep in mind, with the steps you will have taken to eliminate perched water, over-watering shouldn't be a problem, as long as you're reasonable. You're making a soil serviceable that otherwise wouldn't be considered as such by a very large fraction of effectual growers, so it's best to try to minimize potential limitations. Use a 'tell'. If possible - site your plant away from heat sources, but in a warm spot with plenty of light. If possible, use a room humidifier and keep humidity in the 45-55% range. I keep my basement grow room at 55% by using a combination of home-made passive evaporative set-ups and 2 ultrasonic humidifiers. I have a R/O water system, so almost never have to clean the humidifiers. To eliminate potential for bacterial issues, I add an ounce of H202 (hydrogen peroxide) every time I refill the reservoirs. Al