My question is about what color of lights do you all use, After 14 years of using clear mini lights, I'm going back to colored lights. Grew up with the colored C7s and used them even after childhood, wound up switching to the clear minis because I wasn't happy with the freshness of the real trees on the market and the minis don't generate as much heat. Went with the clear because I've never been a fan of the colored minis - they just lack sufficient oomph IMO. Last year, in order to head off DH's annual carping over not having a real tree (I finally moved to faux trees in '97), I bought a relatively fresh little apartment tree at a local garden center. Figured we could put it in our bedroom since it's a little cooler up there than the rest of the house. Decided to give LEDs a try with this tree, so I purchased a stand of 60 LED C6s. Turns out that I liked them a lot more than I thought I would, so when they returned to the stores this year I picked up enough to do the big tree. and do you use the same on your tree that you use in your garland...if you use lights for the garland at all. In previous homes, yes. Same lights for both. I like that continuity. In this house, I didn't light the garland in previous years because there aren't any convenient electrical outlets and battery operated mini lights last a whopping 6 hours. Since I'm moving to LEDs this year, I just purchased 2 battery operated strands of colored stars for the garland on my mantle. I think it's going to work well, we'll see what happens when I finally decorate.

Ktlri, Thanks for the follow-up as although the build is done, I haven't fully furnished the residence yet and had my professional shots done for our records and the community here. I'll admit - I had to go back over the thread and re-read to give the proper feedback but for the main range I ended up with a Zephyr 48" Monsoon II and a curvaball that I didn't even find out about until after this thread had already run it's course...I went with the Capital Connoisseurian 48" Dual-Fuel w/ 8 (Open) Burner configuration and I must say I absolutely LOVE IT. The fit and finish is as good as if not better than all of the BlueStars I saw in person (I visited about 6 different ones in 3 different stores during the process) and I've been estatic about the oven capacity and having an electric oven instead of gas for our baking purposes, etc. The electric rotisserie, electronic food probe and the kicker was the Wok insert (all of which I've used and very happy with the performance). It does take a while to get used to having this many powerful burners (all 25K minus the simmer burner) but it is a huge time saver for me as my wife and I both "prep" our food for the week on Sunday nights and with 2 cooks in the kitchen we can do multiple large quantities of food at once. Here's a couple cell phone pics and thanks for asking. One of these days once we finish with the interior designers and the furniture finally arrives (We're talking 12-16 week delivery times for most pieces - what the heck?!?) we'll get some legit shots done for everyone. Thanks! PS - Sorry for the dim light on the 2nd pic as the Monsoon II isn't installed/turned on - we're still waiting to pass the final building permit tomorrow before installing the Zephyr as we already have 2 makeup airs installed to run the furnaces and the code was going to require an addition 2 (4 total) so we are working our way around that idiotic code.

Your link points to the lights on Amazon and the heading says "Long Lasting for Christmas Tree and Room Decorations." However, after reading some reviews, I am not sure you will get what is advertised. I bought a small set at BBB for an outside planter. Now after reading the reviews about "weatherproof", I am going to make sure that my light cord and plug in are in a plastic baggie and hidden well under foliage.

Sorry, been busy with Christmas. I just kept searching the internet for blogs of many different people, putting in keywords, like aerogarden, (couldn't find as much as I thought I would) african violets in aerogardens, etc. Alot of them started growing them and posted pictures, but didn't follow through and tell you how it was going a few months later or whatever. Most just said the leaves failed. One lady's husband built her a homemade one, big flat of growing spaces with holes, water underneath, pumps, aeration, LED grow lights panel, etc. She didn't report alot of success either. I can't remember the blogger now, and she dwindled off and stopped writing too. I seem to remember she mainly went with other plants. I think my biggest worry, I guess, is there isn't much space. I want to grow more than a few leaves. Lol. But we can start out small and see how it goes. Please let me know how it goes for you. In theory, it should be so much quicker, no waiting forever for those little mouse ears. Ha! I think, if you cut the grow sponge like you said, then even score it some for roots to be able to break out the sides easier might help. I was thinking you'd have to plant it about the time the plantlets start showing so they get light, but they grow under water if started in a glass, but they do get light. Quite a dilemma to think about, as you said the light is the main factor in their growing so quickly. The Aerogrow tries to keep that light away from the water to keep algae down, so it sure won't reach the plantlets Hmmmm...