Thanks! It was an Ebay steal, so I'm not certain who the grower or supplier was... but the seller is in Michigan. The bulbs arrived via USPS Priority Mail, and were packed very nicely. I called the Post Office as soon as I knew they had been shipped, and she called me this morning to say the box was there! I picked it up right after lunch! I just finished potting it up, and it took a really large pot! Now for the recipes... I'm going to copy/paste the article and recipes in their entirety for anyone interested in the text that goes along with the recipes for Al's Mix... I must give credit where it's due... Tapla, or Al, is responsible for the article, the knowledge, and the mix. He's also responsible for many happy gardeners! Read on... Container Soils - Water Movement and Retention A Discussion About Soils As container gardeners, our first priority should be to insure the soils we use are adequately aerated for the life of the planting, or in the case of perennial material (trees, shrubs, garden perennials), from repot to repot. Soil aeration/drainage is the most important consideration in any container planting. Soil is the foundation that all container plantings are built on, and aeration is the cornerstone of that foundation. Since aeration and drainage are inversely linked to soil particle size, it makes good sense to try to find and use soils or primary components with particles larger than peat. That components retain their structure for extended periods is also extremely important. Pine and some other types of conifer bark fit the bill nicely and Ill talk more about them later. The following also hits pretty hard against the futility of using a drainage layer in an attempt to improve drainage. It just doesn't work. All it does is reduce the amount soil available for root colonization. A wick will remove water from the saturated layer of soil at the container bottom. It works in reverse of the self-watering pots widely being discussed on this forum now. Since there are many questions about soils appropriate for use in containers, I'll post basic mix recipes later, in case any would like to try the soil. It will follow the Water Movement info. Consider this if you will: Soil need fill only a few needs in plant culture. Anchorage - A place for roots to extend, securing the plant and preventing it from toppling. Nutrient Sink - It must retain sufficient nutrients in available form to sustain plant systems. Gas Exchange - It must be sufficiently porous to allow air to the root system and by-product gasses to escape. And finally, Water - It must retain water enough in liquid and/or vapor form to sustain plants between waterings. Most plants could be grown without soil as long as we can provide air, nutrients, and water, (witness hydroponics). Here, I will concentrate primarily on the movement of water in soil(s). There are two forces that cause water to move through soil - one is gravity, the other capillary action. Gravity needs little explanation, but for this writing I would like to note: Gravitational flow potential (GFP) is greater for water at the top of the container than it is for water at the bottom. I'll return to that later. Capillarity is a function of the natural forces of adhesion and cohesion. Adhesion is water's tendency to stick to solid objects like soil particles and the sides of the pot. Cohesion is the tendency for water to stick to itself. Cohesion is why we often find water in droplet form - because cohesion is at times stronger than adhesion, waterÂs bond to itself can be stronger than the bond to the object it might be in contact with; in this condition it forms a drop. Capillary action is in evidence when we dip a paper towel in water. The water will soak into the towel and rise several inches above the surface of the water. It will not drain back into the source. It will stop rising when the GFP equals the capillary attraction of the fibers in the paper. There will be a naturally occurring "perched water table" (PWT) in containers when soil particulate size is under about .125 (1/8) inch.. This is water that occupies a layer of soil that is always saturated & will not drain from the portion of the pot it occupies. It can evaporate or be used by the plant, but physical forces will not allow it to drain. It is there because the capillary pull of the soil at some point will surpass the GFP; therefore, the water does not drain, it is "perched". The smaller the size of the particles in a soil, the greater the height of the PWT. If we fill five cylinders of varying heights and diameters with the same soil mix and provide each cylinder with a drainage hole, the PWT will be exactly the same height in each container. This saturated area of the pot is where roots seldom penetrate & where root problems frequently begin due to a lack of aeration. Water and nutrient uptake are also compromised by lack of air in the root zone. Keeping in mind the fact that the PWT height is soil dependent and has nothing to do with height or shape of the container, we can draw the conclusion that: Tall growing containers will always have a higher percentage of unsaturated soil than squat containers when using the same soil mix. The reason: The level of the PWT will be the same in each container, with the taller container providing more usable, air holding soil above the PWT. Physiology dictates that plants must have oxygen at the root zone in order to maintain normal root function. A given volume of large soil particles has less overall surface area when compared to the same volume of small particles and therefore less overall adhesive attraction to water. So, in soils with large particles, GFP more readily overcomes capillary attraction. They drain better. We all know this, but the reason, often unclear, is that the height of the PWT is lower in coarse soils than in fine soils. The key to good drainage is size and uniformity of soil particles. Mixing large particles with small is often very ineffective because the smaller particles fit between the large, increasing surface area which increases the capillary attraction and thus the water holding potential. When we add a coarse drainage layer under our soil, it does not improve drainage. It does though, conserve on the volume of soil required to fill a pot and it makes the pot lighter. When we employ this exercise in an attempt to improve drainage, what we are actually doing is moving the level of the PWT higher in the pot. This simply reduces the volume of soil available for roots to colonize. Containers with uniform soil particle size from top of container to bottom will yield better and more uniform drainage and have a lower PWT than containers with drainage layers. The coarser the drainage layer, the more detrimental to drainage it is because water is more (for lack of a better scientific word) reluctant to make the downward transition because the capillary pull of the soil above the drainage layer is stronger than the GFP. The reason for this is there is far more surface area for water to be attracted to in the soil above the drainage layer than there is in the drainage layer, so the water "perches". I know this goes against what most have thought to be true, but the principle is scientifically sound, and experiments have shown it as so. Many nurserymen are now employing the pot-in-pot or the pot-in-trench method of growing to capitalize on the science. If you discover you need to increase drainage, you can simply insert an absorbent wick into a drainage hole & allow it to extend from the saturated soil to a few inches below the bottom of the pot, or allow it to contact soil below the container where it can be absorbed. This will successfully eliminate the PWT & give your plants much more soil to grow in as well as allow more, much needed air to the roots. Uniform size particles of fir, hemlock or pine bark are excellent as the primary component of your soils. The lignin contained in bark keeps it rigid and the rigidity provides air-holding pockets in the root zone far longer than peat or compost mixes that too quickly break down to a soup-like consistency. Conifer bark also contains suberin, a lipid sometimes referred to as natureÂs preservative. Suberin is what slows the decomposition of bark-based soils. It contains highly varied hydrocarbon chains and the microorganisms that turn peat to soup have great difficulty cleaving these chains. In simple terms: Plants that expire because of drainage problems either die of thirst because the roots have rotted and can no longer take up water, or they starve/"suffocate" because there is insufficient air at the root zone to insure normal water/nutrient uptake and root function. To confirm the existence of the PWT and the effectiveness of using a wick to remove it, try this experiment: Fill a soft drink cup nearly full of garden soil. Add enough water to fill to the top, being sure all soil is saturated. Punch a drain hole in the bottom of the cup & allow to drain. When the drainage stops, insert a wick into the drain hole . Take note of how much additional water drains. Even touching the soil with a toothpick through the drain hole will cause substantial additional water to drain. This is water that occupied the PWT before being drained by the wick. A greatly simplified explanation of what occurs is: The wick "fools" the water into thinking the pot is deeper, so water begins to move downward seeking the "new" bottom of the pot, pulling the rest of the water in the PWT along with it. If there is interest, there are other simple and interesting experiments you can perform to confirm the existence of a PWT in container soils. I can expand later. I remain cognizant of these physical principles whenever I build a soil. I havenÂt used a commercially prepared soil in many years, preferring to build a soil or amend one of my 2 basic mixes to suits individual plantings. I use many amendments when building my soils, but the basic building process starts with conifer bark and perlite. Sphagnum peat usually plays a minor, or at least a secondary role in my container soils because it breaks down too quickly and when it does, it impedes drainage and reduces aeration. Note that there is no sand or compost in the soils I use. Sand, though it can improve drainage in some cases, reduces aeration by filling valuable macro-pores in soils. Unless sand particle size is fairly uniform and/or larger than about ½ BB size I leave it out of soils. Compost is too unstable for me to consider using in soils. The small amount of micronutrients it supplies can easily be delivered by one or more of a number of chemical or organic sources. My Basic Soil I'll give two recipes. I usually make big batches. I also frequently add agricultural sulfur to some soils for acid-lovers or to soils I use dolomitic lime in. 5 parts pine bark fines 1 part sphagnum peat (not reed or sedge peat please) 1-2 parts perlite garden lime (or gypsum in some cases) controlled release fertilizer (if preferred) micronutrient powder, other continued source of micronutrients, or fertilizer with all minors Big batch: 2-3 cu ft pine bark fines 5 gallons peat 5 gallons perlite 2 cups dolomitic (garden) lime (or gypsum in some cases) 2 cups CRF (if preferred) 1/2 cup micronutrient powder (or other source of the minors) Small batch: 3 gallons pine bark 1/2 gallon peat 1/2 gallon perlite 4 tbsp lime (or gypsum in some cases) 1/4 cup CRF micro-nutrient powder (or other source of the minors) I have seen advice that some highly organic (practically speaking - almost all are highly organic) container soils are productive for up to 5 years or more. I disagree and will explain why if there is interest. Even if you were to substitute fir bark for pine bark in this recipe (and this recipe will long outlast any peat based soil) you should only expect a maximum of two to three years life before a repot is in order. Usually perennials, including trees (they're perennials too, you know) ;o) should be repotted more frequently to insure vigor closer to their genetic potential. If a soil is desired that will retain structure for long periods, we need to look more to inorganic components. Some examples are crushed granite, pea stone, coarse sand (see above - usually no smaller than ½ BB size in containers, please), Haydite, lava rock (pumice), Turface or Schultz soil conditioner, and others. Thank you for your interest. Al Fassezke

O NO F4F!! I'm sorry! I mist daily too, I hadn't thought of the misting, I'm sure that doesn't help things. I am really starting to think that it is just the MG potting soil. Seems like everything I potted using that one bag got it first, then it spread to other plants, maybe from me cross-contaminating while gathering fallen leaves and checking for dryness, etc. I always try to be so careful when i buy potting soil, make sure no buggies flyin around it, and people probably think I am nuts when they see me smelling the bags for mildewy smell. This bag seemed to be fine. Well, I hope I didn't spread it to anyone else, lol. But maybe it'll help others to pay closer attention to their soil if they haven't been, and now they'll know what to do, after all there are SO many helpful links in this thread. Thank you all again for being so helpful! Karyn, yes the peroxide was diluted. Believe me, if it croaks, I'll be bawlin and you'll all know about it, lol. Wow, 71% is totally outrageous. Yeah, it probably is a 2 year thing since that seems to be how it's going here. I need a wind-turbine or 2. Someday when I have a nice big house and land I will have them, and solar panels..screw the elec comp..go green! Daniella

I found this online "But, while the adults rarely cause any problems, the young larvae will feed on the fine root hairs of your plants, causing them to lose vigor and develop yellow leaves. They can also tunnel into the base of cuttings or plant stems, which can be devastating for succulents, leeks, or onion seedlings in particular. Fungus gnats search out moist soil in which to lay their eggs. The eggs are about 1/100 inch in length and laid in clusters. Larvae are translucent gray to white worms, about 1/4 inch long, with shiny black heads. These insects can infest a crop from wet, algae-covered areas in the garden, from contaminated potting soil or by flying short distances from plant to plant." Fill a container with vinegar (red wine vinegar in my case) with a couple drops of dish soap added to break the surface tension. In a couple of hours there are around eight of them. I also ordered this on Amazon. I don´t want them all over my house when I get my meyer lemon tree inside. I hope this information helps.

Hi, guys! I'm late to the conversation, and the original questions have probably been answered to the OPers satisfaction, but if there is anything you want me to weigh in on ......... Mt focus isn't on plumeria, though I do have a few I traded bonsai potensai for, with Laura. They don't act any different than other trees, and appreciate the same cultural conditions my tropical bonsai appreciate. My focus is always on the health of the plant first, but growth control often enters into the picture. Sometimes I want trees to grow quickly (developing trees), other times I want them to grow slowly (mature trees). Most of you are most interested in keeping your trees growing with good vitality (vigorously is the wrong word - vigor is a genetic thing, vitality is a measure of how well your plant is coping with the cultural hand you are dealing it) and getting all the growth potential you can out of your trees. The primary difference between the gritty mix and other soils is, it's designed to hold good amounts of water without holding perched water, which is always a limiting factor in conventional container culture. Soils that are primarily based on small particulates like peat, compost, composted forest products, coir ...... are going to hold too much water to allow your plants to realize their genetic potential. This is where vigor comes in. Vigor is how well the plant is capable of growing, but limiting habits stifle vigor (genetic potential). To be sure, growing is supposed to be fun, which sometimes makes it a compromise. If you're watering your plants every 3-4 days & feel that's all the time you want to invest, you might feel the gritty mix isn't for you. Before you make that conclusion, remember that the gritty mix is adjustable for water retention by varying the ratio of Turface or calcined DE to the grit fraction. I could easily build more water retention into my soils by changing the 1:1:1 ratio of bark:screened Turface:grit, but I choose not to. Having to water frequently is GOOD for plants because it promotes even better gas exchange; and plants do better when the soil is damp, not wet. It's much easier to keep a soil like the gritty mix damp or moist as opposed to wet than it is to keep soils made of finer ingredients at the same level of moisture retention. It's also a significant nutritional plus to be able to flush the soil when you water. This is especially true if you've chosen a fertilizer with NPK % that provide a ratio of nutrients that don't mesh well with the ratio the plant actually uses. For instance, if you're using a 1:1:1 ratio fertilizer like 20-20-20, or a "bloom-booster" fertilizer that has an extremely high phosphorous content (1:1:1 ratios like 20-20-20 already supply several times more P than the plant can or will use) it's essential that you're able to flush the soil at will w/o having to worry about root rot issues. 'Essential' because if you can't, the excess P (or other nutrients out of sync with actual usage) builds up in the soil and quickly creates problems that ensure the plant's potential is limited. In the end, a plant/soil/fertilizer combination that allows you to water and fertilize frequently while relieving you of concerns about root health due to soggy soil conditions is by far the easiest and surest way to healthy plants. I can say that because that type of combination doesn't create limitations, it eliminates them. In the end, our abilities as growers are defined by how well we are able to identify limiting factors and to the greatest degree possible, eliminate them. Al