Wanna Run; Bought from Baanana treee in PA first year and this year. Also tried rare palm seeds this year. The firms are placed on 2 different continents. I doubt they use the same source for an everyday plant like ensete? But there must be a reason for my great success the first year with a single batch of seeds and no success this year with multiple batches. As for the other banana-seeds, I plant them in empty ice-cream boxes (lid on) filled with humus-rich soil and put them on a heat mat set at 14 hrs of 10-15 degrees C and 10 hrs of 25-35 degrees C. Works like a charm for velutinas, ornatas and sikkimensis.

Boy did this thread come at the right time~and thank you rn'inplace for the link! I've had my eye on the Billy's for over a year because I need something with very narrow depth. I first need to have the family room painted, before I can do anything. My tv is in a nice armoire that I don't want to get rid of, and it's in the wood tone, so i'll have to do the bookcases in the wood tone since I want everything to be uniform. Seeing the unit 'tricked out' definitely gets me motivated!

Often if you put out untreated 2X4's the carpenter bee's will be drawn to those rather than your deck/house. Also bees/wasps etc are drawn to the color yellow. I am not surprised that blue deters them. I am seriously going to consider following that suggestion at the house we're buying. Here in VA, we had a bald-faced hornet boom this past summer. They were building everywhere. I'd never paid any attention to them until they tried to build on my deck (I took them out immediately) and then they built a HUGE nest next to my parents porch (and tried to get me). Perhaps your area had a similar increase in population, which may have been taken care of by the winter. Carpenter Bees are good pollinators (from someone who hates bees/wasps, etc). The males do not bite/sting and I've been visited several times by our resident bee. He loves me....we've called a truce. The female carpenters DO bite and sting, though, so be careful. As to wasps, I would consider the blue suggestion. Also keeping 20 ft spray to knock out the nest works for me.

Thanks Mike, I don't think these would be a replacement to good care. I was just hoping they would be an extra help in keeping the roots from getting pot bound quickly, I am not familiar with root pruning and want any extra help I can get ;) I have been looking at using them for veggies as a wicking garden and thought if they have use for that than maybe there was a way they could have use for my citrus too. I think I will give them a try and get some standard pots on hand if they happen to show a decline over the season. Do you water yours from the top or let it wick from the bottom?