I know hosta people say to leave the lights on 24/7 but what makes a hosta different from other plants that they have different needs regarding food production. Plants make food during light hours and eat the food during dark hours. Other plants cannot efficiently utilize the food unless they get the required darkness. What makes hosta different? For two years I alternated between the 24/7 lights and the 16/8 lights and saw no difference between growth rates so this year they get 16/8. My electric bill is happier.

Conny, you have an amazing collection there, I didn't realise you had so many seedlings to care for. Let's hope the weather is kind to all of us whose plants have to get through our winters, and everyone else's plants of course! How I envy those who reside in the more tropical climates. I would be growing so much more than I do now! The variegated Arabicum is stunning, let's hope it continues to show that yelllow edging. It should make a fabulous adult plant. Notice from the latest two pics that you too suffer from 'brown perlite syndrome', love it or hate it, I still find myself using the perishing stuff. My last bag was over 50% dust that fell through the mesh of my very best kitchen sieve. Which reminds me, is still in the greenhouse :-/ Can't find any that's bigger, it's all so small and dusty....and floaty. Gill

as new seedlings only display one leaf when they first appear...for the remainder of the season. (Is this correct, Ken?) ==>> i dont think this is an absolute ... under lights.. you can get from seed to flower and more seed in side a year ... but thats in perfect conditions ... many seedlings are NOT in perfect conditions.. under plants.. dry.. no sun.. etc ... so they mostly stay rather puny ... this one was out in the path.. so lots of light .... probably rain.. etc ... its only job year one.. is to grow roots... for next year ... so even if it stays small.. whatever root mass it can grow.. dictates how big it will be year two ... if you stop cleaning your beds.. and leave the flower stalks there all winter.. you will start getting a lot of seedlings ... which can become a real problem ... ken

What an interesting topic, Hyn. Everything I've ever read said not to allow seedlings to go dormant because they did not have the reserves to support dormancy. The questions for me have always been: What constitutes a seedling? Under 6 months, a year, or three? From what I have read, a seedling is any adenium under age 1 year. After 1 year, they are referred to as 'yearlings,' then 'young trees,' and finally 'fully mature' at age 3 years +. The other obvious question is: What does true dormancy mean? I understand it s a state of hibernation, evidenced by fallen leaves, zero growth, and scant to no water uptake. From what I have observed, there is a huge difference between a semi dormant state and true dormancy. In semi dormancy, growth is significantly stalled but continues. Leaves are not shed and any new growth is painfully slow, compact, and small. I believe what you experienced with your seedlings was semi dormancy. I also experienced the same. It would be interesting to learn the details of how you overwintered these seedlings. In my climate, daytime temps remain in the mid to upper 80s year-round and nighttime lows just barely fall to 68/70 during Jan/Feb. There is a cold, clammy morning dew during those months that subsides as the sun warms into the high 70s by 10am. My seedlings remained outdoors during this period, and experienced these drastic temp changes, from 84 to 68, every day. Watering was reduced to once every two weeks. I observed the same growth stalls you did. However, in March, most of my seedlings began growing at an accelerated rate, very suddenly putting out leaves that were visibly 4x the size of their Jan/Feb output. They looked odd! There were giant (normal) leaves above tiny infantile leaves. As the summer progressed, all the small growth was aborted and they just "caught up." Note that I said most ... some of my seedlings never "caught up." They remain stalled as of today and are in 4" pots, barely 6" tall at age 1 year. They are the size of some of my 6 month olds. I wonder how this growth stall effects blooming, as none of the stalled plants have bloomed yet. All this to say, Hyn, did your seedlings actually experience full dormancy or semi dormancy? You say you barely watered them during this period. Can you share the entire growth culture during this period? We know seedlings can survive semi dormancy with stalled growth. However, does the fact remain that they cannot / do not have the reserves to survive true dormancy? Maria Elena