Chemical fertilizers are salts and will last as long as salt lasts, which is pretty much forever. Even if they get combined with a small amount of water (condensation), it doesn't change the strength or chemical composition of the mixture, it only changes the phase from a solid to a liquid/suspension. Dry organic fertilizers that are comprised of various mineral elements and 'meals;, like feather/hoof/bone/horn meals will remain effective indefinitely if kept dry because decomposition depends on moisture. The only thing left is liquid organic fertilizers like fish emulsion, which contain bactericides that work to prevent breakdown as long as the number of ppm of the bactericide is high enough, as when the fertilizer remains undiluted. Diluted fish emulsion spoils quickly because the ppm level of the bactericide is not as high as it is in the undiluted product. Freezing has no effect on the chemical composition of any of these products. Yes, Andrew. I would recommend FP 9-3-6 for blooming plants as well. While there 'could' conceivably be the rare case where P is deficient in (garden/beds) mineral soils, making a high-P formula useful for that specific application, they are generally counter-productive. In containers, the media supplies so little nutrition that we may as well consider it devoid of nutrients. This means plants depend almost solely on the nutrients we supply. Since we KNOW plants use about 6x more N than P during all growth phases, how can we justify using a fertilizer that supplies more P than N? I don't know if I mentioned it upthread, but excessive P in the soil solution unnecessarily raises the level of TDS/EC (makes it harder for plants to absorb water and the nutrients dissolved in water), unnecessarily raises pH (already a significant issue in our long term houseplant plantings), an inhibits the uptake of several nutrients, chief among them being Fe and Mn (iron and manganese), but N as well. This is a very common scenario: A grower is using 10-15-10 and notices some yellowing of foliage. Thinking the plant is lacking N, he/she fertilizes. The yellowing grows worse and no cause can be determined, so it must need more fertilizer - right? More fertilizer applied - yellowing grows worse ..... and so on. What's happening: The excess P in the soil is causing an antagonistic deficiency and inhibiting Fe and Mn uptake, which causes chlorosis. Actually, it may also be inhibiting N uptake, which also causes chlorosis. Additionally, because 10-15-10 provides about 9X more P than the plant can/will use, when N is depleted from the soil, there is still a large amount of P. Adding more of the high-P formulation only exacerbates the problem, so it's a never-ending spiral. This doesn't occur in every case so it's readily noticeable, but it does occur to some degree anytime we use a high-P formulation for containerized plants. There is more than enough P in 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers (examples: 24-8-16, 12-4-8, 9-3-6) to meet the need of any blooming plant. Tip: keep the P levels as low as possible for Hibiscus and never use a high-P formulation. A little extra K is nice for Hibiscus in the form of a little potash mixed into the soil or a little ProTeKt 0-0-3 added to your 3:1:3 ratio fertilizer solution. It's not an accident that MG and others label their 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers as "All-Purpose" fertilizers. They supply nutrients in the ratio found in plant tissues AND in the ratio in which plants use them. They offer you your best opportunity at keeping your salt levels as low as possible w/o nutritional deficiencies, which is a very good thing. That is a strategy woven into the nutritional supplementation of all commercial growing ops. Al

A quick note to say that DVDflick worked. I got the video's made - just in a nick of time (bc. I have a full day conference tomorrow). Now my daughter can bring her friend the videos (and scrapbook). DVDflick was amazingly easy compared to other things I tried. Once on the program, I printed the 6 page guide - which explained most of what I needed to know. Two things I had to figure out myself - and am posting here for others who may try this. 1 - on the Configure your Project tab, there are settings for video. If you want to change the resolution/file size (as I did to fit a 45 minute video on a standard dvd), you can adjust the bit rate). 2 - I would recommend on the burning settings (also under configure your project tab), choose to have it burn it to dvd, and verify, and eject. The first dvd I made I only selected burn it and verify. It burned it - ejected, reinserted and played it. But then the dvd tray was locked and couldn't be opened. This is somewhat frequent occurence with disc burning software - which wants to prevent you from accidentally opening the tray before it's done. The only way I could open the tray was to shut the computer, and hit the open disk tray button as it was rebooting. The next video I made, I selected eject when done - and it ejected it. For a while I thought the tray was broken - and tried the usual methods to release - like the paper clip in the tiny hole near the tray. And going to my computer, d:, eject disk. Nothing worked bc. the software was preventing it. Once my disk was ejected - and the software closed, the open and close tray works fine with other programs. Thanks so much. This was a great program. Just curious if convertxtodvd would get me additional features. I can see burning many dvd's for people (we seem to be the videographers of many social gatherings and I'd like to give dvd's to people who were part of the plans). DVDflick worked great - but I don't mind paying a little if it gets me more features. Any thoughts? Thanks so much. You saved me. Lynn.

Update: Some of the succulents I planted into gritty mix have been shriveling, which I thought was thirst, but watering didn't help... so I realized they're probably rotting. The tall sticks (which I thought were "Minima" Jades but after seeing a lookaIike at Home Depot, I think are actually Portulacaria afra) are definitely rotting away from the tips and new shoots down. :( So I think I need to pull these out, wash the old soil off the roots, remove any rotten parts, and let dry. I have a few questions: 1) if the stem is rotting, what does that look like, and how much stem/leaves should I remove? 2) Can I leave any roots if they look OK, and does drying them out kill them anyway? Or is this essentially like making a cutting and letting it callous and make new roots? 3) Once they dry can I just replant them where they were in the gritty mix? On a more fun note, I went to Home Depot yesterday intending to buy zero succulents and instead spent an hour taking pictures and purchasing 7 new ones! And to my delight, all but one had an actual species ID! Clockwise from top left: Kalanchoe marnieriana Crassula rupestris Crassula "Candy Cane" (with a warning that propagation is prohibited... how would they stop you?) Sedum rubrotinctum "Pork and Beans" Crassula ovata "Ogre Ears" Sedum rubrotinctum "Aurora" ???? that was on clearance with a bunch of very sick and damaged succulents, but it looks healthy enough to me! Here's a closeup of it - anyone know what it is? The Ogre Ears had mealy bugs so I doused all of them with 50% rubbing alcohol last night. I also watered them because their soil all seemed bone dry, which I'm learning maybe I really shouldn't need to do? :/ I want to transplant them to gritty mix today (and do it right this time! Wash off all the soil and let dry). Also at Home Depot, I think I was able to better ID some of my current succulents, like the Crassula ovata "Minima" (#8) actually being a Portulacaria afra. The original mystery plant could possibly be Sedeveria "Sorrento"? Though the leaves look bigger/fatter on this one than they were on mine: OR possibly Sedeveria "Jet Beads"? These leaves aren't bigger but they do seem fatter than what I have... Not sure either of these are it: #3 Could actually be Graptosedum "Blue Giant"? A very similar-looking succulent was labeled this at HD, but I can't find photos to confirm it online. Maybe it's actually Sedeveria "Blue Giant"? #6 I thought looked like a plant labeled Sedeveria "Harry Butterfield," but looking online, it doesn't look right to me... #18 Senecio vitalis (Narrow-Leaf Chalksticks) #19 Graptopetalum pentandrum - EDIT: Actually more likely G. superbum #22 Sedum adolphii (Golden Sedum), instead of Coppertone Sedum? Looking forward to anyone's feedback about replanting and ID'ing these! Thanks!

edenchild, I bet you could find fancy stuff online or in an upscale sort of store if you wanted to... but just the basic stuff a local fabric store would have would work just fine. Most fabric stores sell felt by the yard in basic primary colors, some pastels, and sometimes some prints. Get it by the yard, it comes in different widths, but common around 36 or 44 inches, sometimes wider- then you can cut it to whatever size you need it and you don't need seams or anything to finish the edges. Don't get squares or sheets of the stuff, you got too much racks to play with that. If you want, you could pick something bright to add a wee pop of color to the shelf fronts while still being functional. Red would be traditional, but light or bright colors would be nice too. Cut the felt to be barely inside the depth of the shelves, draping over the front edge is a PITA and usually looks like tacky crap. But do be sure to leave yourself with a few inches of drape on both ends over on the width of the shelves, gives you shift room for bottle movement as they get added or removed from the shelf. To do this... and use a fabric tape that's soft and not a hard ruler or metal measuring tape... measure the depth of your shelf just inside the braces, and that's final. Then lay the tape across the width of your shelf, using a bottle in each slot to make sure the "dip curve" is accounted for, and use that for your width measurement. Also... you might not be one for chardonnay since it's a white, but since you like reds... watch your cabs and pinot bottles. Some of them have a slight taper with the bottle and it's better to store them punt facing out instead of the wall if you stack your bottles on top of each other. Again, vibrations can cause a slide, and better to slide into the wall instead of onto the floor.