Jasmine, I noticed that the lamp reflector in your picture is round. Can you tell us more about the light you are using? In other words, is that an old-style incandescent? A cfl? Something else? One bulb? Many? A saying I've seen many places is that "You are not a gardener until you have killed something." Congratulations, you are now a real gardener. If you want to try something that doesn't require additional light, read up on WinterSowing. There's a forum here, with detailed FAQ's. Wintersown seeds are planted in covered containers outdoors and don't sprout until the weather is consistently warm enough. I start many plants that way, but I grow indoors under lights too. Most wintersown plants in my zone wait until April or even May to sprout. I get desperate to see green well before then. So every year I start seeds for something that needs long months of indoor care, so I have something to nurture / torture through the long winter. ;-) I second the use of mosquito control products for fungus gnats. I keep a metal tea ball in a watering can. The tea ball holds a few of the mosquito "bits" or a quarter of a "dunk" and keeps the crumbs from clogging the spout. I replace the dunk periodically. I keep the watering can filled and use that to water anything that needs a drink, all winter. I ask about the light because I suspect you haven't got enough light on your seedlings. I don't think that western window is going to be enough either. I've killed many seedlings thinking that winter sunlight filtered through window glass would be enough. With what you've invested in seeds, potting mix, trays, and time, it makes sense to get proper lights. You'll also want a timer and a power strip. Look for a timer that accepts a three-prong plug. Plug the timer into the wall, the power strip into the timer and the lights into the power strip. Now you can run up to six lights synchronized on one timer. My preference is for fluorescent tubes. So far the plants are happy as well. Two of the two-bulb shoplights, or a single four-bulb fixture, are necessary to light a standard flat of seedlings. A single shoplight isn't wide enough and the plants at the edges will stretch and lean in. With four of the 4' bulbs side by side you can light two flats. I learned the hard way that if I have room for two flats, to only sow one flat with seeds. Half a flat would be even better. I'm working on my restraint. Once the seedlings in the first flat grow and need to be potted up into larger quarters, that extra space is necessary to keep them all lit. I use the 4' size because they're easy to find (I got a pair of fixtures free through Freecycle) and the 4' bulbs come in at the lowest price, most options, and most readily available. Fluorescent tubes come in different diameters. T stands for Tube. T12 is the fattest, T5s are the skinny sort found in many "grow lights." I use T12s because I already have the fixtures. If you're light-shopping, T8s are highly recommended on the Growing under Lights forum. "Cool White" bulbs work fine. Get them very close to your seedlings as digdirt said. You'll need to be able to adjust the height of either the lights or the trays as seedlings grow. If your household includes anyone with waggy tails, poking paws, or grabby fingers then you will want the lights mounted securely and both lights and seed trays out of reach. If that's not an issue, you can carefully prop them on something, but remember you're dealing with thin glass. Do check the temperature as well, and check it against the preferred ranges for each plant you're growing. Any accurate thermometer with the correct range will do the job. Good luck! Edie

How do you get yourself into these problems? Because you have a problem and are trying to fix it rather than ignore it or dump your problem on someone else. I find that to be very admirable. The good thing about this is you will be learning a lot in the process of getting things back on track. The down side is it is going to take a little bit of time if we do it here. Your are very lucky because there is a lot of experience her and, super people willing to help. There should be no fear of what to do with what fix-it finds if you decide to go that route. They offer several bits of information as to what found information does, and a suggestion of what you should let fix-it do, to fix your computer. You can undo anything fix-it does, with the click of a button. If you go to do anything that will screw things up, fix-it will tell you. If anything in any of the steps does not agree with what you see on the screen, don't continue and get back to us and let us know what the discrepancy is. There are several reasons why you might not be getting to the desk top you are used to and rather than a bunch of mumbo jumbo and jargon, we'll start with the simplest reason first. From what I gather at this point, you have multiple issues that are not necessarily "Computer Problems". To best help you get on track using a forum like this, I suggest we take one issue at a time. There are several ways to skin a cat so I am going to use what I know will get you to where you want to be. Of course, if you know a faster way that works for you, no problem, as long as we both get to where we want to be. We don't know what you know so if we describe a step that you well know, it is not to insult your intelligence or belittle you, it's just to get you where you need to be in a step by step manner. 1....The folder that YOU created named "desk top", rename it to "My Icons" and do so without the start and end quotes. The folder you created, from what you indicated here, has a space between the words "desk" and "top". That's the one you want to rename. 2....Click on the START button at the bottom left of you computer screen. Look for "My Computer" and click on that. 3....RIGHT click Local Drive (C:) In the left column at the top, you should see "Desktop" with no space between desk and top. Looking down a little further, you should see C: with a plus next to it. Click on that plus. When it expands, look down the list and you should see the renamed directory "My Icons" that you did previously. Click on that and in the right column, everything you moved should be listed there. 4....At the top of this window click on EDIT and when the menu drops down, click on SELECT ALL. Everything in the right column should become highlighted, usually in blue. 5....Take your mouse pointer over to the highlighted column click down on the LEFT mouse button and HOLD IT DOWN. While holding it down, drag everything over to the left column and up to the "DESKTOP", at the top of the left column. You will see the DESKTOP change color when you are on it and at that point, let up on the mouse button. Make sure you are on the DESKTOP name and that it highlights because if you don't, you may move everything into another directory, compounding the issue!!! Everything should now be back the way it was before you moved your desk top. If everything is back to what you are used to, we'll take the next step. My particular next step is going to ask for a list of everything in the task manager under the tab "PROCESSES". Do a "Ctrl" "Alt" "Delete". When the task manager pops up, click on the "Processes" tab. After you enter this tab, hover your pointer over the words "User Name". This will be the name of one of the columns. You have to hover over the actual words. Left click that and you will see everything organize itself. If you could then get us a list as it appears on your screen, we can work on the next steps. I have to go on an errand so it might be some time before I get back to you, I live in a rural area. Someone else here may pick up where I left off, I have no problem with that. The beauty of this particular forum is many knowledgeable people willing to help.

It's a common issue. It took over a year and a half for my house to be built far enough for me to be able to move in. Even if your GC wants to work all the time only on your place, he has to wait on subs and professional electricians, plumbers etc. On supplies to arrive. For inspections to happen. In my locale, permitters and inspectors only appear to work one day a week or pretty close to that. And yes, my GC had his slow moments I still can't account for on top of that. I took over the painting of the basement and a few other minor things after I was legal and living here. (Pro work in the way of aesthetics in an unfinished basement was not necessary, since I never plan to "finish" it anyway. I like seeing where pipes run so I can spot leaks before they get out of hand.)

the media look rather mucky... i would protect the pot.. so i doesnt accumulate more water until it near dries... its a maple.. not a bog plant... i dont have any clue.. how to make a tree bud and leaf faster.. in spring.. its a function of temps. soil and air.. but im thinking that isnt really a variable in august... i never heard of defoliating to force releafing.. perhaps its a bonsai thing.. is the bonsai forum dead??? ken