PBS Forum

Quote from: David Pilling on July 04, 2022, 06:08:17 AMA new species of giant water lily has been discovered - and it's been hiding in plain sight for 177 years.

I thought V. boliviana had already been used, for what is now known as V. cruziana?

I have Ipomoea purga from SX 480, courtesy of Robert Lauf. I don't see him in the members list for this Forum so I'll post this to the E-mail list as well.

My usual practice with Ipomoea seeds is to soak until they swell, then plant. With the annuals this is usually overnight. With the others I change the water daily. But it's been well over a week and the two I. purga I've been soaking are doing nothing. These come from very dry environments in habitat.

Have others sprouted these? Should I continue soaking or just put them in the ground? Should I scarify them?

Be sure you have A. spiralis. There has been a lot of confusion around this name. It is definitely a fall - winter - spring grower. I have seen people try to keep it on a windowsill as a house plant; many winter-growing Albuca remain in leaf so long as temperatures are moderate and they receive water. These don't look right and rarely flower.

"Does anybody know who put the tribbles in the Quadrotriticale?"

Congratulations!

I didn't notice this until now because I forgot about the PBS forum for a few days. I don't like accessing the Internet through a tiny fragile phone unless I'm not at home and I need to, but it seems most people do like this. Especially younger people like the phone, though I think that will change as their eyesight and dexterity change. I agree with the voices above that it's critically important to have Web sites that work well on phones.

The Recent view of the forum
ww w.pacifi cbulbsociety. or g/pbsforum/index.php?action=recent
lists all posts in chronological order. It is a way easily to see everything that has been posted - the only way, as far as I can tell, without wading through the fora individually. There seems to be no button for this view so one either has to remember what to type in the address box at the top of the browser, or bookmark the Recent view.

A few days ago it seemed photos did show up in the Recent view. But now they don't. I need to guess whether a post has a photo, and the only way to find out is to go to the post. I do this by right-clicking the message name in the post header and opening it in a new tab, otherwise I might lose my place in the Recent view.

Is there a way to display photos from the post in the messages in the Recent view? Or is there a way a message shown in the Recent view can indicate whether there are photos?

In another forum the view corresponding to our Recent shows a list of threads with recent posts, in chronological order. Clicking on a thread in this view takes the viewer to that thread.

My opinion... because it was presented to the membership without basic instructions.

As of now there is no link in the footers of individual list E-mails, nor the list digest, to the forum, and busy people don't want to go searching.

When people do go to the Forum, they see a long list of topics they must click individually to see the posts. Yes, there is a way to get a view of all Recent posts, but there is no link anywhere on the pages to get to this. It must be explained by somebody who already knows about it. Wading through a long list of individual topics is a game stopper for a lot of people accustomed to a chronological thread.

I realize dumping a new product on the market without instructions is the favored game plan when introducing new software and hardware, to avoid paying manual writers, but most people don't want to figure out something complex when they have an alternative. We don't delight in uncovering hidden new features. It is very hard for people who produced something to write instructions for it because they already know how to use the product; already having that knowledge makes it hard to put oneself in the place of somebody nescient who's never seen the product before.

I posted a message to the mail list just now with a few basic instructions. Something like this would have helped a lot. Maybe something like this was published and I missed it.

A link to the Forum should be in every Digest and individual PBS list message footer.

I'm not complaining and not suggesting, just observing.

When I read individual posts they are removed from the category of "Unread" posts. Using the link
https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbsforum/index.php?action=recent
does permit one to read all posts in order, but this does not toggle the Unread switch.

The first time I came to the forum I clicked on Unread Posts and got all the messages displayed in a date-sorted list of threads. Does the software recognize I've read a post, or do I need to mark that myself? If it were automatic I could click Unread Posts to see everything new since I last dropped in.

A stovetop pressure cooker running for 30 minutes at the higher pressure setting is the equivalent of a steam autoclave. The standalone electric units are not approved by the US Department of Agriculture for home canning, but the stovetop units are. I use my pressure cooker for sterilizing whatever needs it. Right now I am sterilizing some LECA for reuse with orchids.

I use what is at hand to access the Internet. I prefer a desktop because the screen is larger and it has a larger keyboard, but when away from home I use the phone. I don't use dedicated apps on the phone because they take up so much room on the phone and they steal personal information. I use Web sites in the browser on the phone.

There is a wide range of relatively inexpensive mobile phones one can buy. You don't need to buy your phone from your Internet service provider. I won't pay over about $150 for a phone. I break mine about every 3 years. There are excellent repair shops but by that time the software is usually having trouble, so I find another cheap one. I've seen the expensive ones; for me the increase in quality isn't worth spending over $150.

There's a lot of information on the Web page of the International Carnivorous Plant Society, including extensive growing guides. The Sarracenia from seed article is linked at the bottom of the general Sarracenia plant growing article.

Leo Martin
Phoenix Arizona USA
Zone 9?