Hi Katie. Nice to meet you. I think that's the 1st question to address. If you ordered your moss on the internet it may/may not be suited to your winter conditions. Find out what kind it is and what IT's needs are for the winter. I know it's tempting to try and keep it perfect, but sometimes things need to go through their natural seasonal changes for their own good. It may not need to be protected at all. But if it does, (need to be brought indoors) I would think that keeping water in the drip pan so it can wick it up as needed and an occasional misting would suffice, in which ever window it seems to do best in (which from experience, will probably change through the winter as the sun changes). If it still seems too dry, tent it a bit. You just have to keep an eye on it, but don't over love it either, you know. It's a beautiful moss garden. The sled's a great idea for a nice roomy area to work with. Love your little wire table and cart, too, right up my alley (as they say, lol) and btw what IS that darker thing that looks sort of like a gothic-ish wire vase, kind of hard to see, it is above/around the gnome in the bottom of the picture? I don't know a lot about moss but you've prompted me to learn more. I collected some small pcs locally and over the summer it's covered the top of a little hypertufa bowl. When I googled 'moss dish garden freezing temps' some really informative websites came up. I've included the link and you can follow up the links if you wish. Good solid information and fun moss garden pics. There is also a "moss, ferns and cryptogam" forum here at gardenweb where you might find some folks who know about moss. (up at the top of the page click on "other forums" and the list of forums comes up in alphabetical order.) Welcome to gardenweb and the junk forum, hope to see you again. Donna Here is a link that might be useful: google moss dish garden freezing temps

well, i actually got about 5 weeks to test the system. but it's not going to be as low temp as in dec-jan, so plants will be absorbing more water. so i hope if i can gauge the water consumption for 4 weeks at 67F i should be able to go 6 weeks at 60-65F? what do you think about putting unglazed clay pots on wicking mat with ultra-slow drip into reservoir to replenish water - so that the clay pots themselves will absorb some water - not the medium? the drip will be very slow as i said - so i think that some moisture will evaporate, so that not that much will be left to be absorbed by the pots? i also think that i can put thick wicks into passive water reservoir (no drip) and the other end curled on top of large jade/sansevieria pots on the soil outside - just to barely moisten it. some will evaporate again - and some will give the top soil some moisture. sort of like dew... am curious, what do they do in commercial greenhouses for cacti/succulents? i got sev aloe and jades that i purchased recently - they look like they are wicked on mats! is that possible? i even found some reference to succulent wicking mats in greenhouses - but not much detail.

The LED lights are from Ebay from a company called LED wholesalers INC. This will be the first time I use the lights for an application other than supplemental light. The lights come in varying wattages but I use the least expensive panels because I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars and I really don't need lights that are that powerful. A 90W LED light is the equivalent of 400-600W HPS light. A mix of red and blue LED's is the best for growth and flowering while white just adds extra brightness. The colour of the light is not very noticeable unless it's in a dark room and the lights run cool/warm instead of hot and are very slim and light which makes them easy to install. I also found some really cool LED aquarium lights that are a strip of lights sealed (water tight) in a tube and are used to simulate moon light at night. I may add two small strips to the inside of the tank to boost the blue portion of the light spectrum under the white panels. I want to see how things grow first but if they look like they need some more light I will invest in some aquarium lights. http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380108250821&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT I think people could be upset with what they get if they don't do some research. If you want an extremely bright grow light you will have to spend the money. There are 1000W equivalent daylight panels out there but they are really expensive although prices are starting to come down slowly. So far I am pleased with my single red/blue panel and my Hoyas have been growing very well under it although they do get some light from a south facing window that is about five feet away. You do need to keep the plants as close to the panel as possible to maximize it's effect. My panel is quite high above my plants but I only wanted it to provide light to the taller plants as they climb their supports. What exactly were the negative comments about LED grow lights? I can always post my experience with these lights after a few months or some time during the winter. If my plants don't bloom or grow well we will know that they are not bright enough. Mike Here is a link that might be useful: LED Wholesalers INC on Ebay

I can understand your frustration. That sounds like the small problem I had. I had a bit of an infestation of Achaearanea tepidariorum (common house spider) in my basement and garage. I didn't mind the spiders, but the webs can be a nuisance. Based on what you describe, I'd wager that's the spider you're dealing with - or possibly Steatoda grossa. The good news is that they are harmless to you, and pretty much harmless to all but the smallest creatures. If you want, google the species names and see if the images match your culprits. Best of luck in getting rid of them. Poor spiders :( (just kidding)