I'm wondering what you consider to be a hard frost? We have already had some nights with some frost but the temperature has probably gotten down to 39 at the lowest so far. Would it be detrimental to just cut them back myself now instead of waiting for the hard frost? Will that change the outcome of the bulbs?

For flushing out my plants, I suppose that using the water from the outside spiket isn't going to be much more helpful in decreasing the amount of fluoride build-up. If I were to buy water from the store, which is preferred? Spring, drinking, or distilled?

And finally, a general question about tip burn. I was reading that tip burn in plants can be caused by excess salts, dry soil or flouride. In regards to a couple of my plants that get what I think is tip burn (the tips of the leaves turning brownish), how can this be fixed/prevented? Should I not be watering my plants with our city water from the tap? How do I know if my plants have too much or too little flouride, or the same for our water supply? Does too much or too little flouride cause the tip burn? So now that I've picked your brain on everything that I can think of thats ailling my plants I will give it a rest.

My dracaena has recently been growing this summer underneath our sunniest window. There are new, shiny, green leaves coming out the top of all three stalks/plants. Although on the older leaves, the tips eventually get brown and dry. I have cut the leaf tips off at the same angle of the leaf but they keep getting brown and dry all over again. Does this have something to do with my water? How can this be prevented or fixed? Would fertilizer help? I read this plant likes moderate humidity, would spritzing the leaves with water from a spray bottle help in regard to the tips dying and turning brown? Thanks as always.

I have 2 peace lilies that have always come back well with a good watering when they were badly wilted just like the plant info talks about. But for some reason, both of them this last time didn't spring back up. I have watered them twice now and the pots actually feel heavy like they still have a lot of water in them but nothing is standing back up. When I looked at the bigger plant a little closer, there is one section of stalk coming out of the dirt that looks a little green but the leaves at the end of it still aren't perking up with the watering. Any ideas on how I'm to revive these plants now? I hope there is still hope for them!

The plant info for my gerbera daisies says if I plan to "overwinter them indoors, grow in pots, burying them to the rims in the flower pots". I'm confused. They were grown in a pot, so do I just take them inside or do I have to bury the whole plant in dirt?

One sunny day this summer I decided to put my indoor potted plants outdoors on the back step for the afternoon thinking they could stand to soak up some good rays before the foreboding winter set in with its sunless, dreary days. My corn plant and spider plant, ever since that day, look like all their leaves were blanched out by the sun. They just look a lot paler green in comparison to what they used to. Should they not have been sat outside? Can I do anything to fix this? Would fertilizer help? Thanks for you insight into my "sun fixing my sunless problem-that didn't work too great".

I had planted 3 dahlia bulbs in my front little garden area outside this past spring. One never even came up, and another grew almost a foot out of the ground but never flowered. The 3rd definitely took its time but eventually produced 2 flowers only pretty recently (probably a month ago). I heard that you can dig up the bulbs and keep them to plant again the next year. Do I just dip up the whole plant? Cut the stalk off the 2 that grew? Even go after the one that didn't come up at all? How do I store them for the winter: in dirt in pots or just place the bulbs in a plastic bag and leave in the basement? Thanks, you wisdom is always appreciated. Kadra

I recently potted 3 "babies" that were grown off bigger plants, a corn plant, philedendron, and a spider plant. I have heard that when you pot a plant that you are supposed to water it a lot at first. Just wondereing how long I should be watering them frequently? If there is still standing water in the tray then I don't but for the most part the water has been gone almost every time I have gone to water them. Also, the soil drains the water really fast. I have been looking into getting some fertilizer. Will that help the soil and how fast it drains? Or will it just be nutrients for the plant? Thanks.

I am wondering how to pick fertilizers. Are there different kinds? How do I know which plants need which and how much/often? Is fertilizer different from plant food that you can buy at a local store?