Hi John, thanks for responding. I did think initially that it was something to do with the hot weather, but I am still leaning towards the leaf spot / melting out. In one of the areas it started a month or so ago before the hot weather really kicked in. I did see some information about the possible alleopathic affects of PRG on other grasses, but I'm not really sure how that would impact the fine fescue that I have already or any new seed I might overseed with. It seems like a lot of store bought mixes include PRG along with KBG or fescues. If PRG was that bad I don't know why they would include it in the mixes. Then again I know store bought stuff is not always the best. Does anyone else have any thoughts on what would blend well into predominately fine fescue lawn?

Odinthor's essential point is right on, but it should be noted that the EPA figures cited are for the U.S. as a whole. For the U.S. as a whole, the percentage of water used for agriculture/irrigation (which are the same and do not include watering residential yards) is a relatively lower percentage than in CA because crop irrigation is most intensely used in the western U.S. and not so much elsewhere. The percentage the EPA gives for thermoelectric power is again for the U.S. as a whole and is a vastly greater percentage than the actual one for California since most of California's power generation use sea water for this purpose and relatively little from freshwater sources. (see comparisons for this at link below). U.C. Davis estimates for "developed" water use (i.e., that which is captured or otherwise accessed for human use) in California have roughly 80% going to agriculture/irrigation, 10% municipal or "domestic" use, and 10% for all other uses, to use round figures (these figures are also given in this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_in_California). Alfalfa and livestock forage are almost always the two biggest uses of water in CA, with rice and cotton often in positions 3 and 4 (sugar beets frequently a biggie, too). The fruits and vegetables Jeri mentions, all of California's other crops, each take relatively small shares compared to the top four. So, as Odinthor points out, a relatively minor percentage of savings in ag has far more potential for big reductions in overall water use than even the most draconian cuts in domestic water use (or, in the case of California, all other uses of water combined). Too true about lack of regulation of ground water -- it's still like the old wild West on that front. Along with the problems of depletion and degradation of the aquifers themselves, land elevations in parts of the the San Joaquin Valley have actually sunk by 24 feet or more due to subsidence caused by ground water overdraft. (http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/circ1182/pdf/06SanJoaquinValley.pdf) That said, it's still a sin to let water run down the gutter or use it frivolously, especially this year. Here is a link that might be useful: Thermoelectric water use

Cobra lilys are indigeonous to the Pacific Northwest, essentially, Oregon, Northeen California, and maybe Washington(?) Anyways, they can take freezes but suffer in the heat. Wait... that describes me! Seriously, they are a cool weather plant. From my own personal experience, I have killed 3 of them by taking them out of what they were in and attempting to improve their conditions. My first plant I tried placing in a swampy area by a streamlet that ran in back of our townhouse. A 3" rainstorm carried it off. A replacement Lowes plant wilted when I took it out of the cube and put it outside in the summer heat. I tried perking it up by placing it under an AC conduit, that ran water through the pot and roots. That didn't work too well. Another plant did well when I repotted and had it suspended atop of another platic container. I kept it indoors for a month until the outside temps came down to about room temp. That plant made it through summer, fall, and winter (cold attic). When I put it outside in the spring, the critters got into it (and my VFT's) and the traps were bitten off. so I brought it inside, to kitchen sill, where it began recovering. But then its pitchers turned black. Advice from a very experienced grower finally killed it. I was told to keep the media wet. But it must have been too much to fast, for an already weak plant. I also killed a bunch of seedlings when it was advised that I poke drainage holes in the bucket I had them in. Bottom line: Every time I change its conditions significantly enough, they reacted. The less tweaking I did - the better. The best plant was the one that was suspended and had great drainage. Below is a pic of it: And here is the infamous streamlet: The adage, "If it aint broke, don't fix it" really applies, especially with my experiences! Technically, the plant ought be dormant right now and waking up in about a month or so. But I wouldn't mess too much with its conditions.

It is pretty easy. You only use is for certain types of trees that tend to get very hard, unyielding buds while in cold storage. Some of the varieties you use it for are oaks, redbuds, hackberries, weeping willows, birch, hawthorne, some types of dogwoods, barberries, and ornamental pears. When these trees are held in cold storage they sort of get "stuck" in dormancy and don't want to wake up. Often, if you plant these types of bare-root trees without sweating them, they stay in dormancy for months and, if they don't break dormancy at the right time after spring planting, they can die before the following spring rolls around. What you want to do by "sweating" them is to create a super-humid, moist environment that gives the buds extra "encouragement" to swell and break. You can sweat them in several ways. For example, if the trees came in a large cardboard box, you can take them out of it, line it with heavy plastic, and then put the trees back into it. If they have any packing material around their roots, remove any plastic and wet down that packing material throughoughly. Then use duct tape to seal up the large sheet of plastic and make it as air-tight as possible. Store the whole thing in moderate temperatures between 45 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit out of direct sun. Within a few hours, you should see condensation inside the plastic and that is what you want. It can take 1 to 2 weeks of sweating for the buds to swell and break. If your condensation gradually disappears, you may have to briefly open the plastic and wet down the packing material around the roots and then reseal it. Check the buds for signs of swelling every couple of days. Or, if you have a polyhouse or tightly constructed hoophouse or high tunnel that holds in the humidity well, you can wet down the roots and sweat them in that structure following the same principle of shielding them from direct sunlight and maintaining the right temperatures and high humidity. Or, you can lay the plants down on a garage or barn floor, remove any plastic from the trees root area and wet down the packing material around the roots, and cover up the whole thing with a sheet of heavy duty plastic or a tarp. It is a little harder to maintain humidity under the tarp though unless you lay it underneath the plants on the floor and sort of wrap it around the plants and seal it shut with duct tape.. Once you have swelling buds, the sweating has achieved its goal of breaking dormancy. The key to success with sweating is what you do after the sweating because the plants need to go into the ground when the weather is warm and humid--very similar conditions to their sweating period only the humidity is natural and not artificially mainatained under plastic. If you plant the trees and a late cold snap occurs, you can loose the dormancy-breaking effect unleashed by the sweating. So, you don't want to sweat trees until the weather is conducive to planting. And, as soon as the buds swell and you remove the plants from their sweating "area", you want to plant them ASAP. That's all you have to do to "sweat" a dormant tree.