Apparently the link that I gave earlier to the 2011 paper has stopped working. Try this link: doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.06.029 Here is the abstract. Title: Effect of cultural system and storage temperature on antioxidant capacity and phenolic compounds in strawberries Authors: Peng Jin a,b, Shiow Y. Wang c, Chien Y. Wanga,*, Yonghua Zheng b Authors affiliation: a Food Quality Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA b College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, PR China c Genetic Improvement of Fruits and Vegetables Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA Published in: Food Chemistry 124 (2011) 262270 Abstract: "The effects of cultural systems and storage temperatures on antioxidant enzyme activities and nonenzyme antioxidant components in two cultivars (Earliglow and Allstar) of strawberries were investigated. Fruit samples were hand-harvested from organic and conventional farms in Maryland, USA, and were stored at 10, 5 and 0 C. The results from this study showed that strawberries grown from organic culture exhibited generally higher activities in antioxidant enzymes. Moreover, the organic culture also produced fruits with higher level of antioxidant contents. Strawberries stored at higher temperature (10 C) had higher activities of antioxidant enzymes and antioxidant capacities than those stored at lower temperatures (0 or 5 C), in both organic and conventional cultural systems. In conclusion, strawberries produced from organic culture contained significantly higher antioxidant capacities and flavonoid contents than those produced from conventional culture, and even though low storage temperatures retarded decay, they also reduced the increase in antioxidant activities." --------------------------------------------- I found the following idea of a "compost sock" interesting (wouldn't this be considered an organic method?). This link is to a 2009 USDA reviewed research paper that compared growing straberries in "compost socks" with a standard black plastic mulch system and also in a standard matted row system. Please compare the results. The definition of what a "compost sock" is was given as: Compost Socks. Mature, leaf-yard-trimming compost (Leafgro, Millersville, MD) was used to fill 20-cm-diameter compost socks (Filtrexx Inc., Grafton,OH) using a pneumatic blower system attached to a flexible hose. Leaf-grass-poultry (layer) manure compost produced at the USDA Composting Facility, Beltsville, MD, and polyethylene-mesh socks were also used.Adrip irrigation system (BerryHill Irrigation, Buffalo Junction, VA) with emitters spaced 30.5 cm apart and an emitter flow rate of 0.055 L-min per linearm(4.5 gal-min per 1000 linear ft) of row was placed on bed centers (on top of compost socks) and secured with metal landscape pins."

Oddly enough, I bought one from Logee's around 2009. It turned up toes and died almost immediately. I suppose I should have contacted them about a replacement but it was a really difficult time in my life. My dad had just died after I had been caretaking him for about 2 years, I was working on a doctorate, and I had a crapload of medical problems of my own that resulted in total disability within the year. Which, of course, took about THREE years to get the gubmint to acknowledge. So I had no income at all for about 3 years, then about 1/5th of my pre-disability income to live on. Since then, being on disability, the Logee's prices were exorbitant when compared to my income. I got the seed for these SUPER cheap, once I finally found someone who could get them to me while they were still fresh and viable. That alone took 6 or 7 years. These poor plants went for 3 months or more, along about xmas of 2016, without being watered once, during a bad period for my health. They all survived that, though the ones in the Growstone mixture survived it better. Since then I have not been up to schlepping them outside every time the temp gets above 50F as I did in my previous residence - which it does the majority of the winter here, but then they have to be schlepped back in again because it drops to below freezing again over night. Don't have the energy to move 20+ plants in and out all fall/winter/spring as I was doing initially. Also unlike my previous residence, I don't have grow lights set up here to keep them under over winter. So they just get whatever light comes in through the (floor length, so that helps) windows, which don't even face due south here (I had a south facing patio door and built-in window ledge that got GREAT light where I was before and a grow light set up). And it is later in the spring - nearly summer here - before the night time temps are reliably above 50F. So they are getting WAY less light than they were before. And yet - except for a handful that were still in the gritty-ish mix - they continue to grow and thrive. They ARE tough plants. I have a weird too-small-for-a-room, too big for a closet "room" that I'm going to turn into a plant room this winter. It's about 4.5' x 6'. Then I'll just keep them under lights again over the winter. Well, fall through late spring given how long it stays cold at night here at this elevation. When I finally move from here - I expect to move clear across the country as early as this spring, or next (if this spring, I WON'T be turning that room into a plant room) - I'm going to have a tough time giving ANY of them up, but tough as they are, I doubt they would survive a 3 or 4 day trip in the back of a moving van. I'm going to have to leave most of them behind.

Today January 2, I dug up Comte de Chambord, grafted of Multiflora rootstock. Bluegirl had it for a few years in her alkaline Texas, didn't bloom well so she gave to me, since I have more rain. As multiflora-rootstock, Comte bloomed OK in spring but stingy afterwards, while my 2 other Comte as OWN-ROOT bloom profusely with 4 flushes until snow hit. I have Comte-on-multiflora for 2 years. It's so stingy in the summer I moved it next to the rain-spout in July. Its root was the same size as my marigold !! It became even stingier, despite my using the entire bag of coarse sand to make my clay fluffy. So I dug up Comte grafted on multiflora today, Jan 2, and IT WAS THE MOST PATHETIC multiflora rootstock that I had ever seen in my 3 decades of growing roses !! I already posted the study that showed Fortuniana-rootstock produces more blooms than Dr. Huey, and Dr. Huey produces more blooms than multiflora-rootstock. Left side is Comte de Chambord grafted on multiflora rootstock, right side is a snapdragon annual flower root (sown from seed !!). The snapdragon-flower root is actually larger than the multiflora-rootstock. This 4+ year-old Multiflora-rootstock actually SHRANK in my alkaline clay, despite tons of acidic rain. And it REFUSED to give me own-roots at the side like Dr. Huey-rootstock. Picture taken today, Jan 2 at 39 F or 4 C. Re-post info. from Oct. 2016: Comparing Dr. Huey-rootstock, Multiflora-rootstock, and Fortuniana-rootstock from below link, worth reading: http://roses4az-mevrs.org/wp-content/uploads/An-Overview-of-Fortuniana.pdf Here in the Desert Southwest, with our generally alkaline soils and extreme temperatures, we find that r. multiflora has a shorter life span, losing its vigor after five years. While fortuniana bushes had superior root systems, they had difficulty with the harsh & cold English climate. In a study over several years, Dr. McFadden budded two hybrid tea varieties, Queen Elizabeth and Tiffany, onto three different rootstocks. After counting the number of blooms produced over many growing seasons, the varieties budded onto fortuniana produced significantly more blooms. The fortuniana plants produced about THREE TIMES the number of blooms as those on multiflora and TWICE as many as on Dr. Huey. Additional benefits of Fortuniana include increased resistance to gall, stem dieback, and root disease, such as Phytophtora and Pythium. Bushes planted over 40 years ago in Florida are still thriving. On this rootstock, plants are heavier feeders, as they have five times the feeder roots of more common varieties." http://roses4az-mevrs.org/wp-content/uploads/An-Overview-of-Fortuniana.pdf

I started trying to remove a 12x4foot patch of ivy about 10 months ago in the fall. I did not want to use chemicals, so I died digging it up. This spring, bed was full of tender ivy shoots. I took a week off of work and spent every day working section by section turning the soil with a shovel, then sitting in the dirt painstakingly sifting through the dirt pulling out all of the roots that I could find. The bed is currently has an ample supply of weeds, and minimal regrowth of ivy. In the fall I will probably repeat my grid eradication method. I should be able to complete it in a long weekend this time around. I agree with other posters that say this stuff should be illegal to plant/sell. It would not surprise me if I found the hand of Satan grasping a root as I try to pull it out. I have a negative physical reaction when I see this stuff for sale at the garden center. There should be a waiting period and required counselling before anyone can buy this stuff. Oh, P.S. I tried 30% vinegar /dish soap/table salt on a second, smaller patch. This killed the above ground plant in a day, but the ivy appears to have been emboldened by my effort, and returned with a vengeance. No substitute for elbow grease if you want to eradicate this stuff without using damaging chemicals.