I grow blueberries both in the ground in raised beds (5 plants in the ground for five years) and in sturdy black plastic plant containers (5 plants in 4 to 7 gallon containers)--that I picked up cheap from a local nursery. Two years ago, I harvested over four gallons of blueberries. Last summer the container plants were a bit of a bust as a late 90 plus heat wave after I'd cut the watering back resulted in the container plants having a very poor crop, but I still harvested nearly four gallons of berries from the plants in the raised beds. They are picked and put into gallon freezer bags and popped into the chest freezer. I don't even wash them, as I use no pesticides on them. I removed my clay soil in 2'x2'x15" deep sections and built the beds up to about six inches above ground level with a mix of 3 parts sphagnum peat moss, 1 part leaf compost my town produces, and 1 part of the clay topsoil. I reused the rest of the clay in another part of my garden. The container mix is simpler: 2 parts sphagnum peat, 1 part leaf compost. The beds have not needed additional soil or peat in five years. I mulch the beds with pine needles (not for the acidity as they don't actually contribute any, but for the fact they contain no weed seeds to speak of). I use bark mulch as a mulch in the containers--it stops squirrels from digging in them and weeds from growing. I use drip irrigation with city water at a pH of about 6.5 or so, and fertilize with Ammonium sulfate every spring, which also keeps the acidity level up. Fafard makes a sphagnum peat moss based acidic soil mix, so that's an option if you can get past the sphagnum peat moss issue. If you're only growing enough blueberries for you and your family, you are not really going to need a lot of the stuff. It's worth noting that for every person who thinks sphagnum peat moss is not a renewable resource, there's likely another who thinks the opposite is true. Here's what I know: In the US, our ubiquitous Canadian sphagnum peat moss comes from a country that has a lot of it and only harvests a small amount of it, and reseeds the harvested areas with ... sphagnum peat moss, which in the university greenhouse collection I help maintain grows quite quickly--I frequently have to cut it back to keep it from overwhelming our carnivorous plants that grow with it. In North American bogs, the moss grows several or more inches a year. The harvested bogs won't be replenished soon, but they aren't exactly turned into parking lots either. Then too, the harvesting process is not very carbon intensive in the scheme of things. You can read more about this perspective on the topic here: http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/other_comments/1780209/the_truth_about_peat_moss.html and here: https://garden.org/urbangardening/?page=august_peat

Peter2K, that's what I'm going to do, fill the whole bin with cardboard chips. I'm beginning to wonder if the only problem really IS water though. The bin was definitely anaerobic, but not that much worse than the previous 4 months. It could be that the harvest and sitting on a plastic bag started a cascade of bad, as you suggested. I also put in an "organic freshener" which had baking soda in it, right before the harvest. That was dumb of me, I was thinking 'hey, carbonate should be good", and forgot that sodium is Not so good. I saved a bunch of baggies of scraps and have them in the freezer, gonna thaw one out and put it in a corner with regular bedding before I fill with cardboard chips. 3DinAz, that was fascinating, I've printed your post out and am going to give it a try when I have more time to re-read. I'm betting the process reeks though! Lactobac is a very odd genus, they keep reclassifying species in and out of it and making whole new groupings. When I took plant pathology I think they said there were over 300 different species in the genus and it was difficult to even tell you had Lactobac because there are so many lactic-acid forming bacteria. I believe they are all anaerobic, in that they don't use oxygen to drive their metabolism, but are "air-tolerant" in that it won't kill them.

These spots have been driving me absolutely mad for 5 years now! This thread makes me feel seen. lol We have an LG front loader. It is 10 years old. I have tried everything! There are usually 1-3 pieces that are affected in every other cycle. happens to both white and light colored pieces of differing material. Ive tried everything -different cycle temps, powder vs liquid, very small detergent amounts, running the ”tub clean” cycle with bleach, vinegar, and oxyclean cleaning packets. Everything! I use Tide free and clear, I only wash extremely small loads with level 1 or 2 (cap measurment), wipe the seals down, always keep the door wide open (not just cracked) after every cycle, i promptly take the items out after the cycle ends, etc . It’s so maddening! I get anxiety everytime i run a load. i cant tell you how many brand new kids clothes have been ruined! we dont wear any lotion, sunblock, hair gel, etc. Any advice??? Anyone able to successully get LG to do anything? thank you!

I was curious to see how my water would compare to yours. Our water system measures the hardness of our water in grains. That 180 ppm equals 10.5 grains and our water system reports our water is 40-42 grains hardness right now, roughly 4 times their designation of very hard water. So, I am in the ballpark of the hardness of your water. These are things I can tell you. For my vegetables, I do not use softened water. I could not afford to use the potassium chloride for my vegetable garden. Since my soil is compose of the same stuff the aquifer is made of (limestone), I have determined one of the best things I can to do for truly excellent results is to amend the soil as much as I can afford to do (incidentally, with the low rain fall, the soil is low in organic matter). I find a great mix of things to more helpful than say, just grabbing horse manure from the neighbors. Peat moss, cotton bur compost, plenty of straw on top, etc. The water does play a part, so in your shoes, I would think short-term and long-term. I forget the exact numbers, but RO water takes something like 3 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of water. That is a lot of waste. Over the long run, the more water you take from the well, the greater the likelihood the quality will decline and the water will get worse. That is why it is likely a good idea to work on the rain catchment to at least use in conjunction. For those of us who have made our homes in arid regions, it requires more from us to find ways to live sustainably. I understand the expenses because I too am trying to figure out a practical rain catchment for my house and gardens (I also do not underestimate what it is like to haul water, as I bail 5 gallon buckets of water from my kids bathtub and carry it downstairs and outside, a 5 gallon bucket weighs almost 40 pounds, it really sucks but my arms look great!). Just some thoughts.