Aliska, I have never tried to burn a green plant anyway so don't know how that is suppossed to work. But I saw it recommended on some sites with RRD info. I should check out Anne's e-book again. I offered him rose plants since I do a lot of propagating, but he said he doesn't need any flowers. I think he's one of those foliage people. Donna, I think he would not object to me bagging up the affected canes. Patricia, I think it's smart not to get too upset about RRD...you're right, we do all we can and can't control it all. I do believe that Donna meant to lop off any canes with permission. I think I'll take him the printouts later today and talk about how to kill the roots. Michael, how long do you think it takes for herbicide to get down into the roots of a pretty big shrub? It sounds like a good idea. I just don't want the mites to migrate as soon as the herbicide gets sprayed. One person I know ( budeye) mentioned drilling a hole into a big old root and pouring herbicide in it. Might want to spray either Wilt-pruf or hairspray soon after the herbicide. I don't like the idea of spraying Cygon though I have some, or AVid, but might do that to my own plants that are in the vicinity of the RRD plant. I hate spraying those things. All this cautiousness may be beside the point since he just pruned that plant and there was a pile of brush from it by the side of the road for several days. Ah well, I don't want to fret too much about it. Linda

Moni, It was one of those on-and-off warnings. One day they thought it would hit us hard, and then another day they said it would go farther south and then they came back and said we 'might' get 1" to 4" but they were leaning more toward the 1". So, here we sit with over 6" on the ground (I haven't measured it lately) and more falling. The problem is that the forecast models were all over the place, and the meteorologists had to decide which model or models they had the most confidence in. A lot of them chose the wrong one! LOL It is a wet snow and our temps have hovered between 29 and 32 degrees all afternoon, so some of it has melted even as more has fallen. It is quite lovely but I hope it goes away soon. My Dixondale onions ship next week. All the birds in southern OK are currently eating out in the yard.....we're having a wild bird convention with everything from goldfinches (several dozen of them at three finch feeders) to cardinals, blue jays, blue birds, starlings, black-capped chickadees, doves, sparrows, crows, grackles, etc. There are birds everywhere. I need to go outside and let the 'garage dogs' out to run and play. I've been letting them out for about 15 minutes every couple of hours all day long. They like the snow, but they don't like it for long. I'll measure the snow while I'm out. Down in the D-FW area, I believe today's snowfall makes this the snowiest year since sometime in the 1970s. I know sleet and snow flurries have fallen in the College Station, TX, area and than across parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and into northern Florida. They should have real snow in some of those places tonight and tomorrow. Every day it seems like someone in the USA is having snow, and I guess this is the southern states' turn. Dawn

I've given up on vermiculite. The so-called "coarse" stuff these days is always medium grade, whenever I come across it. I use bark mulch instead. If you can get it graded and delivered, that's probably your best bet, but I've had to use the bagged stuff from Home Despot - not the dyed stuff, this is Mountain Magic Premium grind. There is a good bit of wood chips in there but it hasn't caused a problem. If you have the space, aging it for a few months before use is a good idea for any bark mulch you are going to use for raised beds or potting soil. I live in a desert, there isn't a lot of choice for mulch here.

Hermitian, who the hell asked you? You're not looking for more company are you? Hermitian is indeed looking for company, but we are the wrong gender! I have seen photos of his place and I think he needs our help though. It's much too nice for one guy. We would need a few weeks for assessment of the place, before we could even give any advice. Hermitian appears to be somewhat of a good cook too, so as long as he feeds us, we will do it out of the goodness of our hearts. Then the postal abbreviation can be changed to MZ, better than MO, which of course is a phonetic reference to one of The Three Stooges. OK, now I will never forget MO as the correct abbreviation. My brother in law is from MO, and well if the shoe fits! A few years ago I saw that arch. It is impressive and the building of it is funny. When they got to the top, it didn't line up! Ha! They figured a way. First thing they did is fire Larry and Curly! They hired some guy named Shemp. Later they added another Curly Joe.