This business of radish plants being self-incompatible, in that flowers from one plant can't be fertilized by flowers from the same plant, was bothering me. If I have a seed packet of these things, and the seeds all came from one plant, how would your crop ever fertilize? I was talking to a botanist, and got some interesting answers. First of all, the seed provider ALWAYS gets their seeds from MANY PLANTS, and is careful to mix those seeds before packaging. Also, self-compatablility is a bred-in characteristic. Many native plants, including native vegetable plants, are self-incompatible. Self-incompatability is genetically advantageous. All human cultures have strong intolerance of incest for exactly this reason. But you'd really rather not have plants that can't self-fertilize. So that characteristic is bred out. It can be done. For plants like radishes that are only rarely asked to bear fruit, no one has ever bothered to do that.

Posted by: winter_plumage_AZ Sonoran Desert (My Page) on Thu, Jun 23, 05 at 12:48 "Okay, here's what we have established: Traps were placed for an unknown target. Squirrels can jump and quail can't carry apples. You've paid $300+ to kill quail (illegal, btw) but you can't pay anyone to erect a freakin' barrier." I did not spend 300 on anything. I got the check back and purchased from an alternate source two discounted live traps, and five two dollar snap traps. The bait (apples for live traps, cotton for snap traps) are already things we keep around the house. Inspection of the property was free. The entire thing was inexpensive. 50 dollars or under. I agree a 300 dollar barrier would be affordable. I dont think anyone could build me one the size I need for that. If I am wrong and someone is willing and able to come over and build two enclosed gardens for me that complies with my HOA for under $300 dollars -- you have a job if you want it. E-mail me and we will talk. I bought LIVE traps to catch and release squirrels, not to kill quail. I set the traps according to the specifications I was given. I have not done anything "illegal" as you suggest. "packrats & mice aren't into fruit; therefore I'm not understanding the reason for trapping them. Oops! Money for the pest control people!" It wss the young man at a pest control place who, when I told him I would not pay the 300 dollars, kindly told me where I could find discounted live traps. Go figure. Why trap packrats if they arent into the fruit? Because I don't want them destroying the firebrick on my kiln (very fragile), or my air conditioning units, or my lawn mower, or the wiring in our cars. They have already chewed holes in my tarps, built a nest under the lawn mower, and are in the kiln area. "How *DID* they evolve without cultivated fruit in their burrows?!! *Think* about that." Dogs and horses evolved without commercially prepared kibble or commercially produced feed. Yet they still eat it. Cats cannot hunt or kill a cow. Yet they will eat beef it if it is in cat food. Just because they eat a type of food now, doesn't mean that they couldn't have "evolved" or survived in the wild without it. (or that it is the healthiest thing for them to eat either). When you alter an animals natural habitat, they do not always act the same as they would in the wild. Sometimes even domesticated animals carry out instinctive behaviors in illogical ways. I know a lady in Hawaii who has a dog that collects and stores coconuts under her house. I know of another whose dog liked to herd the kitchen chairs into a corner. "Now, how long do you suppose fruit would retain its moisture? If fruit were "stored" in burrows, the moisture would create toxic fungi/mold." Many people where I grew up used to store apples and other fruits and vegetables in dark, dry, EARTH, root-cellars. Green apples (especially the smaller ones) actually do have quite a long shelf life. Assuming they would mold or just dry out quickly, that is still not proof that they are not being taken (or taken and placed into in burrows). Animals will drink antifreeze. It is not part of their natural diet. In fact, it can be quite deadly. Animals sometimes take or eat things because it is available and smells good, not because they "have to" and not knowing it is not a "logical" or healthy thing for them to do. I have not ruled out the possibility that it might not be some other type of animal. The live traps were one way to try to find the answer to that. They were never intended to kill anything. "How 'bout a surveillance camera?!!" That is a good suggestion and something that I did think about and check into. I agree that if I knew without a doubt what was taking the apples, it would be helpful in finding a solution. But I need a wireless camera (no electricity in the orchard and too far away to run electrical cord) that projects to an indoor monitor, it has to be weather proof (it is an outside exposed area), and the moniter has to either record or have the ability to hook up to a VCR, (so you dont have to have someone present 24/7 to observe the moniter). I was expecting prices similar to the motion activated nanny cams you see everywhere now (100 dollar and under range). Not so, the outdoor wireless that transmit long distances are extremely expensive. The prices I got were all close to 1000 dollars (installation not included). That is just not affordable and so I am still shopping around. "I happen to think that education is constructive, even if it isnt what we want to hear." "Education" is constructive. Sarcasm, presumption, insinuation, and the assumption that your "opinion" is the only "right" one, is not so constructive. It is your tone I take offense to. And frankly, it is not really needed to get your point across. "It is disturbing that people don't care enough to know and value our natives as part of the diverse ecosystem of the Sonoran Desert, and can so easily take away their lives for myriad reasons--not the least of which is for fruit that can be purchased at the store. The wildlife being displaced are without alternatives/options, and their hungry young are left to die a slow, painful death of dehydration and starvation as they wait for their mother to return. Enjoy your crop." If I simply did not care, as you suggest, I would not be attempting to live-trap and relocate. Part of our subdivision is next to protected desert upland, part is not. Mine is not. Because of the way the community is situation, we have many native and non-native food sources available. The animals here are far from starving. The cottontails and quail are so big and fat, they don't look like desert animals. People even put seed out for them. No critters (quail, squirrel, or unknown target) are going to be forced to die a slow and painful death just because I intend to find a way to stop them of eating ALL the fruit from my fruit trees. You have made your point about the problems associated with urban encroachment and the plight of Arizona's native wildlife. I think it is great that you feel passionately about this cause. I have my own causes (and believe it or not, most are animal welfare causes) that I am equally passionate about. But it is not my preference to belittle or lecture people for not agreeing with my beliefs or opinions. This conversation between us is not really productive, so please, lets just move on. Jessica

We had problems with the neighbors (okay, part of our yard was guilty too) letting English Ivy and Japanese Honeysuckle run rampant on the chainlink fence. This created rat runs all up and down the fences. We never noticed until they started eating our tomatoes. Which definety required action. We caught a lot at first, in the large snap traps with cheese (oftentimes just starting to spoil), but then the numbers went down. Since we were still seeing them, we got one of those little smoke bomb things and chucked it into the pile of concrete slabs where we thought they were living. Later when we cleaed up the pile there wasn't any evidence of rats, though. Soon after, our next door neighbor had problems with them in her basement stairwell and bushes. When she used the smoke bombs, they came back over here! AAgh! The traps have stopped working, but maybe we will try different baits now that I have some ideas. I wanted to share our recent finding, which is that Spurge (you may have heard of "Gopher Spurge") (Euphorbia is the genus, I believe) is very repellant to rats (this info. comes after we tried Wormwood (Artemisia) for the same reason--but found that the rats ate it!) The smell of the Euphorbia is supposed to be what does it...as a matter of fact it is said to be repellant to squirrels, as well. Many of the Euphorbias are shrub-like and so should be large enough to make a difference (hopefully). I will say that although we have no evidence of whether or not it is working yet, after bringing that plant home in the car---phew! Does it smell! Good luck to you all!

I never considered white cabinets for the kitchen in my forever house either because I once owned a home with oak cabinets, painted white, by the prior owners. When it was time for me to sell that house, the housing inspector hired by my buyers rated the kitchen cabinets "substandard" due to the lack of a factory paint job. Ever since that experience, I've been a fan of wood-stained cabinets. I also think a preference for wood-stained cabinets over painted cabinets is a generational thing. My parents (in their 80s) think the only reason to paint wood is because the wood is of such poor quality that it doesn't stain well. Not necessarily true but that's how they think and their home (as well as the homes of all of their friends) is full to brim with stained wood--stained wood doors and moldings, stained paneling in the den and stained wood cabinets on the kitchen and bathrooms--and the end result are dark and dim houses by today's standards. Lots of people, me included, wound up painting the paneling in the den to lighten things up a bit!