Jeri made me laugh, that was funny! Humor is badly need in this forum. Dry air is made of 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, and the rest of argon and carbon dioxide. That explains why poor drainage wet clay soil can turn roses yellow ... the roots can't breathe. My Eglantyne rose was yellowish, until I fixed the drainage. MiracleGro potting soil comes with enough nitrogen for 3 months. I had one geranium in MiracleGro and was annoyed that the leaves are so dark green with few flowers (I don't fertilize that pot). There's one pot that I ran out of MiracleGro and put 1/2 garden dirt in ... I actually like that geranium better: it was shorter, more blooms, and lighter green leaves ....easier on the eyes. A friend asked me about phosphorus, so I'll post the info. here: The NPK value of oak leaves is 0.8 /0.35/ 0.15 Maple leaves is similar to that, so it's twice higher in nitrogen than phosphorus. Once decomposed, the value of phosphorus rises. Most decomposed organic matter is high in phophorus, such as sewage sludge at NPK of 2/ 1.9 / 0.3. Animal tankage (manure without the fat and gelatin) with NPK of 8 / 20 / 0. Other high sources of phosporus are rock phosphate and bone meal with NPK of 4 / 21 / 0.2. Drawback of rock phosphate and bone meal: they can only be utilized at pH at or below 7, according to University of Colorado Extension. Since I'm lazy in pruning I would rather sacrifice top growth for more root and flowering, or less nitrogen and more phosphorus. Leaves and stem store plenty of nitrogen, and unless the plant is completely yellow, there's no need for nitrogen. Even then, fixing the drainage and fluff up the soil with organic matter helped my roses to green up without the need for chemical nitrogen (also highest in salt). Adding air to the soil by making it fluffy is the cheapest way to give nitrogen to roots, considering that dry air is made of 78.09% nitrogen. Composting scraps from kitchen is another cheap source of nutrients, considering Cantaloupe rinds has NPK value of 0 / 9.77 /12.0 ... high in phosphorus and potassium. Potato skin has NPK value of 0 / 5.18 / 27.5 ... also high P and K. Nothing beats banana peels in potassium, with NPK value of 0 / 3.25 / 41.76. Potassium is need to counteract the salt in manure, and to fight diseases. This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Wed, Feb 20, 13 at 11:48

OMG!!!!!!!!!! I can actually pull up your pictures here Jojo, but I can't see Joshes. What's up with that??!!!:-(.....:-) These are unbeleivably beautiful!!!!!! Wow do I love this thread.. Thanks Josh for telling me about it and for such a great time..Wait till you see what mine look like once the snow finally reveals some beauty! Oh, now I can't wait to go looking for more in places I never once thought to look, like the old woods up the street, the back of my brothers farm, and my friends woods! Jojo, you have places there in Arizona, that have some of the most amazing driftwood and stones you could ever see. I saw some in some state parks that I would never take, yup, I would not take because I would of felt wrong about that, but boy I hated to leave them there..lol I must be weird, because my friends would never notice things like this, and asked me what the heck I saw in them..Oh well, they are also the same ones that don't even know what a fern looks like. Josh, with the pics and places you have to discover, I can't wait to see what else you come up with.. I am jealous that all your weather is warming up..My temps reached the 50's today!!!Yup, I wore my shorts today for the first time while exposing my nice WHITE legs! God, between your cactus and Josh's unique rocks, moss, ferns, and so on, it makes one appreciate what the planet has to offer. I had a good trip here.. Take care dear friends, Mike..:-)

Theresa: I pick moss from my back yard and grow it on a pot for future use in a terrarium, that way I know is free of insects. You can find moss anywhere's humid. I came up with a different idea for growing moss 'outside' a pot. First, cut out a firm round plastic lead, make 2 holes, and put a wire thru it and thru the bottom hole of a clay pot (which now is the top), filled with sphagnum moss inside, with a layer outside (I soaked it overnight)then wrapped it with a plastic net. Added the moss, and another plastic net (the net they use on cherry trees to protect fruit from birds). I also added some small ferns, and to keep it moist I water the inside sphagnum moss and also spray the outside. It sounds difficult, but is very easy. You can put it on a humidity tray (with pebbles and water)Here is a pic of mine, it's been about a year now, (I've been "harvesting" always leaving some to regrow) The plastic at the bottom is to keep the sphagnum moss from coming out and the wire so you can pick the pot up without damaging the moss. Hope this helps! Here's a picture to give you a better idea. Ana :) Here is a link that might be useful: growing moss

Adding salt (NaCl) will not create any kind of a buffer. pH buffers require acids and bases (weak ones) and conjugate salts in certain proportions. The problem is in trying to accurately read the pH of distilled or RO water as a way of checking a meter. You just can't use distilled water for that since its pH is so easily disturbed, and if you add anything to it, it's not distilled water anymore. Distilled water is however the proper ingredient for adding to soil to make a test solution for measuring pH, or for making pH buffers or calibration solutions. It's a buck a gallon where I live so I would never bother making it. There are, as I mentioned, some calibration check solutions that are easy to make at home, but since your meter doesn't work on liquids, about the only way to check calibration is to test the same sample with pH paper and the meter and compare results.