Thanks, everyone. I have to do the swap before I leave, because I refuse to leave these plants here for these vultures down the street who are plain old thieves! They got caught the other day stealing some rocks from a neighor's yard who is in the process of moving and hadn't taken them yet. I do not want them to get one single plant from my yard. I'll probably reschedule for the 9th or 16th of April. Let me know what works for you.

No, you probably won't notice the little things they got wrong. Instead, you'll notice the big things you got wrong, like not making the garage wider, not making the foyer deeper, etc. :-) This is the third house I've had built for me. The first was basically a spec house with a very few minor changes. The second was semi-custom (spec house with more substantial changes). The third was fully custom (architected plan). By the time the third, fully custom house was being built, I knew that no amount of advance planning or attention during the build was ever going to result in a perfect house. You try to get the "bones" as right as you can, and get it built in a quality manner, and then resign yourself to all the little (and sometimes big) things that either you overlooked, or didn't anticipate exactly how they would look / interact in the completed house. Tell yourself the following: If anything really, truly bugs you, it's "merely a matter of money" to fix it. Unless we're talking about impossible structural changes (like, deciding you wanted to build with ICF walls rather than stick-built -- and you're not talking about that), you can make it "right" later, if you really wish. I suspect in a few weeks or months, you won't think twice about those particular goofs. And if still you do, you can fix them. It's "merely a matter of money". :-) --Steve

bump...

Have seen a report this weekend on the NAFEX discussion list of damage to pears from this compound... and this person was an experienced orchardist...I'm certain there was no incorrect mixing of his spray. I'm taking the liberty of posting portions of the discussion, with the thought that the author would want other growers to be aware... At this point, it's circumstantial evidence...but better safe than sorry. "Dear fellow pear growers, I just wanted to warn other readers on this group about Azera insecticide from MGK. It is an OMRI-approved insecticide that's basically a mixture of azadirachtin (the main active ingredient in neem oil) & pyrethrins. I sprayed a mixture of Azera and Serenade at the recommended rates on my orchard on Sunday and by Tuesday, several cultivars of pear with European heritage (P. communis) were completely black. The damage is not fireblight. The symptoms are quite different and it is hitting certain blight-resistant cultivars while blight-susceptible cultivars right next to them are unaffected. I will compile a complete list this weekend, but I wanted to send a note quickly so that others can avoid the damage that I experienced. I think the trees will survive, but I'll get no fruit from them. I've been orcharding in the Southeastern U.S. since 1979 and have never seen anything like it. I've sprayed this same orchard with neem oil and pyrethrins (separately) and neem oil & Serenade together for several years in the past with no ill effects. Other species were not affected at all. I have one tree with 6 cultivars grafted in it. One pure communis cultivar has all of its leaves killed and another communis X pyrifolia cultivar has slight damage while the other 4, including one pure pyrifolia ('Koyama') are completely fine." Grower posted an updated list - out of 30 pear varieties he sprayed, 7 experienced total (100%) leaf death. The other 22 were unaffected.