Thanks for the clarification Dave. You folks in zone 4 have issues growing peach trees I can only imagine. As I understand you, it's the timing of water deprivation which makes the difference. That makes sense. Perhaps depriving the trees of water earlier in the season negatively affects the ability of the tree to store carbohydrates for the winter, whereas if the water deprivation occurs later, the tree has already stored most of its reserves. You may be interested there is an experienced grower on this forum who deliberately water-stresses his trees to concentrate the brix of his fruit. He's down in TX though, so winter-kill is never an issue. Where I'm at, winter-kill generally isn't an issue either. But the trees can get canker, which of course can be exacerbated by sub-zero temps. Kokopelli5a, It's generally recognized dwarfing rootstocks dwarf by virtue of some degree of incompatibility with the scion. By definition, incompatibility involves reducing nutrients and/or water to the scion. The claim that Citation produces larger fruit is interesting. This is pure conjecture on my part, but I wonder if it works somewhat on the same principle as girdling. People that hold world records for the largest peaches lightly girdle the shoots so that nutrients flow into the shoots from the tree, but are not allowed to flow from the shoot back down into the tree (sort of a one way carbohydrate valve which super-charges the girdled shoot and any fruit on it). I could envision something similar from a rootstock designed w/ a slight degree of incompatibility. The rootstock would send carbohydrates up in the early development phase of peaches (when cell division occurs), but as the season progresses, some of the carbohydrates are prevented from flowing back down into the rootstock, and instead are utilized by the fruit. This would make the fruit larger, but the rootstock slightly depleted and more prone to winter injury in cold climates. Just a theory. If it's wrong, I'll go with the magic.

Boy there seems to be a real communication problem here. No, it is no secret nor something i just made up. It is common knowledge, discussed in many jelly making discussions here, printed right on the boxes. discussed on page 9 and page 28 of the Ball Blue Book (latest edition) and yes, all that info is also right on their website. From freshpreserving.com: (linked above) Ballî RealFruitî Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin makes delicious and heahtly, lower- calorie jam. It has been reformulated for improved flavor and performance. Recipe options include: --no sugar --low sugar --no-calorie sugar substitutes --honey There is no mention that you can't cook it. That is your assumption. And right below it is the Pectin specifically for freezer jams: RealFruitî Instant Pectin Homemade, no-cook jam has never tasted better. Ballî RealFruitî Instant Pectin is the perfect way to make delicious, homemade jam in under 30 minutes. Enjoy it now or freeze it for use within one year. Please don't make it more complicated than it needs to be. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Surejell product details

I'm surprised no one mentioned using nylon stockings in this old forum thread. I've used my wife's "retired" nylon stockings since the late 1970's to make dewberry/blackberrt jelly. I cut the legs into 12 inch or so long segments, tying off the ends if not using the foot, and putting them 3 or 4 thick to make the bag. A canning funnel helps to keep the bag open to load it with mashed fruit. I'm in the group that likes to squeeze the bag to shorten the collection time. Althouth, this does make the juice cloudy as noted above.. I will empty and clean the nylon bags using a garden hose nozzel for the final step in cleaning the nylon segments. and then reassemble the nylon segments and repeat the juice collection process. It usually takes about 5 to 6 collection cycles to get 6 to 7 qts of juice. After collecting the juice I put it in the refrigerator in 48 to 64 oz clear plastic bottles. In 24 or so hours, the cloudy juice settles to the bottom of the bottles and clear juice remains above. I then make as many recipes of clear jelly as I can and then finish with cloudy jelly to not waste any juice. No difference in flavor of clear vs cloudy jelly...it's only the look. Having said the above, I'm not sure nylon stockings are available anymore. They don't seem to be in fashion today. But luckily, I happen to have an old stash/supply that ceased to be replinished about 15 or so years ago.

To those of you who have been using these "home made" detergents, are you experiencing any odor, mold or mildew issues? The reason I ask is because castile soap builds up into a gooopy, gel-like gunk if not properly rinsed. This could potentially cause problems in washers. Every home-made product I've tried - from detergent to fabric softener - has proven unsatisfactory. Either the products don't clean well, they risk building up in my machine or on my clothes or they just don't work. Price is not the only consideration, which is what appears to be driving this homemade laundry movement.