I haven't been able to find Ropel or Liquid Fence. (But then, in the boondocks where I live, it's often hard to find a lot of things.) I did see something interesting on the Weather Channel, however. They said to make a tea out of garlic cloves, hot pepper flakes, and hot water. You let it steep for a week, then add a couple of drops of dish soap, and spray it on the foliage. I think I'll give it a try. We'll see what happens...

Lermer is correct. Even a quick google search will reveal hundreds of peer-reviewed papers on blue light's effect on plants. It's no myth at all. Here's a random example. They took Scots pine seedlings and put them in plexiglass containers, one designed to remove blue light and the other completely clear. I.e., the ones missing blue light got less total light to them; however, they grew *longer* than the ones in the fully transparent plexiglass. I could point to countless more examples of this phenomenon. Blue = stocky and leafy. Red = spindly, encourages fruiting. Right now Southern California Edison is subsidizing the cost of a plain jane looking four foot fluorescent light fixtures so they sell for $1.99 each. Purchase cost isn't the only consideration. Power is generally a bigger cost than upfront costs. Think about drawing 450W for a HID on an 18/6 day/night cycle year-round -- that's 3,000kWh, or $325 a year at average electricity rates. That's no chump change. :P so I decided to try some 225 mixed LED's for some seedlings as I have read about some success with this 14 watt setup, unfortunately the results were less than spectacular, albeit the plants did grow, and did not stretch I still got 2x the growth from the Fluoro in half the time. I cannot comment to the scientific explanation, but It appears that 14 watt LED over 1sq foot is not enough power to really drive growth, Well, obviously ;) LEDs are nice, but they're not magical. The sun on a clear day puts down about 93 watts per square foot (times the sine of the angle to the sun -- if it's straight overhead, times 1.0). Even if your LEDs were 100% efficient, which they're not (for blue, probably a quantum efficiency in the 40%s) that'd still be 15% of the energy of sun shining directly overhead. In practice, factoring into account inefficiencies and light straying from where you intended to illuminate, you're probably getting under 5% of the light of the sun. Now, you get to pick your ideal frequencies, (the graph at the bottom is what you want to look at). But that isn't nearly enough of a boost to compensate for how little light you're putting out. If you want to drive growth, you don't need to double your light; you should at least 4x it. And be sure to minimize any stray light that you can :) Also, as the plants get bigger, penetration will become an issue. LEDs are effectively point light sources; there's nearly no penumbra. The more reflections you can get and the deeper the LEDs are into the canopy (and the more they move, if that's an option), the better your results will be. I'm about to try an experiment with dangling LED christmas lights through my planters to see how they like that.

Sorry Shirley, I saw that and then left if off. Annie Karen Michelle Margo Janine Dan Ellie Bunny Heather Kelli Vina Don Alana Susan Three outstanding. I think all but one have definitely been sent. I will check on the other in the morning. I may have missed an email. Good news on the stray cat front-the black and white cat has been rehomed, and just in time. Her new mom called me this evening and said Solar is making herself comfortable in a box under the stairs. That leaves little tail free Doc, whose tummy is now very round indeed, who needs a permanent home. It's been in the 80's for a few days and will be for a few more, then it looks like things will get really scary around Halloween. The F word has entered the forecast. I can only hope they are as accurate as usual. Alana

I've had no trouble with my Thermador 6 burner stove. It's 13 years old. We are now into the 2nd week of a major remodel of the kitchen knocking out the old mudroom laundry room to make a bigger kitchen. I will keep the Thermador. I am looking at an ASKO Dishwasher. I had nixed the Miele because I want to throw silverware into the DW. But if Gary is right, then I could reconsider the Miele. It looked like the ASKO has the silverware tray on top too but without the annoying slotted utensil tray. (The difference seems to be the difference between Rome's airport and Frankfort). I want an all refrigerator column so I am looking at the Thermador. I have a full freezer in our shed 10 feet away from the kitchen . (We are cattle ranchers). So all I need inside is an ice cube maker for my smoothies. But maybe a small freezer drawer for frozen fruit for said smoothies, a couple frozen pizzas, and of course the Ketel One Vodka. (No more kids at home). Could put the 18" Thermador freezer someplace though. Other columns are Lebherr, Viking. So advice on columns? And what about beverage centers? I looked at Marvel and Viking. Yikes. My biggest problem is a separate convection/microwave. Every 10 years, it seems, we are warned of the dangers of microwaves and cancer. Is a combo convection microwave good for making that extra dish for Thanksgiving and parties? Politically I'm trying to buy as much American and local as I can (local guy making our stainless steel sink), but the next best thing are European manufacturers who have union workers who make decent salaries, not slave labor. I have to decide by tomorrow and I'm still a tad confused.