The mother pineapple can actually send up a second fruit from... somewhere. It's referred to as a rattoon fruit. I think, so it's not like they die IMMEDIATELY after fruiting. If the fruit you get from a pineapple is small -- like, baseball-sized instead of commercially-grown-pineapple sized -- it might mean the plant is too small when it flowers. I think three feet in diameter is probably the minimum size you can get normalish-sized fruit from, although I've heard some people say they need to be about five feet in diameter. Of course, there are also varieties of pineapple that just stay really tiny. Also if you don't want it to flower and die, you could probably just keep it indoors most of the year. That'll really stunt its growth and it'll take forever to do anything. Keeping it potbound might not work, though. Pineapples are pretty easy and I'm usually terrible with bromeliads. The only big issues are that they're sort of rot prone when not in active growth (they're technically succulents. The thing with epiphytic bromeliads where you fill the cup with water is not really a good idea with pineapples) and they need a lot of fertilizer when they ARE growing because they tend to develop some sort of mineral deficiencies. I think it's iron or something. Or at least mine do. It makes the new growth yellow and really narrow. You'll know it when you see it. Also they can get incredibly sharp.

Guthion is another one that will be sorely missed. Cherry growers really don't have much of a backup plan after it's phased out in the next few years. They have a zero tolerance threshold for cherry maggot (due to stringent requirements of exports, as I recall). None of the proposed replacements for Guthion work as effectively. Currently extension personnel are telling cherry growers to find solutions for maggot before Guthion is completely pulled, but are not really telling them how to do it. Growers are essentially left to themselves to try to figure out some spray program that will work with the current insecticides available. Not to be misunderstood, I think the EPA on the whole has done a good job removing older more dangerous chemistries and encouraging newer safer ones. Although I'm not in complete support for the ban on Guthion and Methyl Bromide (given the increased restrictions for its use i.e. increased buffer zones, monitoring of drift, notification of neighbors, etc) what I'm mostly opposed to is the knee-jerk reactions which seem to be taking place with neonicotinoids and the current bee crisis. As far as competitiveness of U.S. ag, the U.S. farmer has been able to compete w/ countries where labor is very cheap. Traditionally this has been done through automation. A combine running through a field at 10 acres/hr. can compete with a Chinaman harvesting the same field, no matter how little he's paid. Some of our crops are still labor intensive (I'm thinking of fruits here) but that is changing. Thinning and harvesting are in the early stages of becoming fully automated. When that happens, cost of labor will no longer be a factor, as is the case currently with field crops. I do think environmental regulation may tip the scale. Not that I'm against regulation, just that we need to recognize there is a fine balance between adequately protecting the environment and rendering our food growing sector non-competitive. Perhaps that sounds like a severe statement, but the uncomfortable truth is that huge yield increases (and thereby the abundant cheap food) we've enjoyed over the last 50 years are largely the result of synthetic fertilizer and effective pesticides. I'm not trying to start an organic vs. conventional debate, just explaining my rationale for claiming environmental regulation can have a pretty big impact. It would be unfortunate if regulation got so aggressive as to take us back to years where pests took a significant percentage of the crop.

Ok, all but eight fish perished. I've emptied and cleaned the pond. Fresh dechlorinated water. Added a much larger pump. I want to look into the possibillity of a better filter system as well. Mine is the slightly bigger than a shoebox HomeDepot bio system with dual mesh materials and bio balls. No uv. Suggestions of an affordable system will be appreciated. Remember, i'm a hobbiest, not a commercial grower. :) Moved the pond to where no roof rain spill off will affect it. I'm treating what I believe is SAP fungus on a few of the remaining fish. This will take a few days to a week if I understand correctly. The fungus supposedly thrives in cooler temps. My weather has been that unfortunately. Purchased the 'master water testing kit'. Tested three times this weekend. In the newly setup tub, most everything reads ok. Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, everything except the Ph. It was on the high end of alkalinity. Might be the added salt? Anyways, I added 'Ph down' and by the third test, it had been reduced somewhat. I'll keep my eye on it, and continue testing. I won't add more fish until I either get a better handle on all of this or a larger tub. I thank who ever turned me onto Koiphen. Very informative. I believe i'm on the right track. Continued suggestions are more than welcome.

Faded blossoms? My mother's peonies never had faded blossoms, and she had numerous ones around her yard in 3 or 4 colors. We picked them, shook out the ants, and filled the large vases with the most beautiful bouquets. The leaves need to remain till they start to fade into brown so the energy is restored in the root system for next year's flowers.