I believe those pictures reflect cutting the tuber off both to save space and avoid a lazy tuber the next spring when they're planted. With long, or plump tubers they will sometimes take their sweet time kicking out a plant. That can be avoided by giving the dahlia less tuber to nourish itself and prompt it to put out foliage and roots to get its nutrients. Something to that effect. Bernie might give you his answer as I think you refer to his photos.

You are right. If any body is trying to isolate a fig tree from FMV, he is losing his time. In any case, it is a minor disease, with good care the symptoms don't appear. FMV is a recurrent subject in this forum, if anybody wants more information about it, the best is to do a searching with the keyword "FMV".

Coal and Natural Gas are frequently the most cost effective traditional energy sources but both have environmental and economic considerations which limit their availability to millions of Americans for use in residential heating. Costs of energy vary widely by region based upon infrastructure and distribution costs. What makes sense in one area of the country may not make sense in others. Even in Wisconsin, Natural Gas is not readily available to many residents who must rely on Electricity, Propane, Heating Oil, Coal, Wood, Wood Pellets, or even Corn based upon the value delivered. Corn has approximately 8000-8500 BTU/Lb of heat energy on a bone dry basis according to most objective information available on the subject. Approximately 90 BTU/LB of effective heat energy are lost for every 1% of moisture content contained in most solid biomass fuels according to most information available on the subject. Cleaner, dryer heating corn delivers more effective heat energy with better combustion efficiency just like comparing seasoned firewood to green firewood and improves performance of most major brands of stoves and furnaces. Premium heating corn with a moisture content of 11-12% offers 5-10% more heat value than standard USDA Grade #2 Yellow Corn with a moisture content of 15-16%. There are approximately 6800-7350 effective BTU of cleaner energy in every pound of corn based upon moisture content between 11-15% or about 396,000 BTU of energy in every 56 pound bushel of dry corn. Corn hybrid selection and consistent processing to optimize corn's value as a solid biomass heating fuel could offer improved BTU content and value to consumers. 1 Bushel (56 lbs) of Corn has an approximate energy equivalent to 30 LB of Anthracite Coal (13,000 BTU/LB) 4 THERM of Natural Gas (100,000 BTU/Therm) 3 GAL of Fuel Oil (140,000 BTU/Gal) 3 GAL of Kerosene (125,000 BTU/GAL) 4 GAL of Propane (91,000 BTU/GAL) 115 KWH of Electricity (3412 BTU/KWH) Energy efficiencies of various heating appliances must also be factored in to accurately determine potential cost savings. Improving appliance heat transfer efficiencies by just 5-10% can dramatically improve energy value of all fuels. We've have seen these heat transfer efficiency improvements occur in traditional HVAC equipment beginning in the 1980's and have room for continued improvement in pellet and corn stove/furnace heat transfer efficiencies. In general consumers can be expected to save 20-50% using renewable solid biomass fuels such as corn or wood pellets based on typical retail prices for these fuels compared to current average retail prices reported by the Energy Information Administration for Electric Resistance, Propane, Heating Oil, or Kerosene. Environmental considerations are actually much better for renewable solid biomass fuels such as corn and wood pellets which have nearly a zero net effect on greenhouse gas emissions. In this era of high and extremely volatile energy costs controlled by a few large international energy corporations and influenced by the whims of unstable governments in much of the world at the expense of average American consumers, Corn and other renewable solid biomass fuels offer better value to many Americans and hope for a cleaner environment if used wisely. They are being used more widely throughout Europe and Canada to replace dependence on more volatile oil and natural gas and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Economics 101 teaches that people will find alternate materials and methods to meet wants and needs when prices for existing options become too high. Electricity, Oil, Propane, Kerosene, and even Natural Gas Prices have become too high and seem likely to remain so with environmental costs becoming of increasing concern. Let the free market work its magic in allocating these increasingly scarce resources. If it makes sense for you use it. If it does not make sense for you don't. By the way with I find it interesting that with Natural Gas Market Prices less than 1/2 what they were last year, consumers are not seeing their residential heating costs reflecting these lower costs.

Hi, Errang_gw. I suppose we could remove the faucet, but otherwise there's no way to peek inside the wall. Is that normal for a tub to be buried into the wall that much? When you look at the actual wall on the side of the tub, it's perfectly flush all around. There's bullnose tile that stops after the tub. We do have an old-fashioned hamper that's recessed into the wall a few inches, so I suppose there is space on that wall. You can see it in the photo below. (Shower curtain is covering most of the tub here, but it's the same shot of the tub section in the above photos I posted where you see the bodywash bottle.) Regardless, though, our best option would still be to get a 60 inch tub as opposed to something bigger? And it would be best to get one without an apron so we can tile the side, and if we have to have a sliver of tile to cover some of the gap, that would look more seamless? Thanks