I dug up 'hardy pampas' last fall- dug out every root I could get- some had gone under the foundation! and left the bare hole and any unseen roots to the -20 weather over the winter. It was an eyesore when the plant was there-is an eyesore with it gone but it is gone!I need to put a nice grass in there soon. Karen

I think that IPM man is trying to make a point, egrety, that the term 'organic' can be a difficult one to nail down. It truly means so many different things to different people. In the true chemical sense, the term 'organic' refers to substances with carbon atoms as part of their structure. Others use the term to indicate substances that are natural (not made-made). To some, the word means something that was once living. Lots of folks use it to indicate (so called) non-chemical pesticides, (so called) safe pesticides, etc. What do YOU mean when you use the word "organic'? Regarding the pruning question...luckily, boxwood is one of the many plants that respond very well to hard pruning, and can even be cut all the way to the ground in one fell swoop in what is called 'rejuvenation pruning'. Rejuvenation pruning is often more desirable than shearing or stubbing, which may result in deformed shrubs. Whether or not you want to take on the task is a matter of personal choice. Shrubs that have been cut all of the way back usually grow back robustly and evenly, often being far more attractive than ever. However, it may take awhile, depending on how tall you wish your plants to be. And plants aren't going to grow as rapidly in Woodbridge as they might in a warmer climate. And then there's the very real possibility (a likelihood) that the leaf miners will return again to wreak havoc on your recovering boxwood. It is very difficult to control a pest when you are providing them with THE plant they prefer above all others. Please do some research about the efficacy of neem oil. You'll learn that not only does it provide a barrier that may repel the adults from laying eggs and even reduce their life span and egg laying ability, but it also affects the life cycle of the larvae. It is considered an IGR (insect growth regulator) for those pests that feed on neem treated plant tissues. But be mindful of the fact that even a plant based, organic product such as neem still needs to be used with care. (This is true for anything you might use!) When used properly and according to label directions, it is safe and highly effective for the control of a wide variety of plant feeding pests...without providing a significant problem for beneficials. It also has some excellent disease fighting qualities, too.

Going at it chemically, the objective would be to hit it at the time it is storing up energy for winter. This way while it's building starches in the roots for it's next years growth, it mixes in your chemical control and dies instead. Different species of thistles do this at different times of year. Bull thistle is most vulnerable in late fall, Canada Thistles are vulnerable in late spring and early fall. Going at it without chemicals, chopping the plant down before it can get too big consistently forces it to use up it's stored food to try building new leaves. If you take those leaves away before it can actually get a return on investment it eventually starves to death. Oddly, letting it get a little size on it before cutting it down is to your favor. If it loses it's first growth when it's still small, it's only made a small investment. If you chop it when it's four to six inches, that's when it's really invested in the success of those leaves. A slightly more labor intensive option is uprooting. In bull thistles this is a good chance at a kill in one swing, because their taproot is long, but it only has one. Canada Thistle is harder to take on this way, it's root system creeps overground and spreads underground. Trying to rip it up turns one large plant into several small ones. If you're vigilant about cutting back the top growth, this can still work to your benefit, some of the roots won't recover from the trauma. Others will and will send up new shoots, which you can then cut down. If you forget your rounds for a few weeks though, you can end up with several strong plants instead of just one.

Hi zep516, How did you know beanwabr was infected with Palladium Pro? I could not find out any info about this from beanwabr. You said my link leaded to a possible infected web site? I can tell you that this site (teesupport.com) is safe. I know this because this site keeps posting blogs (http://blog.teesupport.com/) for virus removal and legit applications uninstall instructions each day. Teesupport starts its blogs for over one year and some of blogs are even listed on the top search on Google. I do not think Google will allow sites that will damage your computer to exist for such a long time. I have also tested this site using online anti-virus scanners from various security vendors and all test show that it is a safe site. What is more, as far as I know, TeeSupport is an online company to provide remote tech support and they receive payment via PayPal or Safe Cart. Will a virus maker dare to receive payment via PayPal or Safe Cart? Talking about spam..There is a very interesting thing. See two latest posts from two different sites here: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-master-utilities http://www.citruscomputers.com/2011/09/01/remove-master-utilities-uninstall-guide/ "Your computer should now be free of the Master Utilities program. If your current anti-virus solution let this infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future." -- This is the bleeping computer site that you won't doubt. I know bleeping computer site very well and I like it so much as you guys and I just want to list an example here to support my opinion. So far, I don't think there is any pure site without promoting anything. My principal is to choose info that I need and ignore the unwanted info on the internet. If a site does not force you to buy anything in an illegal way like rogue software and it can provide you some useful info, then that is not a bad site. By the way, I admit that sometimes I will buy things from the internet because of those sites' promotion but I don't think it is bad because they provide useful things to me and I think they deserve my payment for hard work of making such useful things. Enjoy the internet! Regards, Alan_hoicns