What specific product did you use? I used the Weed-b-gon MAX stuff and it did not touch the crabgrass. Assuming I have not sold my home by next spring (possible job relo), I will hit the lawn with pre-emerg twice, with about a month between each dose. Now that I have almost 100% eradicated my lawn of any visible weed, I am contemplating using a dose of weed/crabgrass killer to knock back any small seedlings that may try and pop-up over the next few weeks.

I'm going to try an experiment. Since I have the grow light mentioned in my post about the Acer nigrum, I took a half dozen of the sprouting acorns and put them in a small bowl with a moist paper towel. In a few days when the radicles truly emerge I'll stick them under the light in pots. I already have some Q. michauxii there, too that are growing a bit. The rest I'll leave in the fridge until sometime in March when I can probably get away with planting outdoors. I'm curious to see how the near-freezing temps hinder root growth. Although roots can/do (obviously) grow to some degree as long as it's not freezing, part of me thinks that even 6 weeks from now, the ones that stay in the fridge won't grow more than in inch or two in length, max during that time. Short enough that I can still work with them to safely plant at that time. I have the room to play around, I have 30+ acorns and nowhere near enough room for that many trees.

Awww so beautiful ~ how very lucky you lexilu & catherinet to have spotted & photographed these treasures!!! I've only been fortunate to photograph close enough Cassanovas & Ms Speedy Gonzales but have never have seen a nest of eggs nor fledgeling jewels. Blest I thought I was, at the time to have observed an Ms Speedy tending to a very ill Cassanova (I thought was an infant) ~ at least I got to see how a lady RTH is truly caring & mothering even to another adult! Could he have been her mate, could I have been of more help ~ she didn't mind my helping out a bit?!!! (I posted in another thread) Again thank you for your pics ~ I hope you won't mind my sharing them!!!

Otis... Hey buddy, revived this thread did you? I've been meaning to eventually update with my current thoughts based upon more recent observations/experiences but somehow I can't quite seem to find the time with all the different things I have going now that its summer (well, almost summer). However your posting causes me to pause and make some time (a good thing)... not for the all the things I want to write about but rather just long enough to answer your posting. Hope things have been okay with you (and the worms). The Koi are doing excellent... probably the easiest transition from winter to spring ever. I'm in Michigan and our winter this year was amazingly mild, so I was able to start the pond pumps (and filters) two months earlier than I normally do. I think this made the difference, really. Did you bother to powder up those pellets? I don't know if that helps or not, it just happens to be the only way I've done it. Fishy smell? I guess everywhere must be different as they must formulate the mash with whatever's economically available in the locality or region. Do you live near the water? I assume they start with a target nutritional profile and a target price point to meet and then begin searching for bulk source ingredients to create their mash. I don't do it anymore but for a while I was adding fish emulsion (sold as plant fertilizer) to the worm food and I guess the worms loved it but it was stinky to mess with and probably not as economical as applying it directly to the plants. Originally my thoughts were to have it pass through the worms first and let them take whatever nutrition they need and what comes out the other end would be very slow release but I got to thinking about it and fish emulsion is slow releasing to being with as it requires soil microbes to break it down before the plants can utilize it so I guess feeding to the worms first just made it sort of redundant. So how do your worms like it? Have you been feeding it long enough to notice any differences in the worms? Hopefully you'll notice a positive effect on their castings when you harvest it and your plants then use it. I harvested the bins before splitting them so they weren't full... before harvesting I would say better than 3/4 full (about 12" perhaps). The population of worms (of all sizes, in all stages) was prodigious in relation to what I started with and I easily have enough to justify the splitting. Was it the nutrition of the feed or something else? I don't not know... but I suspect the high calorie content plus high-protein had something to do with it. Since I have each pair of bins is two locations, I've been quite surprised as to just how much activity levels are affected by the internal bin temperatures. The basement bins could already be harvested now while the bins in the garage really need another month or perhaps longer. Though I've had few occasions to pick-up a fully loaded bin... yes, it is quite heavy, especially with all the moisture the castings do hold. The bins haven't cracked nor do I actually expect them to. They are not exposed to UV (as in sunlight) and since they are made from HDPE, they will not contain plasticizers that can migrate out over time. (In case you're wondering, I've taught properties of polymer materials for over 30 years now, among other aspects of plastics processing... that's how I know this stuff about various plastics families, formulation additives and the associated properties.) I've recently ordered 2 pounds of African nightcrawlers (apparently there is a backlog as I've been waiting 2 weeks now and they still haven't shipped yet) so soon I will be preparing yet another bin... perhaps I should take a picture of exactly how I prepare the bins with the holes. A picture really is worth a thousand words in my case as I tend to be quite verbose in my explanations. The hole was make with 1" drill bit though I do have hole bits up to 4" laying around here. The size of the hole is not really important because of the way I construct my bins. In a few days, I will prepare a new bin and post a pic or two to show how I construct my bins and you will quickly understand why I'm saying the actual hole size doesn't really affect the structural integrity of the bin. How wet? I've not seen any leachate coming out since back in early January, shortly after I started this thread so... moisture moves down through castings, meaning the closer you get to the bottom the wetter the castings. When I screened the VC I didn't have any issues with clumps holding together... the castings easily separated once on the screen. I think if I'd tried to harvest too soon (meaning a smaller percentage of the VC was actual castings) then I suspect the clumps would have presented more of an issue. Interestingly, I have one 6 gallon bucket sitting in the garage right now that is still moist even though I've not added any moisture to it... vermicompost has just amazing water holding capacity... that is one major observation of mine that has really surprised me. I'm thinking it is a large part of the secret of why adding VC to the garden or potting soil seems to make such a huge difference in the plants grown in it. Okay Otis, that's it for now but I will be back.