I was wondering about the TP rolls, too! Oh yes, there's thousands shells all over the house. For years we went to Holden Beach, NC for Christmas. When you're the only people on a barrier island, the shells are ABUNDANT! There are still shells from NC that are packed in boxes in my shed. Tons of big cockles, olive, clams, scallops, venus clams, baby ears, kittens' paw, jingle shells, turrets and augers, so pretty! Also have shells from vacations in Norfolk VA, and Hilton Head SC. At HH, I found a lot of sand dollars caught in the tide pools. Then there are the FL shells, oh my. Every piece of clear glass I can find is filled with them, and we've found a TON of great ones on Cape San Blas, just SE of Panama City. We like to camp at the state park there and took a golf cart once and made it 7 miles down a sand path to the end of the island. Wow there were shells in the bay! You're right about throwing the live ones back in, most of the really pretty shells in FL have marine hermit crabs in them (which are not the kind kept as pets, marine crabs need an established salt aquarium.) We found a ton of purple urchins, horseshoe crab shells, big scallops with pink and purple stripes, and others whose names escape me at the moment, pounds of them. My favorite are the tiny coquina shells though. After many years of picking them up, I still have only a small jar full but we add more often, it's only 90 minutes to the beach from here. An especially good haul from a camping trip last spring:

@Mike.. Well you can't legally spray for earthworms in the U.S. and they are good for the soil. However, as you may know, if you have alot of them, they leave piles of worm castings on the turf surfarce which when run over by mowing equipment leave lots of "soil patches" all over the place. Common pesticides like Sevin for surface feeders, or Merit and Bandit for subsurface feeders seem to reduce their numbers though. I had to look up the chemical compound you referenced, which turns out to be Primo Maxx. I don't use plant growth regulators, because I like mowing. However the golf course uses the stuff under about ten different names frequently in an attempt to not have to mow constantly. From what I understand, there are some downfalls to it's use if you are not using other chemicals to combat Primos' shortfalls. The turf color fades greatly when PGR's are used regularly and must be constantly offset with 15-0-0 chelated Iron. Also, summer stress is greatly increased with PGR use. Are you looking to reduce mowing intervals, or to suppress existing growth so you can overseed?

Posted by SaveH2O (My Page) on Thu, Jun 6, 13 at 14:28 pb, Lehua actually hit a couple of good points. "frequency" and "duration" are on a much longer scale than minutes and days... the Rain Bird smart controller actually waters deeply and less frequently, the "cycle & soak" feature you mention only splits the irrigation cycle into chunks to ensure that on the day the controller is supposed to water all of the water actually reaches the roots and doesn't run off. I am still trying to figure the 'cycle & soak' options out a bit. So while I have not investigated what type of soil I have (looks like sticky reddish clay from visual inspection) - the C&S setting seems pretty straight forward. Unfortunately, it seems to split the watering for each zone over several days and so many minutes. It seems counter intuitive to the age old adage of deep/infrequent to attain root growth & minimize weeds. Many professional irrigation contractors without the use of a smart controller emulate this by using multiple start times on a controller hence using the watering day more efficiently. Once the desired amount of water is applied (five times in a day for clay and maybe once for sand) the smart controller will wait until the soil has been depleted to a certain extent before applying any more water. I understand what you are trying to say & it appears to alleviate some of my watering frequency fears, I may actually have to get a soil test to properly input the necessary control parameters. So the irrigation frequency is really the time between watering days and not the time between "starts" on any given day. The great benefit of a smart controller like the Rain Bird is that it will vary both run time (on a watering day) and frequency (based on weather) additionally, the Rain Bird controller measures rain whereas other sensors simply shut off and not calculate how much of that rain was usable to your landscape.. I've noticed that my clay inputs, root depth & coverage setting for grass, shrubs, trees, or plants using the sprays & rotors have yield different watering times but not frequency. ie. times can be go up or down because of type of foliage, root depth & slope assumptions but I cant for the life of me tell how the RB accounts for frequency except that it doesn't water after rainy days. I would heavily discourage you from switching to timed option. The controller is actually watering "Deep and Infrequent" the multiple starts in the day should not be considered as part of the frequency they are just preventing you from wasting water due to run-off. Thank you very much for your insightful feedback. I am really trying make sure that I am using water only when needed to maintain a healthy & vibrant lawn. The RB is my first sprinkler controller & one that is very powerful from what I can see to help me in that purpose. But the lack of information from the RB, the irrigation installer & the landscaper that laid the sod down has gotten me a bit frustrated & I appreciate any & all feedback!

Imagine a conversation the Creator might have had with St. Francis on the subject of lawns: God: "Frank, you know all about gardens and nature, what in the world is going on down there in the U.S.? What happened to all the dandelions, violets, thistles and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect, no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees, and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles." St. Francis: "It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers weeds and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass." God: "Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds, and bees, only grubs and sod worms, it's temperamental with temperatures. Do these suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?" St. Francis: "Apparently so Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn. " God: "The spring rains and warm weather probably make the grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy." St. Francis: "Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little they cut it, sometimes twice a week." God: "They cut it? Do they bale it like hay?" St. Francis: "Not exactly Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags." God: "They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?" St. Francis: "No sir. Just the opposite. They pay to throw it away." God: "Now let me get this straight. They fertilize the grass so it will grow, and when it does grow, they cut it off and then pay to throw it away???" St. Francis: "Yes sir. God: "These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work!" St. Francis: "You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it." God: "What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life." St. Francis: "You had better sit down Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away." God: "No way! What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist and loose? St. Francis: "After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in the place of leaves." God: "And where do they get this mulch?" St. Francis: "They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch." God: "Enough. I don't want to think about this anymore...St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts, what movie have you scheduled for us tonight?" St. Catherine: "Dumb and Dumber, Lord. It's a real stupid movie about..." God: "Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis."