Quotes can trip you up, but that's not at all what I said. What I actually said (in another thread) was, "BTW - Soil temperatures are determined by a LOT of variables. Growing in black cans in z9 is going to kill roots if you can't shade them - period." That's quite different than the misquote "..... all plants in zone 9 in black cans will die if not shaded". The thousands of plants in black cans are placed strategically in rows and packed tightly together so the top mass of the plants (foliage) shades the plants near it. Look closely next time you go to a nursery and see how the owner is very careful to arrange the plants so the cans are shaded. There is a chapter covering that and things like blow overs (because that exposes the entire can to a much larger sun load) in every nursery ops manual to help growers understand how to prevent $ losses due to high root temps. I then went on to offer further explanation about what drives root temperatures so other growers wouldn't be misled into thinking that the gritty mix was somehow the cause of high soil temps. It's not - it's actually a much cooler soil than darker soils and soils with inferior gas exchange. The rest of what I said: "What drives soil temperatures is sun load on the container, area of container surface exposed to direct sun, the container's color/light transmittance (degree of opacity/translucence), the color of the soil at the surface (dark soils absorb more heat than light soils), and how well the soil exchanges gases. The two characteristic of the soil that actually matter most are soil color and rate of gas exchange. The lighter the soil, the less heat it absorbs at its surface. The greater its gas exchange, the greater the effect of evaporative cooling. The gritty mix is lighter in color than most other soils and has better gas exchange than anything you've grown in, so with all other things being equal, there isn't anything you're apt to grow in that wouldn't find you dealing with much warmer soil temps than the gritty mix. It runs 10-15* cooler on hot days than even the 5:1:1 mix, which is another well aerated soil." If you can't shade black nursery cans in zone 9, and they get a full sun load, you can expect root death on the exposed side of the containers - mainly the south and west side. That doesn't necessarily mean the death of the entire organism, but it certainly isn't good for the plant's vitality. We talk about that with great regularity on this forum and on many others as well. As I read through this thread and looked over the poor reviews you give the gritty mix and the problems you reported starting in June of last year, and as long as we're doing research into past posts to check what the other said, I sort of remembered you giving the gritty mix glowing reviews last summer, on this forum, even. Does this sound familiar to you? •Posted by powderpuff 10 (My Page) on Mon, Jul 22, 13 at 18:08 "mrbutcher... Your tomato plants look great! I am in shock over that video and must show it to my husband!!! I found the products, including Pine Bark Fines. However, the bark inside the bags was wet so we had to spread a tarp and let it dry. Then sift it once to get the small pieces, then again to eliminate the dust and tiny particles. Then sift the grit and turface. Turface and grit are heavy, so he has to help me. It takes a lot to fill 5-7 gallon pots. If I even mention gritty mix he glares at me since he's the one that has to load and unload 50# bags of grit and Turface and move the pots. I love the mix [my emphasis] but in pots over 5 gallons it's just too heavy to be practical unless you are very young and/or a body builder and he is neither. Maybe if I show him what you did to get the mulch, he won't gripe so much. lol! I have potted over 100, most in 3-7 gallon pots and I'm out of the mix and some need re-potted. When I mentioned that 4-5 needed to go into 10-15 gallon pots he said don't even think about using that mix for those. The next day he came home with a yard of potting soil and put it in a big pile in a corner of the yard..... sigh. He said you want those in 10-15 gallon pots, there is your soil. :(" color> Quote ends ****************************************************************** By this report, it really looks like at the end of last July you were quite happy with the mix, but your helper balked at the effort it takes to make it, and you couldn't do it yourself, or wouldn't. I understand that completely. For some, the effort it takes to make it just isn't worth it, but that doesn't make it a bad or unproductive soil. Just sayin' ..... Al

Only the high high end faucets don't use plastic. I have 3 Hansgrohes, all stainless, and there is plastic in them under the stainless. Solid brass faucets are still made by English firms. Barber Wilsons is tops. Samuel Heath is tops. Those are English style and modern and you might look on their websites. Dornbracht is a modern line of solid brass faucets. Rohl has many solid brass faucets -- check carefully. Waterworks should be all brass -- check. The rule of thumb is the heavier the faucet the better (because brass is heavy). Moen is a very reliable, good brand but any brand that is inexpensive has plastic. Kohler should be checked. It's also an excellent, reliable brand as is their higher end Kallista line. There's nothing wrong with any of the brands mentioned above and nothing wrong with plastic in the faucets unless you don't want it and are willing to spend the money not to have it. Which means you are basically in the $600-800 range for a sink faucet and in the high end range for shower components as well.

Wow, what a lot of really great ideas for me . . .and for all of us here. Thank you!!! I'm following a lot of it and have lost 12 pounds so far. Mainly by cutting out most carbs and white sugar,and as Kelly suggested, doing interval training. I'm also keeping bags of fresh, pre washed baby carrots, baby bell peppers and green beans to munch on when I get hungry. Last night we grilled out burgers and I had mine without the bun. It's getting easier to eat like this and I'm finding the cravings for sweets and cheese are becoming less with each day . . . thankfully! As I mentioned in an earlier post here, I wasn't vastly overweight, just at the tops of what my weight should be for my height and age. Now I'm 12 pounds lighter and my clothes fit so much better! I'd still like to drop another 8 pounds. We fly out this Thursday morning to Palm Beach and then on to the Tampa area 4 days later. I've already eaten dinner and lunches out several times since I started this weight loss drive and have found it pretty easy to eat out healthfully . . . as long as it's in a regular and not a fast food restaurant. Salads with grilled meats, nuts, etc. are my go-to's, with a lite salad dressing on the side; hold the croutons and bread sides (LOL). But, as always, I have to be so careful that "lite" doesn't contain any artificial sweeteners, as I'm extremely allergic to them, especially aspertame/aspartame. So many thanks for all the great, helpful ideas. I'll continue to read them, although I'm not sure if I'm taking my laptop with me to Florida yet. Lynn

I’ve used Gorham Melonbud 18/10 flatware for the last 26 years. It has left TONS of gray marks on our 1) expensive Mikasa stoneware, 2) Target Threshold porcelain, and now 3) Mikasa bone china. The only surface this 18/10 flatware hasn’t destroyed is a newer set of 4 Target Threshold porcelain salad plates that I bought to replace some of the original set that broke. Got others in that style thinking I’d found the perfect match … nope, only those 4 can defend against the Melonbud. I’m giving up. It must be the flatware but that goes against everything out there that says 18/10 is the “hardest” and shouldn’t leave marks. Might switch to plastic, lol. ;0)