Ah, I missed the point. A clarification: 'stay' on top of the soil, in that (using my example) those nutrients are not 'leaving on the truck' like they would with a cash crop. No, they'll stay right there, on the lawn. While staying right there, they're susceptible to washing away, or leaching, or just staying there. But the point is, what you don't need at that point is to be adding more. While it's not true that every speck of excess (more than the lawn crop will use) phosphorus will wash away (or leach), it is true that the creation of the excess is what allows, even causes, the problem. So we don't need to be adding more phosphorus. There's enough there, right now, on that lawn.

This was my first year winter sowing. I love it. Planting when there is snow on the ground gave me such a happy feeling of hope for spring instead of dread at how long winter would last. I am disappointed that the black eyed susan's didn't germinate but I have some from plants I dug up from an abandoned garden last summer. My grandson accidently kicked over the container that had my Marguerite daisies and I have no germination of them. Not many columbines but a few....that's good. And my pratense geraniums didn't germinate. But oh my goodness I have hundreds of snapdragons, agastache, foxgloves (dwarf red and foxy) alyssums, and tons more. I can't name them all. I lost the names of three jugs but as they have germinated I have figured them out (thanks for the help with that). I am having trouble finding the time to plant things out but I'm in Maine and I still have cool spring weather to deal with so all will be fine there. My husband works as the head mechanic in a garage so I was able to get as many windshield washer jugs as I could ever want which were really great as I didn't have many milk jugs. I learned that it is not necessary (and somewhat foolish) to plant every seed in every package about halfway through planting. Last weekend I was able to take seedlings to my daughters in NH and CT which made them both happy and made me glad I had so many to share. This has been a wonderful and happy experience for me and I intend to continue for as long as I garden. Thank you, Trudi and all of you for sharing all of your knowledge and experience. And yes....I am still planting seeds. Tomorrow I am going to plant pink for get me nots that I found at wally world. ;*) Bonny

ÂIs it true that winter rye cleans the soil of destructive nematodes, or adds beneficial nematodes, can't remember which.....? **** No, not true. Ebon rye has been suggested as a cover crop that might help lower the population of pathogenic nematodes. But I have many friends, especially in CA, who have bad Root Knot Nematode problems and several in the past have done controlled experiments with Ebon rye and found little to no difference. No, it doesn't encourage beneficial nematodes. Ppod, you don't have RKN problems where you live and you know I know where you live. LOL About TMV. As Dave said the strains of tobacco grown in the US , and that's at least for the past 20 years or so, are TMV tolerant. But Turkish tobacco is not TMV tolerant. Sudzy, in any case TMV is transmitted, or was, primarily by insects and these days any transmission is manual and occurs in large commercial greenhouses. But growing in one spot every year is not going to predispose plants to TMV b'c it's not out there to worry about any more. CMV is and many folks confuse TMV with CMV b'c the two viruses can exhibit similar symptoms. Growing in one spot can predispose to a build up of foliage pathogens, but I spoke to that in a post above in this thread. Carolyn

Probably not. Theories abound and opinions are even more plentiful. Some relevant results from studies; 1. Root growth is most abundant when soil temperatures are between 50 and 65F. 2. As temperatures drop and the sun's angle is lower into the sky and the days get shorter, turf uses less and less nitrogen. Something like less than 10% of the soil available N gets used (of course, once ground is frozen zilch will be taken up). The prevailing theory is that this is due to ever decreasing evapotranspiration rates. Consequently, the new recommendation is to apply a slow release fertilizer in early Fall to match this diminishing use rate. (There is a UofWisconin study you could google for specifics) 3. Winterizer/late season fertilization (LSF) has not resulted in any significant increase in root mass, negligible or none. 4. Winterizer/late season fertilization (LSF) has not resulted in increased presence of plant carbohydrates (carb storage), in fact, there is a drop in carb levels after winterization. 5. Winterized turf does consistently green up sooner in the Spring and does exhibit higher plant carb levels in Spring than non-winterized turf. 6. LSF (and early Spring N applications) have both resulted in a slightly higher incidence of snow mold (or Spring/Summer disease for the early Spring app). I believe that rate is about 10-20%. It doesn't mean that it will occur, just that there is an increased chance and not making the application does not guarantee that snow mold or disease will not occur. Draw your own conclusions. My personal experience is that I have seen a significant improvement in Spring turf quality with winterizer than without, and I have never had snow mold issues at this home. At my old home, I had snow mold the one year that I left my turf very long going into winter (and no winterizer was applied). But that is only my experience in my specific climate, turf and soil.