My sense is that washing the eggs will not make them less resistant to bacteria, although we'll never know for sure until we get that $5 million federal grant to study the issue. People tell you to not wash eggs before you incubate them, but in that case you're scrubbing eggs and forcing contaminants into the pores of the shell. This could be avoided for eggs slated for the table, because you can bubble them clean in warm water using an organic detergent. Then, finish them with a diluted coating of clear oil -- mineral, grape seed, whatever. This will give you a nice, clean, shiny egg. I've often thought I would start an egg company with different colored organic eggs ranging from green and blue (Araucana), chocolate (Marins), white (Anconas), and brown. The egg carton would be a collection of colors, and I was going to call the company 'Ova the Rainbow.' They say that genius is unleashed by bourbon.

buyorsell - are you saying gambusia CAN"T eat the frog eggs? Nature may suddenly be taking care of my need to find new homes for my goldfish because for the first time yesterday morning I found pieces of a goldfish lying in the weeds beside my pond. I guess it must be a predator bird because a raccoon would probably would have just gulped down the whole thing. ? Obviously something got scared away before it finished its fish breakfast. I have a tightly fenced pond area and I KNOW there never have been any bullfrogs in it, or pesticides, and I still lost all the tree frogs that were here. Guess it must have been the goldfish eating the eggs after all. The tree farmer on the north side of me rides around with his tank of poison and sprays all of his land, including beside the creek. He doesn't believe in leaving anything for natural critters, just has row after row of holiday trees growing on bare dirt. Possibly the disappearance of frogs in the creek is because of his ignorance, and many other people using chemicals too near the water too. Seen the pesticide/herbicide aisles in the big box stores lately? Makes me sick. i think nancym may be cleaning her pond yearly because she has koi and for both reasons it isn't a natural pond.

Sammie, You should be so proud of yourself. What an accomplishment for a college student! I am also a big fan of natives. My husband and I recently moved to the southern mountains in NC from suburban Chicago and couldn't be happier. We have quite a few native woodland plants and shrubs/trees. My project over the next few years is to educate myself on native savannah plants that would be appropriate for an easement on our property and work them into that area. Keep up the good work and keep educating people on the benefits of natives! You might want to either repost or direct the folks on the native board to your post here. John Blakeman has answered many many posts on the native board. I personally have learned a lot from his posts. Of course now, I have to relearn a lot as we went from the prairie of Illinois to the moutains of NC. Jeanne

I ordered 2 batches of 12 and got 29 cuttings! Not a bad deal at all. I did the first batch, from Aloha tropicals with eggs. The first batch from Derrick with no eggs. This last batch(from Derrick) did rootone, miracle grow organic 1:1 perlite and watered w/ dynapro. They are now on the side porch where they get no rain but afternoon sun. So far all of the ones from Aloha and the first batch from Derrick are doing great, no real difference, about the same number have claws, the same number leaves are already growing. Our humidity was lower for a couple of days, nights only in upper 70`s/low 80s and mid-80`s days. Back to hot and humid now though. Tally HO!