Somehow I must have gotten busy last year after gatorengineer posted his final messages. Would like to know how it looks after a year and what he's done about the use of -icides. It was interesting rereading how his adamant opinion about the importance of fungicides subsided only slightly to skepticism about organics and then moved to complete acceptance and enthusiasm about it. I'm curious to know what he now thinks of Linda Chalker-Scott and her academic criticism versus his achievements with his lawn. I have done a lot more reading and helped a lot more people over the year, too. I am willing to admit that there are a few issues which are not well addressed by an organic approach, but the general use of organics will alleviate so much of that pressure. As gatorengineer said, it is cheaper and easier. So gatorengineer totally, and successfully hijacked this thread once, now comes Chrissomebody to do it again. I'll go if you want. The topic remains a discussion about using fungicide which turned into another successful organic approach. In all that discussion we never got around to dicusssing how the corn meal works. It works by attracting a predatory fungus called trichoderma (try kuh DER muh). The normally small soil population of trichoderma builds up on the fungus which decomposes the corn meal. Once that original fungus is gone, the trichoderma takes on other fungal species it can find. Since the fungal disease is right there at the surface, it becomes the target. The process takes about 3 weeks to see results. Having said that, since you have already applied a fungicide, you have likely killed off the normally low population of trichoderma. I would watch the grass very carefully for any sign that the fungicide is not working. It should work instantly to stop the spread of the disease. You might need to put out markers in the lawn to show the very edge of the problem area. Watch them daily to see of the grass is improving or getting better or worse. You might take pictures for reference. You'll see spots on the grass bladed indicating the presence of the fungus. Normal St Augustine has no spots at all, anywhere. Here is a picture of healthy St Aug. If you find that the disease has not stopped, then immediately apply excellent, finished compost at a rate of no more than 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet to restore a healthy colony of all the beneficial microbes you need. If you get your compost in bags, allow it a few days to air out. Just dump it on bare soil somewhere and let it sit. Compost in bags gets smelly mold in it. Resting will allow that smelly mold to be consumed by the beneficial fungi in the compost. Water the compost down and let it sit on the lawn for a few days. The microbes from the compost will wash into the soil. Then apply the corn meal at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Water only enough to wash the corn meal off the blades and down onto the soil.

I have to come clean...my first reaction was "good for that bear!" Then I realized that I don't REALLY want to see people get gored, chewed or clawed by anything, even though it may be a case like this where the person was the one dealing out the initial injury. But what do you expect any animal to do when you are attempting to kill it?? Kinda like the fact that quite a few rattlesnake bites occur when someone is trying to KILL THEM. I agree with Jillmcm in that certain kinds of hunting really seem pointless. Cougar hunting and bear hunting come to mind immediately. Although I know years ago we had a certain neighbor who went bear hunting somewhere up north every year, and the years he was successful he had a huge barbecue. Of course the years he didn't get his bear he would have to cook a goat instead, but at least he planned to eat 'his' bear nonetheless. And no, I never went--heard either meat is really realy greasy.

Wind turbines have been pretty tough on the raptor population here in CA. I'm much more excited about the possibility of learning from wind turbines technology applying it towards creating ocean turbines in the Pacific. Wave power can spin magnets (like all turbines) to create electricity directly (which requires a netwotk of cables for transmission) or it can be used for electrolysis of seawater to create hydrogen gas, it the US can ever get the hydrogen fuel cell to be practical. Wave power devices extract energy directly from surface waves or from pressure fluctuations below the surface. Renewable energy analysts believe there is enough energy in the ocean waves to provide up to 2 terawatts of electricity. (A terawatt is equal to a trillion watts.) Offshore systems are situated in deep water, typically of more than 40 meters (131 feet). Sophisticated mechanismsÂlike the Salter DuckÂuse the bobbing motion of the waves to power a pump that creates electricity. Other offshore devices use hoses connected to floats that ride the waves. The rise and fall of the float stretches and relaxes the hose, which pressurizes the water, which, in turn, rotates a turbine. Specially built seagoing vessels can also capture the energy of offshore waves. These floating platforms create electricity by funneling waves through internal turbines and then back into the sea. Built along shorelines, onshore wave power systems extract the energy in breaking waves. Onshore system technologies include the following: Oscillating water column The oscillating water column consists of a partially submerged concrete or steel structure that has an opening to the sea below the waterline. It encloses a column of air above a column of water. As waves enter the air column, they cause the water column to rise and fall. This alternately compresses and depressurizes the air column. As the wave retreats, the air is drawn back through the turbine as a result of the reduced air pressure on the ocean side of the turbine. Tapchan The tapchan, or tapered channel system, consists of a tapered channel, which feeds into a reservoir constructed on cliffs above sea level. The narrowing of the channel causes the waves to increase in height as they move toward the cliff face. The waves spill over the walls of the channel into the reservoir and the stored water is then fed through a turbine. Pendulor device The pendulor wave-power device consists of a rectangular box, which is open to the sea at one end. A flap is hinged over the opening and the action of the waves causes the flap to swing back and forth. The motion powers a hydraulic pump and a generator. Clearly, we can't keep burning carbon-based fuels.

Of course, if you don't like it, it has to be a right wing conspiracy. Lol From the link I left above ~ American Council on Science and Health: "Additionally, the evidence regarding the effect of DDT on eggshell thinning among wild birds is contradictory at best. The environmentalist literature claims that the birds threatened directly by the insecticide were laying eggs with thin shells. These shells, say the environmentalists, would eventually become so fragile that the eggs would break, causing a decline in bird populations, particularly among raptors (birds of prey). In 1968 two researchers, Drs. Joseph J. Hickey and Daniel W. Anderson, reported that high concentrations of DDT were found in the eggs of wild raptor populations. The two concluded that increased eggshell fragility in peregrine falcons, bald eagles, and ospreys was due to DDT exposure.9 Dr. Joel Bitman and associates at the U.S. Department of Agriculture likewise determined that Japanese quail fed DDT produced eggs with thinner shells and lower calcium content.10 In actuality, however, declines in bird populations either had occurred before DDT was present or had occurred years after DDT’s use. A comparison of the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Counts between 1941 (pre-DDT) and 1960 (after DDT’s use had waned) reveals that at least 26 different kinds of birds became more numerous during those decades, the period of greatest DDT usage. The Audubon counts document an overall increase in birds seen per observer from 1941 to 1960, and statistical analyses of the Audubon data confirm the perceived increases. For example, only 197 bald eagles were documented in 194111; the number had increased to 891 in 1960.12 At Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania, teams of ornithologists made daily counts of migrating raptors for over 40 years. The counts��"published annually by the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association��"reveal great increases in most kinds of hawks during the DDT years. The osprey counts increased as follows: in 1946, 191; in 1956, 288; in 1967, 457; and in 1972, 630.13 In 1942 Dr. Joseph Hickey��"who in 1968 would blame DDT for bird population decline��"reported that 70 per-cent of the eastern osprey population had been killed by pole traps around fish hatcheries.14 That same year, before DDT came into use, Hickey noted a decline in the population of peregrine falcons.15 Other observers also documented that the great peregrine decline in the eastern United States occurred long before any DDT was present in the environment.16,17 In Canada peregrines were observed to be “reproducing normally” in the 1960s even though their tissues contained 30 times more DDT than did the tissues of the midwestern peregrines allegedly being extirpated by the chemical.18 And in Great Britain, in 1969, a three-year government study noted that the decline of peregrine falcons in Britain had ended in 1966 even though DDT levels were as abundant as ever. The British study concluded that “There is no close correlation between the decline in population of predatory birds, particularly the peregrine falcon and the sparrow hawk, and the use of DDT.”19 In addition, later research refuted the original studies that had pointed to DDT as a cause for eggshell thinning. After reassessing their findings using more modern methodology, Drs. Hickey and Anderson admitted that the egg extracts they had studied contained little or no DDT and said they were now pursuing PCBs, chemicals used as capacitor insulators, as the culprit.20 When carefully reviewed, Dr. Bitman’s study revealed that the quail in the study were fed a diet with a calcium content of only 0.56 percent (a normal quail diet consists of 2.7 percent calcium). Calcium deficiency is a known cause of thin eggshells.21��"23 After much criticism, Bitman repeated the test, this time with sufficient calcium levels. The birds produced eggs without thinned shells.24 After many years of carefully controlled feeding experiments, Dr. M. L. Scott and associates of the Department of Poultry Science at Cornell University “found no tremors, no mortality, no thinning of eggshells and no interference with reproduction caused by levels of DDT which were as high as those reported to be present in most of the wild birds where ‘catastrophic’ decreases in shell quality and reproduction have been claimed.”23 In fact, thinning eggshells can have many causes, including season of the year, nutrition (in particular insufficient calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D, and manganese), temperature rise, type of soil, and breeding conditions (e.g., sunlight and crowding)." Al