nancy_pnwzone8(OR zone 8) ps here are some links if you're interested. Wolverton Environmental Services http://www.wolvertonenvironmental.com/ Plant Air Purifier http://www.plantairpurifier.com/ Andrea http://www.andreaair.com/ Inside Urban Green - What did Bill Really Say? http://www.insideurbangreen.org/2009/11/my-entry-1.html Phytophilter Technologies http://www.phytofilter.com/ Plants are the Strangest People - Indoor Plants as Air Purifiers http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blogspot.com/2008/04/indoor-plants-as-air-purifiers.html Kamal Meattle: How to grow fresh air http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmn7tjSNyAA (i would be remiss for posting this link without providing more info. in this TED talk, it sounds like they just added some plants to a big office building, like you would see in a typical cubicle farm, and - shebang - the air was cleaned. what he doesn't show is that they have a full on indoor grow op with high intensity lighting and full hydroponic plumbing. the grow rooms are tied into the building's HVAC. there was another video that showed the set up but i can't find it now.) I would add these links: 1. Wikipedia Houseplants together with the medium in which they are grown can reduce components of indoor air pollution, particularly volatile organic compounds (VOC) such as benzene, toluene, and xylene. Plants remove CO2 and release oxygen and water, although the quantitative impact for house plants is small. Most of the effect is attributed to the growing medium alone, but even this effect has finite limits associated with the type and quantity of medium and the flow of air through the medium.[25] The effect of house plants on VOC concentrations was investigated in one study, done in a static chamber, by NASA for possible use in space colonies.[26] The results showed that the removal of the challenge chemicals was roughly equivalent to that provided by the ventilation that occurred in a very energy efficient dwelling with a very low ventilation rate, an air exchange rate of about 1/10 per hour. Therefore, air leakage in most homes, and in non-residential buildings too, will generally remove the chemicals faster than the researchers reported for the plants tested by NASA. The most effective household plants reportedly included aloe vera, English ivy, and Boston fern for removing chemicals and biological compounds. Plants also appear to reduce airborne microbes, molds, and increase humidity.[27] However, the increased humidity can itself lead to increased levels of mold and even VOCs.[28] When CO2 concentrations are elevated indoors relative to outdoor concentrations, it is only an indicator that ventilation is inadequate to remove metabolic products associated with human occupancy. Plants require CO2 to grow and release oxygen when they consume CO2. A study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology considered uptake rates of ketones and aldehydes by the peace lily (Spathiphyllum clevelandii) and golden pothos (Epipremnum aureum.) Akira Tani and C. Nicholas Hewitt found "Longer-term fumigation results revealed that the total uptake amounts were 30−100 times as much as the amounts dissolved in the leaf, suggesting that volatile organic carbons are metabolized in the leaf and/or translocated through the petiole."[29] It is worth noting the researchers sealed the plants in Teflon bags. "No VOC loss was detected from the bag when the plants were absent. However, when the plants were in the bag, the levels of aldehydes and ketones both decreased slowly but continuously, indicating removal by the plants".[30] Studies done in sealed bags do not faithfully reproduce the conditions in the indoor environments of interest. Dynamic conditions with outdoor air ventilation and the processes related to the surfaces of the building itself and its contents as well as the occupants need to be studied. While results do indicate house plants may be effective at removing some VOCs from air supplies, a review of studies between 1989 and 2006 on the performance of houseplants as air cleaners, presented at the Healthy Buildings 2009 conference in Syracuse, NY, concluded "...indoor plants have little, if any, benefit for removing indoor air of VOC in residential and commercial buildings."[31] Since high humidity is associated with increased mold growth, allergic responses, and respiratory responses, the presence of additional moisture from houseplants may not be desirable in all indoor settings.[32] sourse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indoor_air_quality#Effect_of_indoor_plants 2.Critical Review: How Well Do House Plants Perform as Indoor Air Cleaners? Dingle et al. (2000) reported on a field study of three portable office buildings in Perth, Australia to test removal of formaldehyde by plants. Five plants (five species) were added to each room every two days to a maximum of 20 plants (at 2.44 plants per m2) after nine days. Two adjacent portable office buildings were used as controls with no plants. The mean formaldehyde concentrations were about 850 ppb, except with 20 plants. The authors state that the results show “no change in formaldehyde concentrations with the addition of 5 or 10 plants in the rooms and only an 11% reduction in formaldehyde concentrations with 20 plants in the room.” They did not indicate that this reduction was statistically significant.... With this caveat firmly in mind, it is hardly surprising that the HBI study failed to find any effect on pollutant removal by plants, despite a reasonably strong study design in terms of using controls. The study by Dingle et al. found only an 11% reduction in formaldehyde with the highest loading of plants (20 plants in a room or a loading of 2.44 plants per m2), which is not feasible in the real world and is probably not statistically significant. ... Sourse: http://www.buildingecology.com/articles/critical-review-how-well-do-house-plants-perform-as-indoor-air-cleaners/ I think people overestimate the ability of plants to clean the air. That's why EPA don't write about plants as cleaner at all: Epa wrote about Mechanical air filters, Electronic air cleaners, Gas-phase air filters, UVGI cleaners , PCO cleaners, Ozone generators , Portable air cleaners but EPA don't write about plants as cleaner at all.Sourse: http://www.epa.gov/iedweb00/pubs/residair.html If you use plants as cleaner You need to test air inside your house or flats. You need to use complex devices to test air otherwise you may find that you don't have any benefit from plants at all. And this is only placebo. You can spend your time for nothing. Only complex devices to test air inside your houses or flats can help you. Please don't trust so much NASA or Wolverton. Be critical. To read Critical Reviews too. Сheck the air in your homes with complex devices.

Owning 40acres in Northern WI. It has a pond for drainage as well as a pond underging succession. I want to change that and had come here as there are some other folks out there doing the same. I wanted to clarify some things. According to a checklist I found dnr.wi.gov/topic/waterways/checklists/checklist_manualdredging.pdf it appears that I can do this. I have an area about 30' x 20' that I will bring all down to about 1' or less, as long as it all has water and I can get rid of the canary grass. I will so this by hand and plan on replanting with native WI plants which will benifit nature. I realizeI am disrupting nature but there are some species of plants which are not native and are invasive which I would like to avoid and be rid of. I have read much drivel on this site and anyone who wants to know local/state laws the DNR of many states have excellent information on their respective websites. What a wonderful wealth of information. Teaches all anything from planting trees to building a pond. After removing I will place the spoils within 20' of the newly rejuvenated pond in case i picked up any critter along the way. They can make their way back home. I would love to simply fill in the wet hole but I cannot following the law!!! I repeat, following WI DNR codes I will work MY land finding compromise with what I would like as well abiding by laws set up to protect nature. I will plant the following in the water that will fill the hole: Spike Rush, Arrowhead, Waterlily, Pickerelweed, Sweet Flag, Wild Celery, Longleaf Pondweed, Water Stargrass All are edible by various wildlife and even some by humans. I do not have such an ego that I will keep them all for myself...... An old post I am adding to but I enjoyed and am going to enjoy more watching the ducks swim among the frogs. There are 39.8 more acres that has already succesionized so I don't worry too much. I hope the rest of the frogs nt in the pond don't die too much from the glyphosate I will use to get rid of the canary grass so I can plant trees. Only about 400 this year.

Dear Jan, The most popular models in the States, and those of current production and thus easily available parts are the All American, Mirro, and Presto. There are many other old ones but rubber lid seals (like for a Burpee Pressure Canner) are no longer available. The All American is a beefy canner that does not use a rubber seal. It is metal to metal and costs 2 to 3 times as much as a Presto or Mirro. I currently use a 22 quart Presto from the 1980's and it is more than sufficient for my needs. I can fit 7 quart jars into it, double stack pints and half pints for a capacity of 20 to 24 smaller jars, and it has both a pressure guage and a 3 weight guage (5, 10, and 15 pounds) as most recipes in this area call for 10 pound pressure canning at 1000 feet elevation or less. The canner will reach 240 degrees Farenheight at this pressure and this is adequate (and necessary) to kill botulism spores. Pressure canning MUST be used for all low acid foods - primarily all vegetables and meat. Tomatoes are now regularly pressure canned for safety unless enough acid is added to bring the ph of the product down to 4.6 or less. Some tomatoe products in this country test to ph 4.7 or 4.8 which is too high to be safely canned by water sterilization (only 212 degrees Farenheight). By the way, if you use a pressure canner, boiling the jars is not required in advance (just a good wash). If there are those in this Forum who have any questions, please drop me a note. Regards from Southern California - Jim

Nice blueberries bushes Sam! he he on the good luck rocks...lol Straw, here's a pic of our largest and best D. Ko bush that we have in our yard. I planted it directly after I took out another rose that was in that spot for 30+ years. No ill effects at all...Only positive results in this case... If Thomas Affleck itself is capable of blooming well in that spot out front he will when he is ready. If not he will get replaced by a rose bush that will bloom better without having to change soil......(My grandpap god rest his soul would turn over in his grave if I ever changed our native soil for a rose bush or any other plant/shrub..) I can still here him saying for every plant that doesn't work there is one that will...lol... He would also say NEVER change your native soil unless you plan on veggie gardening the rest of your life...lol.. (Referring to our soil here).... Come to think of it I had Zinnias in Thomas Affleck spot last year. After seeing these Zinnia pics again and remembering we got the most compliments ever from them out front. Thomas Affleck will be surrounded next year by a few Marigolds but tons of Zinnias! A bit smaller ones though as we can't block the sun from Thomas...I'll get 2ft high Zinnias for the back and 15 inch Zinnias for the front...