schoolhouse.... I am not an expert at propagating, but when I did it, I just took tip cuttings and stuck them in one of those under the bed plastic storage boxes that had a clear top and an opague body. I just mixed a little potting soil with mostly sand and wet it a little and stuck them in there with the cover on and left them in an area where there was a lot of light but no direct sunlight. I just kept checking to make sure they were stil moist and never had to do anything else. I'm sorry but it was awhile ago that I did it, so I don't remember what time of year I did it. Certainly was easy enough and didn't cost anything to speak of to experiment. I may have bought a jar of rooting hormone and stuck them in there first. But...I know I have done cuttings without it too and had fairly good success, so I don't think that is a must but does seem to give more dependable rootings. If you are seriously going to try it, I would post separately and ask for some instructions from someone with a lot of experience. [g] pm2

With the plastic drip hoses you install emitters, either in the hose itself or at the end of small extensions of tubing connected to the hose. In either case, the orifices in the emitters are much larger so they don't lime up as quickly. You can also remove them from the line, turn them around, and blow them out with a stream of water to remove sediment or mineral deposits. The weeper hoses are more like moving water through a sponge and you seem to get plenty of evaporation which leaves all the mineral behind in the sponge. After a bit of time, the minerals plug all the pores until the water stops passing through. If your water is very low in minerals, they this would be less of a problem. My experience has been that the drip materials in the box stores are usually the same as found in other stores, and they have ample quality for the use. I mention the box stores because they are universal. Depending which town I'm in, I get my supplies from a farm supply store, but if I go to a large city, I will usually stop at a box store as they usually have a little wider selection. Garden centers would also be likely to carry the materials. I've not had any failures other than from getting plugged with sediment in the water, and cleaning that out is an easy fix. In addition, the dripper parts are fairly cheap so the odd replacement costs little. Currently I'm running a drip line to a row of bushes planted about 5 years ago. Each spring, I open the end of the drip line and flush it out, then a couple times a year I'll remove and reverse-flush any emitters that are too slow. I need to increase the size of the emitters to get more water on, however, because I don't think I'm getting enough water to the bushes. This last summer, I installed a drip line to about a dozen fruit trees that I've planted over the last few years. Hauling each tree 10-15 gallons of water a week was getting too time consuming and wasn't sufficient water as all the trees were suffering. With this line, I wanted to put a fairly high quantity of water on so I just connected the 1/4" extension tubing to the 1/2" main line and ran it to the basin around the trees. I'd turn the water on for anywhere from 20-45 minutes before the well would start running dry, but that would get 20 gal. or so on the trees and the increase showed itself in much happier trees than the past few years. I could just work on a few other things, then come back and turn the pump off and head for home. For your raised beds, you probably wouldn't want to use open extension tubes as that would probably be too much water too fast. Look up xeriscaping techniques for info on the drip lines, or look up Rainbird for some reading material. I've never spent more than a few days in a wet climate so the techniques and materials you need to use may differ from what I use.

Grizz, I updated the picture to include a parts list below. Hex, Thanks again for the input. I am avoiding dtw because my system is indoors and I don't currently have much space to put a third container anywhere for the waste solution. But, if I ever run into a larger area I would prefer dtw for the fact that clean solution is only what the plants get, no re-used stuff. As for the calculations, I completely agree, something is not quite right. Its one of those things where I spent a good amount of effort and money to putting this system together, and just the mere fact that it works and grows plants has been amazing to me. But you're right, the accumulator fills way too often. I think the issue may be multiple things. One thing I know attributes to greater flow than 0.8 gph, is that the sprayers I use shoot out streams of water once the solenoid shuts and pressure goes down. This, obviously, increases the amount of flow. Maybe up to another whole second of on time equivalent flow (0.8gph). Moreover, the timer is accurate down to 1 second, however, the solenoid is situated a couple feet worth of hosing before the sprayers, so there is a definite lag time before the sprays shut-off, making the actual on time at least double 1 second. This means, for calculation purposes, 3 seconds on time.1 additional second for the "lag time" between solenoid and sprayers, and another 1 second due to low pressure water streaming out of the sprayheads. Total amount of nutes per day = 12.8gph * 0.1437 hours = 1.839 gal. 1.839 * 3 = 5.517 gallons per day, which is actually fairly accurate as that's how much I gathered the couple days I tried out dtw to test the flow of water through the system. Continuing, the pump should run 6 / 3 = every 2 hours under these new conditions. It actually runs more often(1.5 hours), why?, not sure, but there's maybe less water than expected in the accumulator after filling to 80 psi? How to fix these problems... maybe getting new sprayheads is something I need to consider. What kind do you use? "No drip" nozzles?

Well FP, I was a wondering. I guess you told us straight talk. Don't worry about Mr. H. Let me post anything, and I will deflect his wrath. He has a problem with words, so what you say is not what he reads. On to the question. The price has a lot of room to play with. It seems you have a concern with legal issues. And you live in the lawless capital of the USA?? All kidding aside, If you need more heat, do the job before moving in. I am not familar with the labor rates in Reno, but I would imagine there is a lot of lower pay labor available? If so the price is very high from the sounds of it. Any time you get a licensed PE involved, be prepared for conservative estimates. His training and license requires he compensates for all possible issues. This is not necessarly the way to go. Overkill is not desirable in HVAC. Proper designed ducts should not be felt beyond 12 inches from the grilles. The air movement should not make any noise. If it does, the individual register is adjusted wrong or too small. This could require adjustment at the plenum, or possibly at the grille. The best solution for the real world is usually seperate systems for each floor. In N. Texas, many larger homes have even more equipment. Depending on the efficiency in Btu losses, the house could need from 4.8 - 7.5 tons. This depends on the climate. I assumed you were in a moderate climate, and not hot as hell during the summer. When I googled Reno, it seems you have more cold than hot. What does the current owner say about the heat in the basement? I would be concerned about code violations, but most retrofitting HVAC is hit or miss anyway. From what I read about your climate, I like the idea of radiant floor heat. Consider using solar water panels to preheat, or possibly use geothermal. Just because you are buying an expensive house, does not mean the HVAC needs to cost so much. Get more bids. I think 3 weeks sounds like a long time, but If I had to drop a lot of ceiling, then replace it, the job could take that long. If you have access to underneath the floors, installing radiant below the floor will probably be a cleaner install. If you use radiant, the original system will be too large, and will need to be reduced. Trying to retrofit a smaller house with radiant heat or a different system is difficult, but retrofitting a large house is a pain in the A**. Good luch with your project.