DotPots are like peat pots except they're made from other wood fiber and don't have any glue for binding. They allow roots to come through more quickly and supposedly decompose more quickly in the ground because that glue doesn't have to decompose. The same company makes Fertilpots which are similar to Dot Pots but one they had certified for organic use. I found them too late online to order and they only come in large quantities. In retrospect I should have gotten a case of a couple hundred. I could have planted in them from the start and not had to pot up things I started indoors. I would've planted in them outside as well to reduce transplant shock from the large underbed containers where I have things growing. I'm a worrier about everything and anything as other people have fabulous success planting out hunk of seedlings. I don't have a tender touch and they would've helped me. Here is a link that might be useful: DotPots/Fertilpots

Dorothy, How wonderful that Glenn is so close to retirement and that y'all will be able to have the greenhouse....what fun! I bet you'll be able to grow anything you want within reason...though probably not melons or southern peas and other heat lovers. You know, if you wanted to heat it, I know Randy has mentioned before that he heats his with a wood stove. The cats are big brats. When I first start seeds, they want to lay on top of the clear dome over the freshly-seeded flats. I just squirt them in the face with water in a little spray bottle and, if that doesn't work, I add a drop or two of TKO orange oil or Realemon lemon juice because they don't like it. After they are spritzed in the face a couple of times, they mostly stay off the plant shelf and away from the plants....as long as the plants are not catnip or catmint. When I transplant catnip and catmint into the ground, I put tomato cages over them so the cats can't squash the plants flat before they have a chance to grow. Once the plants are tall enough that they are branching out, I remove the cages and the cats occasionally find the catnip or catmint and roll on them or chew on them, but they really don't hurt them too badly. I try to keep the door to the guest room closed when the plant shelf has plants on it, but sometimes other people in this family leave that door open and then I have to scold the human being who left it open and the cats who seized the opportunity to go explore the plants on the seed-starting shelf. I have one cat who likes to bite seedlings off, especially while they are quite small. So, even though it is only one cat who usually misbehaves, they all are basically banned from the guest room from Feb.-May. Heaven help us when a guest actually comes to visit during that time, because they have to be reminded (nicely, of course) to close the door to the room when they leave it. LOL The cats are not a problem during the day because they spend their days outside, but they have to be inside the house or garage at night to stay safe from predators so sometimes they get into the plant room and have a little kitty cat wild party. I used to leave them on the screened-in porch all night and they liked that, but then a racoon tore a hole in one of the screens to come inside after the cats (Tim got the raccoon before it got a cat) and that was the end of them using the screen porch as a sleeping porch. Dawn

I probably shouldn't post this again but.... Once upon a morning dreary, while I pondered weak and weary Over many a cold and omnous forecast in the newspapor, Suddenly, there came a dropping, as of rain so gently plopping, Softly falling, dripping, sopping, over heath and hill and moor. Tis not snow, at least, I muttered, not een looking out the door - Merely rain, and nothing more. Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak November And the deer had just dismembered all my plants (damned herbivores). Eagerly I wished the summer; winter, it is such a bummer Nary does one see a hummer* in the garden anymore. Though Grevillea victoriae blooms brightly as before, Rain, it keeps them all indoor. Presently my heart grew stronger, for the sound of rain no longer dripped and dropped and plipped and plopped as so incessantly before. Well! said I, A welcome ending to the rain so unrelenting! Now, before the chance eludes me, I had better go outdoors. For so many tasks awaited, miscellaneous lame chores - So I opened wide the door. Deep into that daylight glaring, long I stood there cursing, swearing, For now from the sky was falling snow, and not rain as before; Making not a sound they drifted, subtle, soft, by wind uplifted Flakes of whiteness now alighting fore the threshold of my door. Silence, it deceived me sorely; winter with its icy hoar Settled now its frigid score. Back into the kitchen breezing, closing door to keep from freezing, From the cold air briefly wheezing, pitching out the newspapor, For its forecast had deceived me, and the snow that fell now grieved me, Now I sat before the TV to discern what was in store. Now, said I, to get the latest bout this blizzard that doth roar, TWC** will know for sure.' But I soon became disgusted, finding they could not be trusted, For their forecast still suggested rain was all twould be in store. Surely, said I, Any schmo can look outside and see the snow That falls upon my garden so, though TWC ignore. So I cast aside the rèmote, snowy blast preparing for, Stepped once more outside the door. Now I knew the task before me, to protect these plants so warmly Lest they freeze and die, as in the frigid wintertimes of yore. So I labored, although vainly, for the snow had now quite plainly Covered stem and leaf completely, blanketing the garden oer. Yet into my heated greenhouse yet untouchèd by the hoar I hauled many plants, though sore. But the nighttime, eer foreboding, now upon me came in closing, Ere I knew it all was dark, and on the snow fell as before. And the wind now came up blowing, further worsening the snowing, While the temperture was lowring, so I had to get indoor, Lest the stinging crystals biting freeze my body to the core, So at last I went indoor. Now the garden, it lies frozen; Im regretting I had chosen Many plants not suited to this climate far from milder shore. And the memry of my losses gnaws upon me, while I tosses Fragments of the plants that froze upon the blazing heap that roars, Yes, a bonfire to dispose of all the plants that grew before - Now quite dead, forevermore. *Anna's hummingbird **The Weather Channel

Good morning Katrina! Cotton root rot is a fungal infection of the soil for which there is no well-known chemical treatment. It is very persistent in the soil and pretty much wiped out the cotton crop once grown in many southern states. Millions of dollars have been spent studying it, but no real solution has been found. One researcher at Texas A&M has had some success in recent years with a combination of encapsulated (slow-release) nitrogen fertilizer in combination with certain commercial fungicides and the addition of various minerals he has found to be deficient in soil infected with cotton root rot. One reason cotton root rot is such a problem is that it is able to lie dormant in the soil for a long time, perhaps many decades. The best solutions are to try to acidify your soil, since it thrives in soils with a pH of 7.0 to 8.5. I have had some success in controlling it, but not eliminating it, by working large amounts of compost, peatmoss, greensand and other amendments into the soil. Using 1 lb. of ammonium sulfate per 100 square feet of soil twice annually helps, but there is no guarantee. Improving drainage also helps, but does not eliminate the fungas. I don't know if hot compost would help. I tried it one year with fresh cow manure, and all I got was every weed known to mankind. :) One of the main treatments for cotton root rot in areas where field crops are grown is to grow various monocots, like sorghum and corn, and till them into the soil once they are mature. This seems to help slow down, but not completely eliminate, the fungal disease. It is not a practical solution for the average landscape, though. Growing up in Texas where the main crop was once cotton, and my daddy's family were once cotton farmers, I knew all about cotton root rot long before I experienced it firsthand myself. When I lived in Fort Worth, I listened to Neil Sperry's radio gardening show from the time he began it in the late 1970s to the time I moved here. Countless times I heard him diagnose certain types of sudden plant death as cotton root rot, and most of the time the gardeners involved simply didn't want to accept his diagnosis--I assume because none of us wants to have a disease in our gardens for which there is no simple cure! When I began planting here and had cotton root rot problems, I was just sick about it. Over the years I have worked hard to improve the soil in the area where I have had the problems, but the cotton root rot still rears its ugly head every now and then. With regards to composted cotton burs, I have never heard of any problems with them being a carrier of cotton root rot. As far as I understand it, the cotton root rot attacks and destroys the roots of affected plants but does not travel up into the plant system. Infected plants die because they can no longer receive nutrition via their now-decimated roots. I think it unlikely that you could ever find any trace of cotton root rot in composted cotton burrs. Cotton is still successfully grown in the High Plains of Texas, and one of the by-products of that plant would be the composted cotton burs. I believe no one in Texas would process and sell those burs if there was any chance whatsoever that cotton root rot could be in them. One of the leading researchers in the area of Cotton Root Rot is Texas A&M University. In reading their data, I have never seen any concern expressed about cotton root rot being transferred via the burs. Cotton root rot seems to be more of a problem in parts of Texas than in Oklahoma, but that doesn't help you if you are in the part of Oklahoma where is has reared its ugly head. Hope this info helps. Dawn