spedigrees: Limestone varies in magnesium content. If you go to your local agricultural store--I am not sure what you have up there--and ask for “high mag limestone“--crushed or pulverized--they should be able to direct you. The analysis is always posted on the bag. Dolomitic limestone is generally “high-mag,” but perhaps other types of limestone have a high magnesium content. Our soils here in the northern Shenandoah Valley are very high in magnesium, and high mag limestone underlies a good portion of our soils, and high mag limestone is readily available. And, almost all the NS in this area look very nice, in spite of our hot, dry climate. As for soil acidity--that should not be a problem for Norway spruce, unless the soil is extremely acidic, maybe in the low 4’s. At my timberland, where the soils are a bit below 5, Norway spruce does very well. I am not sure what an optimum pH would be, and it would probably vary with soil type. Maybe somewhere in the 5.5 range is "safe." As for magnesium for Norway spruce--this has been fairly well documented. I titled my original post “a hypothesis,” but there is substantial evidence. A site factors study done at SUNY Syracuse some years ago now, noted that “at least 75 kg per hectare” is needed for good NS growth. Studies in Europe, where there has been extensive decline in NS forests, has shown that the acid rain causes a reduction in the availability of magnesium, and supplementing magnesium often solves the problem. And, I have made some personal observations--not scientific, and without all the facts--that magnesium supplementation can make a dramatic difference. But, the main effect of magnesium may not be in height growth, but in the fullness, density, and lushness of the foliage. I have seen many poor looking, thin foliaged NS trees growing reasonably fast in height. Also, the thin foliage on some Norway spruce trees has causes other than a lack of an optimum supply of magnesium. And, I know, some of that is genetic, and not correctable. As for your experiment: Yes, 5 years should be long enough to show some results, but no sooner. The limestone has to dissolve into the soil, get down to the roots, and, because NS hold their needles for several years, the "thickening" of the foliage may not be vis1ble for several years. BUT, and this is a big "but," the effect may not really show up on very young trees. It may help the growth rate, but as for foliage density, that is never really noticeable until trees are somewhat older and larger--maybe not until they are 20 feet tall or more will any difference be really clear. As for the growth rate: white pine usually starts growing faster than NS. How old are your trees? How tall? NS trees don't begin to grow fast until they are about 4.5 feet high, and that could be only after 6 to 8 years. At that point, they should "take off." On the best soils, and in the right climate, an average of 28 inches is possible, with some years the new shoots elongating up to 4 feet or more. But growth averaging 20 to 24 inches is good for many sites. Norway spruce and white pine, assuming equally good strains, should grow equally well over the first 50 years. The white pine up to about 18 years should outgrow the NS, but after that NS should catch up a bit. After 50 years NS should outgrow the white pine for some years. SUNY Syracuse did a growth curves study for NS, and found that for the first 60 years--after the trees reach 4.5 feet in height, there is no "curve" as such, but a straight line. White pine growth curves bend sharply over to the right after the first 18 years or so, and at 50 years the growth averages about 1 foot, while at the same age, NS trees can still be growing 28 inches per year. But this rate does begin to decline not too long after the 60-year mark. On the best sites both should eventually make 150 feet or more in forest stands. Open grown NS should make 120 feet or more on better sites. As for the blue spruce and magnesium, I really don't know. Tom may be right about this. --spruce

Bucky, IMO, the best thing you can do is to keep the coolant at maximum full level at all times. It has been my experience that when Dexcool gets low and mixes with air for an extended period of time, it becomes really nasty and gunky. Also, although the extended coolants are suppose to go 100,000+ miles, I think you would be best served to flush and refill the system a little more frequently than that. Some of the intake manifold bolts are easier to access than others. I do not advise retorquing retorquing the easy bolts and not the others as this may actually put more uneven pressure on the gasket and potentially cause a leak. I do not see any benefits in spending the time and/or money to simply retorque the intake manifold bolts because of accessability issues. Once you get to them you might as well take the few additional steps (removing valve covers, rocker arms, pushrods, intake, etc.) and go ahead and replace the gaskets.

I would not stay with IE6 google has just put out info it will no longer support IE6 and many other websites have gone along with them on that it is just too hard for them to continue to support so many versions, go to IE7 or 8 or as mentioned above go with firefox also but you still need to move away from Ie6 on your pc because it is very insecure so even if you do not use it you need to update it. I use firefox only unless I have to do a windows update that is the only time I use IE but I do still keep it updated. Gmail, Google Calendar Also To Drop IE6 Support Google Phasing Out Support For IE6 in 2010 that should be good evidence as to why it needs to be replaced.

I can't use the back arrow more than twice in a row without having IE6 close. Java can't update, and I can't copy or paste or use my email tools from Charter. It does crazy things like bring up infinite search windows from time to time (until I manually turn the computer off). I have to delete my temporary files manually, the buttons don't have any results under Internet Options. My FTP site is not accessible. IE6 is closing increasingly, yet I have less trouble with software than I've ever had before. Morrowind is a CDTer and most people get anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour of play before a CDT, but I can play for hours. The problems are all centered around this IE6 rollback from IE7. All my virus scans are negative, as well as searching for rootkits. This IE6 never did work as it was supposed to...I can't get rid or it unless I start over, and I don't have the time! Who does? marf