"subk3 - have you read the posted link? Me thinks not." Well I read the part where it said "ban the sale" and "place a moratorium." Which part do you think I'm missing? And how long do you think it takes the Federal government to do a review? Because of drought conditions I have a specific weed problem in about 30 acres of pasture that will respond to one or two treatments of the aforementioned class of herbicide OR 4 or more applications of a herbicide with a much shorter half life. Anybody think spraying 30 acres 4 or 5 times with a less effective chemical while managing appropriate grazing rotation for the livestock is either insignificant in terms of the cost of fuel, product, man hours or organization and timing? I manage and personally use my compost from the animals that graze these fields and as long as I'm aware of the herbicide situation I have plenty of use for the resulting "bad" compost--just not on my gardens. And taxcrusader I think it depends on your definition of compost as to whether "everything" ends up as compost. If anything that comes out of the back end of an animal is compost then yes your are right. If you narrow that down to waste that is specifically managed then used to promote vegetation that may be tender than that's a whole 'nuther ball game. That class of livestock waste if very, very small. I've been in the horse business 30+ years. I'm one of the very few I know who purposely composts stall leavings with the intent of a specific end product. The vast majority of stables I know either pay to have it hauled to a landfill--this happens closer to urban/suburban areas (Yes, cringe, I know) OR they spread it on their own fields--a case where the residual herbicide can have effects a farm manager likes! OR lastly they dedicate an area and just pile the stuff up to deal with much later. None of those situations have it coming in contact with the tender plants it's a problem for, and that's the overwhelming majorty of stuff that comes from the back end of a horse. I live in a very horsey area. I know of two businesses that create and sell compost from horse leavings. One is a huge horse boarding facility that also produces their own hay so they are controlling the process from the beginning. The other contracts with only a few stables to collect and haul it away--I don't know how they manage the quality of hay intake--but they have told me it's a 2 year process from start to finished product which may help the situation. "Labeling" will not solve this problem and any government official who thought it would is an idiot. The problem arises because the composter is usually at the end of a long line of vendors away from the guy who read the label in the first place. A typical bale of hay could be sprayed and cut, sold to a distributer, who sells it to a merchant like a farmers Co-op who sells it to a barn owner who sells the resulting leavings to a composter. With several possibilties of additional middlemen. Educating livestock owners/farm managers is closer to the answer. I participate in a horse forum much like GardenWeb. It's a much more educated group than the average horse owner and the folks on that board are completely clueless that this is a problem. I did not learn about it until I came here. It isn't the chemical. It's using the chemical without knowing its end destination--which is simply inappropriate use. If I paint manufacture used a toxic chemical in the manucturing process that they didn't know how or where it would end up that would be a problem too. I don't see that this is much different.

Last year I got blight which permeated and destroyed my garden. Tiny brown spots on the leaves, massive curling and wilting, then yellowing and dying of plants. It got out of control before I knew what it was. This year, I have been spraying with Daconil, but after a two week vacation with no spraying, I saw it starting again on my plants. Many are curling, spots are appearing. I am spraying and cutting off leaves like mad, but I fear it may still be a problem. Two questions: is the curling a preliminary stage of blight, or something different? And second, will my garden ever be rid of this disease? I can't rotate. Let's back up here and try to determine what the specific problem is. I take it you're in the western part of NYS and that's inportant to know. Spots on the leaves usually indicate a foliage infection, either baterial or fungal, and Daconil is of no use if it's bacterial in origin. Wilting is not a symptom seen with foliage infections. In our area the systemic diseases that cause wilting are not all that common and if you have new soil in the raised beds then that makes that diagnosis quite remote. Is this the first year with the new soil or if not, did you see the same problems last year in the same spot? No, curled leaves are not necessarily a prelude to either Foliage diseases or systemic diseases. Since all NEW folaige diseases are ariborne, replacing soil can't prevent them. So lets go step by step and let me ask you to indicate what you see as the major problem, the wilting or the foliage disease? Blight is a general word and deosn't refer to any one specific disease. If you could be more specific about the wilting as opposed to the spots on the leaves that would be great. How big are the spots, what shape, what color, any concentric circles inside the spots and any yellow halos aroubd the spots when they appear on green leaves. I know, lots of questions here, but wilting and systemic diseases are not common where we live and foliage diseases are, but if you have both it's going to take some time to make sense of this, if we can. Carolyn

Chibimimi and Southern Canuck: The house will keep the timber frame, wall strip sheathing, flooring, rafters, strip sheathing on the roof above the rafters, the ceiling joists, and strip sheathing on the joists. The siding is ALL going to be donated (at least what doesn't need abatement (50%) - it is coated in many layers of lead paint that is cracking) and needs to be removed to place the exterior insulation. The gingerbread will stay. The returns will go. The trim will be similar. The porch trim will be similar. The windows will be as close to their current layout as possible, but the windows currently upstairs do not meet current egress requirements, so that is why I am enlarging the gable window. The plan that shows the door entering directly into the kitchen is the current house (as it sits now/before renovation). Not what it will be after - see the other layouts for clarification - hope you can actually read them now (I am new to this forum, and am trying to get you the info the best I can....) Yes foundation walls and floors, crawl spaces, and dirt basements really do or can account for up to 30-40% of heat loss. They are the largest window in your home. Especially if they are uninsulated, and air infiltration is not managed. Just because you highly insulate you ceilings doesn't mean you don't have heat loss through the ground. Yes heat rises, we ALL know that, but what many don't understand is how heat follows a cold gradient also. For instance when you lay directly on the ground you must insulate yourself from the earth nearly all year round or you will have either moisture problems or hypothermia problems. The earth absorbs your body heat, just like it absorbs the heat from your house. - check out Green Building Advisor or the Building Science Corporation for further documentation and in depth analysis of this phenomenon. If you get your hands on a thorough whole house wall/energy (BTU) calculator, you will see just how much energy is really lost through the foundation walls and floor. OR you will see just how much you will save, by insulating your basement walls and floors............you need to manage moisture, vapor and air though too or can create a massive petri dish inside your home. Those aren't architect drawings - they are mine..... Earthen or bermed homes use the earth as a consistant energy mass, that regulates temperature - the ground is an insulator, but also a heating or cooling mass - which is why geothermal heat/cooling works. It is true documented science that many are confused by. My hope is to keep the essence of the original home, maintain it's look, but tweak it just a bit to fit the needs of my family, while striking a fine balance between making equitable, sustainable, healthy design upgrades. I will have a Venmar ERV to do my air exchange (ERV because the geothermal provides cooling too, and the ERV can help with moisture too). The fireplace will also have outside air exchange.

Hi all, In a major renovation, we replaced most of our old plumbing, and, added a new floor with new plumbing. The water hammer took about 2 weeks to show up. It only occurs when faucets are shut off quickly. Our plumber [after ripping open some walls to look for loose pipes (!?!)] installed a pressure reducing valve where the water enters the house. He claims it took the pressure from ~130 to ~60psi. No help. Then he added a large hammer arrestor just inside that valve. Nope! Then he installed smaller hammer arrestors under each sink & behind the washer. Still no luck... I read that ceramic-valve faucets can cause water hammer due to the abrupt shut off. Interestingly, our 2 "old" upstairs ceramic faucets now cause water hammer, but the same faucets didn't when we had only a single story house. We have 2 Takagi tankless water heaters mounted outside the house. The plumber thinks they must be responsible for the hammer. Any other suggestions? Thanks, Pableau