In case the link is ever broken, cut and paste the PDF file here: Linda Chalker-Scott, Ph.D., Extension Horticulturist and Associate Professor, Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Washington State University The Myth of Gypsum Magic âAdding gypsum to your yard or garden will improve soil tilth and plant healthâ The Myth Upon continued prodding from one of my university extension colleagues, I recently watched several episodes of a well-known gardening program on television. My kids joined me, alerted by my animated responses to the hostâs non-stop torrent of advice. Among many amazing discoveries I learned that by adding gypsum to my yard or garden I would improve my problem soils by changing the particle size and loosening compaction. Further searching on the web revealed that gypsum would also improve drainage, decrease acidity, and eliminate soil salts. Previously, I had heard of gypsum for use in soil reclamation projects, but not for a typical urban landscape. Since gypsum is simply calcium sulfate, could this chemical truly transform soil structure and serve as a fertilizer for yards and gardens? The Reality This myth falls into the category of agricultural practices misapplied to ornamental landscapes. Gypsum effectively changes the structure and fertility of heavy clay soils, especially those that are heavily weathered or subject to intensive crop production. Gypsum also improves sodic (saline) soils by removing sodium from the soil and replacing it with calcium. Therefore, one can see improvement in clay soil structure and fertility, and desalinization of sodium-rich soils, by using gypsum. What other effects will gypsum have on soil and plant health? There are a number of scientific studies on gypsum usage both in the literature and on websites. Briefly, researchers have found: ⢠Gypsum does not usually change soil acidity, though occasional reports of both increasing and decreasing pH exist; ⢠Gypsum can increase leaching of aluminum, which can detoxify soils but also contaminates nearby watersheds; ⢠Gypsum can increase leaching of iron and manganese, leading to deficiencies of these nutrients; ⢠Gypsum applied to acid soils can induce magnesium deficiency in plants on site; ⢠Gypsum applied to sandy soils can depress phosphorus, copper and zinc transport; ⢠Gypsum can have negative effects on mycorrhizal inoculation of roots, which may account for several reports of negative effects of gypsum on tree seedling establishment and survival; ⢠Gypsum is variable in its effects on mature trees; ⢠Gypsum will not improve fertility of acid or sandy soils; ⢠Gypsum will not improve water holding capacity of sandy soils; and ⢠Gypsumâs effects are short-lived (often a matter of months) With the exception of arid and coastal regions (where soil salts are high) and the southeastern United States (where heavy clay soils are common), gypsum amendment is just not necessary in non-agricultural areas. Urban soils are generally amalgamations of subsoils, native and non-native topsoils, and - in home landscapes - high levels of organic and non-organic chemical additives. They are also heavily compacted and layered (and gypsum does not work well on layered soils). In such landscapes, it is pointless to add yet more chemicals in the form of gypsum unless you need to increase soil calcium levels. This nutrient deficiency can be quickly identified by any soil testing laboratory for less than a bag of gypsum costs. (If you need to improve sulfur nutrition, itâs wiser to use ammonium sulfate). To reduce compaction and improve aeration in nearly any landscape, application of an organic mulch is more economically and environmentally sustainable. The Bottom Line ⢠Gypsum can improve heavy clay soil structure and remove sodium from saline soils ⢠Gypsum has no effect on soil fertility, structure, or pH of any other soil type ⢠Most urban soils are not improved by additional gypsum ⢠Before adding gypsum or any chemical to a landscape, have soil analysis performed to identify mineral deficiencies, toxicities, and soil character ⢠Adding gypsum to sandy or non-sodic soils is a waste of money, natural resources, and can have negative impacts on plant, soil, and ecosystem health For more information, please visit Dr. Chalker-Scottâs web page at http://www.theinformedgardener.com.

There was certainly nothing stupid about that question! Welcome, Maryl. You have to go over to the Gallery section and look at some of the awesome collections folks have posted there. A few internet sellers have great Sansevierias, but for the most part, there is no combined, concerted effort to market or appreciate these plants. You sorta fall into love with them the more you see the different varieties. Then you seek out sources for your 'addiction'. I found a great source in my local Cactus & Succulent Society. Which is where I buy most of mine. I started with a pup off of my grandmothers plant, and now I have sixteen different varieties. Nearly all of them are easy growers, the hahnii varieties being a bit trickier. You can see a great photo of a S. hahnii in the upper corner of the start page. These are also known as 'birdnest' types. They are smaller in stature and more sensitive to water than many other varieties. You can go to your local library and request they bring in a copy of B. Juan Chahanian's "The Sansevieria Trifasciata Varieties". Great color pictures. There is another wonderful book by Hermoine Stover, can't remember the name, nor do I own it. Its been out of print for awhile. Found a copy in my local C&S library and enjoyed checking it out for a month. I'm not sure if libraries do that anymore, but when I was a young girl in a small town, I could request that our local library bring in from bigger libraries, copies of books I wished to read. As long as I had the author and title, pretty soon a copy would be there for me to check out. Our discussion pages go back for 10 pages, with 30 posts per page. You can read all about questions, issues, and progress reports as well as see all the photos we've taken in the last year on the Gallery pages. This forum runs a little slow compared to other GW forums, but there are some awesomely knowlegeable people who stop in here. Welcome, make yourself at home, pull up a chair an pour a cuppa.

Suzie, here is how you can make your wireless network more secure. Perform the following steps: 1. In your internet browser, type 192.168.1.1 and hit ENTER 2. If you are asked for a User name and Password, the default name for both of them is: admin If you want to create a unique User name and Password for this access, you can do so, but make sure you remember what it is, or write it down. This user name and password allows access to your Linksys Setup Page. You can keep the default, or create your own. By creating your own user name and password, you are creating another layer of security for your wireless network. 3. You should next see the Linksys Wireless Router Setup Page. Click on the Wireless tab at the top, and then you will need to give your wireless network a name at the Network Name(SSID) location. This is the name that everyone will see, just like how you saw your neighbors wireless networks. If you give it a unique name, people will see it, but they probably won't know that it is your network. A second option is just below this area. If you click on "Disable" for the SSID Broadcast, your network will not be visible to the other networks around you. After you have made all your choices, you must click "Save Settings" at the bottom of the page for your changes to take effect. You should then see a message that says "Settings are successful". 4.Next, under the same Wireless tab, click on "Wireless Security". At the Security Mode option, click the drop-down arrow and choose WPA2-Personal; then choose TKIP encryption if not already chosen. Then, VERY IMPORTANT...you will need to choose a passphrase. The passphrase will be used to sign into your network, make it by using a combination of letters, numbers, and other characters (exclamation point, asterisk, pound sign, etc.) so that it will be difficult for a hacker to figure it out. Write down this pass phrase, and put it somewhere that you can find it and it is secure. If you can memorize it, that is even better. After you have done this, click Save Settings at the bottom, and you should now have a much more secure network!!!

Hi, Val, just thought I'd show you the botanicals I've framed, just to give you more ideas, but it sounds like you have it almost all figured out. I have enjoyed watching your room come alive! I got all my botanicals off Ebay too & decided to do ready-made frames and had custom mats cut to make the prints fit in my frames. I used 16x20 frames with inserts of 10x13 openings. My botanicals are slightly smaller than the insert, so to fill it out, I used black mats on all of mine & I love how it makes them look more important. That touch of black all around really makes the botanicals stand out, I think. Whether this is proper placement or not, I have no idea, but it worked for my eye. I have framed several sets of these in this same way & will show you all the pics of how I've used the black mat exactly the same way. These were standard black frames from Michaels & came with the ivory mats inside with the glass & these had a black border built in on the inner ivory mat already, I just added another custom black mat to fill in the space that I needed to fill to fit my botanical. I know you can't see all the details on these pics, but hopefully this will help you some: This one is open frames from Hobby Lobby & I bought standard mats & again added the custom black inner mat so the botanicals would fit. HL does a great job with adding mats & glass & very reasonable. These gold frames came from Tuesday AM & they had the ivory mats with gold edge already in them, along with the glass. All I did was again add the black inner custom mat & it was done. I found this to be the most cost effective way to frame these odd-shaped botanicals.