When I checked the Roses Forum under "protect while spraying" I found these info: "From Henry Kuska, grower of over 1,000 roses from Ohio: Title: Combined exposure to endocrine disrupting pesticides impairs parturition, causes pup mortality and affects sexual differentiation in rats. Another one from Henry: "Retinal degeneration was two times more common in applicators who had used fungicides. Results were similar in North Carolina and Iowa." More from Henry: "It appears that the "hot U.S. fungicide spray of the month" is Bayer Advanced Disease Control for Roses - This is a tebuconazole based fungicide. It is being phased out in Europe, banned in the state of New York, and not available for garden use in Canada. The concern is especially directed towards fetuses and infants as they are particular susceptible to endocrine disrupting substances." I posted a thread entitled "Pics of fungal growth, corn meal, and Austin roses" in the Rose Forum detailing how I dusted my corn meal. Refined corn meal from Walmart did not work, throwing at the base of the bush did not work. Someone posted a good question "if corn meal is a good fungicide, would it harm the beneficial Mycorrhizal fungi?" For that reason I kept the corn meal on the leaves, rather than in the ground. For fungi control in the ground, I posted a thread "Suppression of pathogens and pests by soil bacteria" in the rose forum. It detailed how black spot fungi is suppressed by normal soil bacteria plus flora in horse manure. In contrast, mulching with tree bark in a wet climate encourages black spots, with 25 different varieties of fungi in decayed wood, particularly artillery fungus, or shotgun fungus. Since WHOLE-GRAIN corn meal works best with the fat in the germ layer, I used a flour sifter to dust the lower 1/3 of the bush. I dusted August 1, September 1, September 17 (after 20+ hours of rain), and again in September in the midst of 5 days of rain. Only 4 dusting to get zero black spots on 10 Austins. Our first frost is soon to come in October, they keep all their leaves. The feed store doesn't sell corn meal, only cracked corn $5 for a giant bag (enough for a decade!). I used Nutrimill flour grinder to grind to dust. You can buy Arrowhead Mills or Bob's Mill whole-grain corn meal at the grocery store for $2 to $3 per bag. Health food stores have it.

Are you speaking of actual terra preta from Brazil or a facsimile of your own make? My understanding of terra preta is that it is centuries worth of ground charcoal and perhaps pottery fragments mixed with organic waste which has formed a very stable yet minerally rich compound. I have for years been adding hardwood ash to my gardens, and noticed that the little chunks of charcoal persist. I come across them frequently and crush them between fingertips. For the last year or two I have started sifting the charcoal out of the flyash. Just before coming to florida this year I ground some in a bucket and added magnesium sulfate and sul-po-mag to it and mixed it into some planting beds of english peas. Apparently the structure of charcoal is ideal for clinging to minerals - is magnetic for minerals (to such an extent that it can be a problem to add it in large amounts without adding minerals because it can draw the existing minerals out of the soil, especially sandy soils, depleting the ones that are already low). So an active soil life is critical if using charcoal, because the microbes can release the minerals out of the char for the plants to use. I have sandy soils both north and south so this use of char as a medium to introduce minerals is potentially very important for me. It can substitute for humus. Regarding the "NPK" subject, I would point out that chemical ferts are forms of minerals, and if a soil system is low on a mineral a synthesized mineral salt will serve, but should only be used if one has reason to believe that it can be preserved in the system. The NPK paradigm reaches it's ludicrous extreme in places like florida where we have highly leaching soils with extremely low percent OM in many cases in combo with high yearly rainfall and often deluge events. To add mineral salts without out buffers to a system like that is madness, if not criminal. UF tries to have it make sense by advising frequent small apps hoping that the plants will suck most of it up between rainstorms. Consequently, irrigation is an absolute necessity not only because the dead sand has no moisture retention but because there has to be enough moisture to keep the salts in solution for the plants and to use the NPK before heavy rain washes it out of the root zone. There are no microbes to digest minerals and feed the plants, and virtually no humus or char or clay colloids to hold minerals. The muck soils are an exception and why they are so valued. FYI, I found a stone fabricating shop in my area of fla that has dust-collection for the cutting, so I was able to go there and pick up granite dust for free. I have been applying that in solution to growing plants, and am going to mix it with humate and mineral salts to apply to compost-growing acreage. The idea is that if stone dust is fine enough, microbes (if present) can begin to release the minerals that abound in freshly-ground stone. Just as finely ground limestones release lots of calcium and mag, finely ground granites and basalts can release lots of other minerals. All these are effective for long time periods because they are mostly not in salt form.

It is interesting, isn't it, that not necessarily the brand name association (in this case Atkin's) or higher price necessarily means a better choice. For the benefit expectation of low carb, there is really not that much difference between a "regular" store brand bread and the "big" name bread. Interesting also that Atkin's has more fat. I have always eaten the Dempster's seven grain anyways, I like the nutty rich taste and texture.

I'll tell you what, I definately have a wheat and cheese monkey on MY back, lol! They both have opiate like substances in them apparently, but I'll bet peaches do too! ;) I was reading long ago about the possibly inflammatory properties of wheat gluten, and I went on a wheat free diet for months and months, (along with many other strategies) trying to lessen my severe menstrual cramps and migranes. Did not do a thing! I do have my problem foods, but thankfully it is not gluten. Salt, red meat, artificial sweeteners, alcohol and tea and refined flour and sugar are the things that bother my system. Like I said, I balance carbs with protein and fats to avoid the blood sugar spikes that go along with eating "unopposed" carbs. A sugar binge can trigger a migrane for me. But a sugar binge also piles on the pounds so I try not to do it for so many reasons. But along the way I picked up the idea of eating a balance of whole grains and not overdoing the carbs. Luckily I actually do not like refined white flour or heavily spiced and salted products and really sugary stuff, so I have no trouble staying away from it. Really good bread and cheese is harder for me to moderate myself on. One thing that is troubling to me is the COST of some of these wheat alternatives. I wanted to get some brown rice spinach linguine at the health food store, but it was $3.50 for 12 ounces and the whole wheat Barilla was $1.30 for the same amount. I'm unemployed right now and can no longer afford these types of products. I stick to oatmeal, cornmeal and brown rice for my carb alternatives. Occasionally some quinoa or barley. Pasture raised chicken by me is $3.50 per lb. and the regular old store bought stuff ins $2.00 and below. Needless to say we can't afford that either! And fish is a rare luxury.