Alcohol should last as long as it is kept well capped. Diluted neem looses its effectiveness pretty quickly as far as its active ingredient (azadirachtin) is concerned. However, the oil part of neem should still be effective for a while. You will have really shake it well every time you use it. The oil tries separate from the water when left undisturbed. Oil is organic matter and so it is possible that a diluted version can start decomposing/fermenting. A smell test should let you know if it is OK to use. Pure insecticidal soap in water should remain effective. I do not know how long but a few months should be fine. I am not sure of household soaps since there are tons of other ingredients in there besides soap. In fact, one should avoid regular household soaps on plants anyway.

There should be an expiration date on it somewhere, right? On another canning forum someone posted this response to the same question. It's from Kraft Foods who makes Certo: "We recommend that you use the pectin in your recipe by the "Best When Used By" date. We cannot guarantee the same quality or rate of recipe success if used after that date." They go on to talk about how it should not be frozen and that fridge storage won't extent its life. In my personal experience - which is limited with the liquid pectins - it is not worth keeping any of them past their exp. date. Dave

I've never tried freezing pollen BUT I got some seeds many years back from Cliff Orent that he had forgotten in his freezer for more than 3 years. He told me that and offered them to me if I wanted to give them a try. I did and lo and behold more than half of them germinated! So never say never, lol! Also, I was worried about my short season and if my hips were ripe enough too. I mentioned this on the Rose Hybridizers website and was told by several people that as long as there was any color showing on the hip it was probably ripe enough and to try the seeds. And you know, not all rose hips turn color when they are ripe. So if your hips are in the 90 to 120 day range of maturity I would harvest them and try them anyway.

"And Elmer, we don't need to hear anything from you about your belief that only students who can't make it into other med schools go to osteopathic schools." I'll share not beliefs but three real world cases. Reach your own conclusions. Anecdotes. Starting pieces of background - most medical schools turn away more than 90% of applicants. They have mountains of apps to go through and most applicants submit applications to dozens of schools. One of several first screens to narrow the field of applications received is quantitative - MCAT (the national entrance exam) scores and qualitatively assessed undergrad GPAs. Both to assess academic aptitude and accomplishments. California statistically has twice as many medical students as available seats in in-state schools, meaning, half of "California" medical students go to med school out of state. So they apply to lots and lots of schools, there's not a state school as in many states where in-state acceptance rates are high. Applicant #1 was a K-12 classmate of one of my kids but they went to different colleges. #1 was a decent student, above average grades but not by a lot. His MCAT score was mediocre. He applied to a few dozen allopathic medical schools his senior year of college (that's not a high number) and got no interviews. To strengthen his application, he got a job as a lab assistant in a biomedical research lab at a medical school. And he studied hard to improve his MCAT score. He wound up working two years in the lab position, went through two more application cycles with no interview offers, and wound up after the next cycle getting accepted to a DO school in the Midwest. #2 is the kid of my next door neighbor. Similar story, above average but undistinguished undergrad GPA and so-so MCAT scores. Applied to medical schools, got blanked. Decided to take a one year pre-medical school Post-Bacc program. These are one year college programs designed to strengthen the undergrad academic record, show dedication to the goal of admission, and improve MCAT scores. They completed the program, had a slight MCAT improvement, went through the admission cycle, got no interview offers. The next cycle, applied to DO schools and had multiple acceptances. Applicant #3 was a classmate of another of my kids. Similar story, unimpressive GPA and MCAT scores, as #1. Went through two application cycles with no interview offers. Applied the third cycle to DO schools and had several acceptances. My familiarity with the details of the process is that one of my kids. of an age between #1 and #3, also went through the process. A smart and personable kid who worked hard at a competitive college, had an outstanding GPA, diverse activities, and a good MCAT score. Got 5 acceptances and so had a choice of where to go. When I pick a physician, not only are informed recommendations important (as from other doctors) but so too credentials of education and training. Are there indications that the individual, from his or her past track record, seems to be an 80th percentile type or a 20th percentile type? Does that always describe a great doc or a poor one? No, of course not. Great docs come from mediocre schools and terrible ones from top schools. But as a starting point, past accomplishments and academic achievement can be informative. In selecting a doc as with sorting through medical school applicants, choices of residents by training program directors, choices of applicants for fellowships by program directors. All these processes are competitive and whether the particular doc was successful in past competitive situations are, for me, data points to consider. I want to choose docs who, rather than being mediocre, have excelled and achieved relatively more than their peers. It's a two tier system. Allopathic (MD) schools take the generally brighter and more accomplished applicants (in general) and the second tier, osteopathic schools, take those who have done less well.