Harmonyp, I completely agree with you about doing what is best for your wallet. You really have a kind heart and perhaps your roses like it and their growth reflects it. I sincerely believe that plants and animals have an inane ability to see our inside and react towards us accordingly. I think the main theme of most of the comments is to buy the best you can, and support the true rose lover's (the nurseries) as much as possible. Sometimes our wallets force us to act otherwise. I really don't care about the wallymart that much, but I end up going there because certain items are really cheap there and shopping for those saves me a bunch at the end of the month. I know that probably hurts a small mom and pop business, but my wallet almost forces me to overlook that. I try to reduce my shopping there to the bare minimum for that reason. I wish I could stop going there. Anyway, does someone know why my supposedly intensely fragrant roses from sams and hd are not fragrant, even if they appear to the be the right cultivar? Thanks.

By all means, don't do anything you don't feel sure of or uncomfortable doing... besides using sulfuric acid really doesn't apply to your situation since you are not in any hurry.... however I will suggest you start now with the sulfur since the conversion from elemental sulfur into sulfuric acid by bacteria and fungi is a slow one that will require a growing season. I pulled up this old thread because I felt what I have to offer might have applied to the original poster's desire. This thread was from over 4 years ago. Two years ago I was in a situation of needing to lower pH but not wanting to wait and give up a whole season to plant so I began searching the internet for possible ways to accomplish this. Using sulfuric acid directly seemed logical but in searching for more technical information from people with actual experience while also trying to find specific descriptions of how to do this safely, all I seem to turn up was a lot of disinformation, myths that was the basis for scare tactics across amateur gardening forums.... but the real kicker for me in this confusing search seemed to be that this non-sense was coming from self-proclaimed "experts" (but aren't we all?) who had a strong bias without any actual experience (obviously this is because of their own biases preventing them from ever trying it in the first place which leads to a circular logic that gets you nowhere). Eventually I did manage to find some technical papers authored by agronomy specialists that spoke to the use of sulfuric acid in a professional context and several turf management (golf course grounds managers) websites and some farmer websites that spoke of it as accepted practice where their techniques did not apply to my needs because of the scale of the equipment and tanks and in some cases whole ponds being managed as the acid reservoir and in the end none of these internet resources provided specifics for a home gardener who was just seeking a way to employ this technique safely. Forums were of no use because of all the crazy "experts" spouting knee jerk fear reactions to the whole idea of using sulfuric acid in the garden (despite the fact that all our gardens already have sulfuric acid producers during active summer temperatures... bacteria and fungi both). Gardening clubs and cannabis growers and other forums dedicated to home gardening were almost a waste of time in this respect because of all the either negative or confusing tactics (talking about using acetic acid instead because its safer, etc) polluting threads but with no other resources to turn to I persevered and waded through those thread seeking the one posting that would enlighten me... 'til I finally manage to ferret out enough information from a few posters that actually have real experience using sulfuric acid in the garden to learn about using battery acid and how to dilute it and apply it that I felt confident enough to take the leap. I gave it a try and it works! its neither dangerous nor complicated though there are a couple caveats that should be mentioned... just a straight forward to-the-point posting that explains the use of sulfuric acid in gardening... and that's all my posting above was meant to do. So, if someone else should want specific information on how to do this from someone who has actually tried it they will eventually come across this thread and my posting... without a bunch of scary gibberish tied to it. It would have saved me A LOT of time and stress doing internet researching had I found just such a posting two years ago. That is all. Oh and poaky... you may want to do a little bit of internet research yourself into the use of Aluminum Sulfate in conjunction with edible plants (blueberries) because of possible toxicity issues. I'm not claiming to be an expert but I have read some things... so check it out yourself before you make your selection on which product to use to lower pH for growing edible plants and read what's contained in the bag before you make your purchase. Good luck.

Danman1 - most things you power with a generator have 2 power requirements. 1 is running load, the other is starting load. I run a fridge, an air-conditioner, some lights, and a few fans. Occasionally we run a TV or radio and a computer for news and information pertinent after a major disaster (hurricane). Depending on what you choose to run, in practice you will realize it is likely not possible to draw 100% power all the time. The air-conditioner draws 1,500 watts running, but draws 2,400 when the compressor cycles ON. The fridge draws 850 running and 2,475 when starting. So here I am running the AC and the load is 1,500 watts I have a few lights on using 200 watts, and the TV is on drawing 150 watts. I have on 4 fans circulating the air in the rooms I am cooling keeping the temperature even using an additional 400 total watts. This is 2,250watts and easily handled by the generator. Suddenly the fridge turns on. This draws an additonal 2,475 watts during starting. I am now drawing 4,725 watts and that is below the 5,000 rated and 6,250 surge rating so I am good. I could turn on a few more lights, maybe turn on the radio too. But the point is the maximum I can really run has to be the start-up surges + what is running and this must not exceed the nameplate max surge. Since there is a very real possibility of the AC and the Fridge cycling together occasionally I need to make sure I am subtracting the total surge that would produce from the surge rating of the generator. That leaves me with 1,375 watts to power "non surge loads" such as lights and the radio etc. So If I max out the non surge loads and the AC and Fridge are running at their running loads I am using 3,725 watts. I also have the overhead surge for when and if the AC and the fridge cycle together. If you run exclusively non-surge loads (like all incandescant light bulbs) then I could run (50) 100-watt lights, or 50 miles of electric fencing. But it is impossible to run my generator at FULL LOAD continually given what I choose to run. The only exception to that is when we turn off the fridge and the AC, and run the water heater 4,500 watts along with the bath and shower lights, and the humidity fan. It draws a total of 4,750 watts but the water heater only heats for 20-30 minutes then it cycles off when the water reaches temp again. (Yes it is very noticable listening to the generator when the 4,500 watt load ceases and I am only drawing 250 now for a fan and a few lights.) If I had the water heater on drawing 4,500 watts, and I left the fridge breaker on, that would be 5,350 watts and not good for the generator, but what would be worse is the fridge being off, but the breaker on, and the hot water heater drawing 4,500 watts... suddenly the fridge tries to start. I say tries, because that would need 6,975 watts The max surge rating is 6,250. I do not want to try this and find out, but I think there may be a bright flash from the generator, and then everything plugged in would shut off. Everyones needs differ. I use my genset for emergency power during likely a widespread long term power outage. Fuel use is a factor so I do not load my generator up to the max running load less the surge requirements because it DOES require more fuel to operate at 3,500 running watts than it does at 2,475 running watts. How can we know this is true? Well, simply it requires more energy input to get more energy output. As to my using say a 5hp generator instead of a 10hp unit.. the 5hp unit may handle all the running loads, but it does not handle the surge requirement of the fridge and AC cycling, so it was ruled out. Hey, I would love a 5hp generator that could handle the surge loads AND run for 24 hours on 5-gallons. Nobody offers one though. If you find one, please post it here. Until then I am stuck with the larger engine running at part power normally, with the balance there for the starting loads that happen on and off.

"It just is not wide enough to retain optimal heat." My earlier post "Also you must not have read my post as mine is right now 160-165 depending on where I stick the thermometer. Like I said the bin isn't even 1/2 filled and it's at that temperature so your theory of needing that size bin to provide that temperature is just plain wrong." PK's earlier post PK, I do not concede the point. In the beginning of November, I made two side-by-side mesh bins and filled them with exactly the same ingredients in one day. One was 30" in diameter, and one was 40" in diameter. I kept daily records on these two piles as I have on all my piles. The core temp was slightly higher on the 40" bin; but more importantly, kept the temp. up for a longer period of time. I'll give the exact numbers next time I'm on line. I don't think I said the core temps would be higher on a wider pile, but rather the heat would be retained longer. Val - I don't have a problem with racoons, but my dog takes no interest in my piles when smelly day old fish scraps have been put in the middle. Keep in mind that I only add fish when the core temp is 130F or more. This dissolves the fish scraps (mainly bluegill or small) in less than ten days. People who have odor issues often add smelly items when their core temp is not this high. My next door neighbor is adding whole banana peels to a 30F core and wonders why they don't break down as quickly as mine.