Roberta, you misunderstand how lighting affects laying, and also how the commercial operations work. Lighting does not "use up" hens. True, there are only a certain number of eggs available for the hen to lay throughout her lifetime. The lack of extended lighting will not stretch her egg laying life. There are other factors which reduce or eliminate laying in older hens long before all of the potential eggs are laid. Extended lighting merely allows her to lay more of those eggs earlier in her lifetime, before the other factors kick in and possibly end her laying career. Commercial operations do not "use up" hens in a year or two so that they no longer lay. They do use lighting and other more harmful practices to keep the hens in production for as much of that time period as possible. When they are done, they are sold as spent layers, but they are anything but. They merely begin to slow down in production where it becomes unprofitable for the large companies to continue to feed them versus the number of eggs that they are getting. These spent layers still lay plenty of eggs, and would lay well for the average backyard keepr for several more years, although not with quite an efficient feed to egg ratio, if you're looking at it only in dollars and cents. Rosedude, lighting in layers is a complex subject, and there are entire books written on it. There's a lot of info on the web. You should do a search. You don't say how long you've been doing it, but it doesn't work like magic. You don't turn the lights on one day and expect to get eggs the next. It takes up to several weeks for their systems to adjust. If they were in a molt when you began lighting, they might not start to lay until the molt is finished, no matter how much light you have on them. 13 hours is probably not enough. 16 is about average, but you can find more info on that in your searches. Sudden lengthening of daylight may also send them into a molt, if they have been getting normal daylength before that, so that will slow their laying also. Good luck.

Jessaka, Giving up the use of chemical pesticides is the hardest thing I EVER did. Many, many times I second-guessed myself and wondered if I was on the wrong path. Yet, ultimately, it was the most rewarding AND best decision I ever made. It can take years for a landscape to return to the proper balance once you stop using pesticides, but it will happen! I simply refuse to poison our air, land and water with chemicals that are, in fact, often nerve poisons. Randy, You and I feel the same way about the damage caused by broad-spectrum pesticides. AND, you know, it was hard for me to accept that many commonly-used ORGANIC pesticides (like rotenone and pyrethrins, for example) are just as damaging to the environment as chemically-based ones. It was especially hard for me to give up Bt kurstaki, but I like the butterflies and moths, so I gave it up too. Like you, I'd rather have the birds and the butterflies and the moths and the other critters! Hi Laura, I hate that you lost your asparagus. Those beetles can be so devastating to a bed. I hope the peppers are doing well. Ticks are very, very, very hard to control and I use a method most people cannot use--free-ranging chickens and guineas who roam the property and eat bugs all day long and are locked up in a secure henhouse to keep the predator birds and animals from getting them at night. Like Randy, we keep all the tall grass mowed down short OR take proper precautions when walking through it. One thing we do in the pastures is cut a path 8' to 10' wide and we only walk on the path. That way, all the insects can happily co-exist in the tall grass but don't bother us much in the short-grass paths. The pathways also help us avoid poisonous snakes by making them more visible. I'll search for a previous "tick control" thread and link it below. One thing I did notice here when we were clearing the land before we built the house was that the cedar trees DID have billions of ticks on them and the ticks literally DID DROP DOWN onto us when we were near the cedars. I am sure they were on other trees as well, but they were especially heavy on the cedars. Since cedars are highly invasive, we took out all the cedars on the 3 acres closest to the house--which took years and years, by the way---and that helped a lot. I think you have to take a multi-pronged approach to ticks and must treat the landscape around the house, but also take steps to protect yourself. I always wear long pants and tall socks....no shorts and flipflops for me! I also spray my shoes, socks, and pant legs up to about the knee area using a good DEET-based repellent. I HATE using DEET, but it isn't going on my skin--although I am sure some of it penetrates the clothing and makes its' way to the skin underneath. Ticks (and mosquitoes too) carry so many diseases that you have to do what you can to protect yourself. I have never found that any of the chemical products are very effective on ticks--people I know who religiously treat the lawns and dog yards/dog kennels with chemicals that are supposed to "control" ticks seem to have just as many ticks as people who don't treat those areas with chemicals. Oh, and when we come in from the outside, if we have been in an area that we know tends to have ticks in it, we check ourselves religiously for ticks and remove them before they have a chance to embed themselves in our skin. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: One Previous Tick Thread

I have posted this information here many times so here it is again: I was fortunate to discover Brandywine Pink through the old Seed Savers catalogue when this variety was first introduced. Back then there was only one Brandywine Pink (Sudduth or Quisenberry strain). Today many seed companies offer inferior strains of Brandywine Pink so the first thing you have to make sure is to get the true Sudduth (also called Quisenberry) strain, e.g. from Johnny's of Maine Seed Company. Of course there are other Brandywine varieties but Brandywine Pink is what is usually referred to "a low yielding variety". As experienced Brandywine Pink growers know, this variety does not set fruits in hot weather (possibly due to defective blossoms or split calyces as was pointed out on this forum by Carolyn and I think Craig), even here in Southern CTâs zone 5. As VP International I had to travel and live in different parts of North America and Europe. I grew Brandywine in Northern Germany, Dublin/Ireland and Northern Italy. As Brandywine is a late season variety, starting the plants early and getting them into the ground early was absolutely necessary in Germany and Ireland and is also important here in CT. I use efficient Metal Halide grow lights and cool basement conditions which gives me sturdy stocky plants. It allows me to start Brandywine 9 weeks before setting them into the ground. I plant well established, hardened, stocky plants out in early /mid May depending on the weather conditions and go out of my way to protect them against cold temperatures. I noticed that Brandywine did really well in the lower sun intensity countries so while my other tomatoes are planted in full sun, Brandywine does best in an area where high trees block the summer sun around lunchtime. However, you will also get good yield if you follow these rules: Most gardeners are growing tomatoes in far too rich soil or over-fertilized soil and often use too much fresh compost. Carolyn Male, author of â100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Gardenâ said it best, quote: The result of using compost in the planting hole and added to the soil and using too much fertilizer and too many amendments is that plants are stressed by growing too fast and the stress helps induce blossom end rot and also makes the plants far more susceptible to various diseases (end of quote). Over-fertilized soil prevents early fruit set. Add to that the fact that Brandywine does not set fruit in hot weather and what do you get: Disappointing yields. By observing the above mentioned suggestions: 1. Start early 2. Grow the plants in soil that has been fertilized the year before 3. Try to provide some shade during hot summer month in order to increase yields. I foliar feed with a marine brown algae extract and water once with a stinging nettle manure tea after first fruit set. This procedure is repeated when the first fruits start to turn pink and after the first significant harvest. After fruit set while tomatoes are ripening I will side dress sparingly with a high potash natural fertilizer blend. Thatâs it. Follow these instructions and you will be astonished about the yield increase of Brandywine Sudduth strain. And if you have never grown Brandywine, get ready for a treat.

Bill, I too am very grateful to you for sharing this information about the up-coming Kerdi price increase. I was already planning to order the Kerdi for our shower tomorrow but now I want to be sure to order everything we need at once. Our shower is 31 ½" x 72". It will have a 24" long curb and a 5Âhigh x 48" long tiled wall instead of a glass door. (Note that the wall is anchored to the ceiling with a post as you suggested:) The shower opening will be doorless. We have installed three niches on the back of the 5' wall. Please advise on how much Kerdi, Kerdi band and how many inside and outside corners we will need. The drain comes with 2 inside and 2 outside? Do we really need the Kerdi fix or can we use a less expensive sealer around the drain and shower valve? (The dealer told me that he doesnÂt sell much Kerdi-fix even to those who install the Kerdi products for a living.) To save money, we are planning to do a mud floor rather than ordering the kit. Would it be a lot easier to use the kit? Would the kit fit our shower? My brother is sending us 60 sq. ft. of Kerdi that was left over from his shower install. In addition, we plan to order the 108 sq. ft. roll. We will put the kerdi up to the height of the shower head (74") and cover the floor, the 5 wall, niches and curb. If we have enough, we will also Kerdi the outside of the 5 wall. I read on one of your posts that the niches should not be placed too low because they will fill with water. Do these niches look too low to you? They are 37 " and 45" from the floor. The shelves are slanted about 1/4" to allow the water to run off. We havenÂt decided whether to install the large triangle Better Bench on the shower-head wall. (Not sure if it would get in the way too much.) How much more Kerdi would be needed to cover the Better Bench? One more issue to resolve before I order the Kerdi drain. We dug a trench in the concrete so we can move the drain about 34" from the shower head wall. Unfortunately, there is a pipe that crosses the trench for the drain. The top of that pipe is 5 ½" below the floor surface. Can we run the drain pipe over the (blue)cross-pipe or will it cause the drain to be too high? When I attach the shower drain pipe, the top of the drain pipe will be 2 ½" below the floor surface. Thanks in advance for your help. Photo below shows shower-head wall (at back) and side walls.