Hi Al and others, I would appreciate advice on saving sick/dying Picea glauca, in pic.1, please. I bought it on post Xmas sale and it was ~50cm tall, looking healthy, with very bushy top. I repotted it without much root cleaning to keep most original soil with fungus, which I read Picea, like other pines, needs. I planted the rootball with old soil into gritty mix, mostly pine bark fines with seramice, with a bit of gravel, see in pic.2 very "gritty" indeed :); trunk is ~1/2" at the bottom). I used a biggish pot to let it grow freely for a year or two. I also cut the top to encourage lower branches growth but it never happened. Water it when the pot feels light, ~ weekly (it is early autumn here in Sydney) by bottom watering in a bucket, then drain well by keeping the pot at ~45 degrees for a while. Use diluted Nitrosol liquid plant food every two weeks. Keep it on sun for 2-3 hrs, then half shade. Despite all my care (or coz of it ? :), the picea never showed any new growth but started developing warning signs for last 2-3 weeks. Those few thin branches started dying. Their stem turns from brown to greyish-green and gets soggy before dying. See in pic 3&4, that branch in front which is dying now, with grey stem. Other branch died a few days ago. Only three normally looking branches are left. But I am afraid they are facing same fate. Anything I can do to rescue my future picea bonsai at all? Thanks and cheers, Sergey

I know ST is related to zoysia, but the texture is incredibly different and grows so thick compared to my zoysia. Depends on variety. Some like Diamond and Emerald are extremely soft and silky. Sounds like you might have Z-52 aka Meyers. What do you mean by sprigs vs plugs? Zoysia grass is very much like Bermuda as it reproduces by stolons (above ground) and rhizome (below ground) runners. To make sprigs you simply rake the yard and pull up the stolon runners, and plant them. Rather than me telling you the process, just Google sprigging Bermuda or Zoysia. To make plugs there are two ways: 1. Take sprigs and plant them in pots. 2. Cut sod, then chop them into 2 x 2 squares and plant them in pots.

I have three experience with CI. One is a "Fix it and forget it" cookbook my mom got me--basically casserole meals for the stovetop, oven, and slow cooker. Mostly fattening meat eater fare, so I don't use it much. The recipes I've tried have been OK, not out of this world and their version has never been my definitive one, despite what they claim. I guess mom got it for me so maybe I would make some of those dishes when the 'rents visit, it's really more their style of eating. I watch their show on PBS and enjoy it, but again, mostly meat stuff so not for me. I recently tracked down their blueberry scones recipe because I like fresh fruit in scones but don't like how they get all mushed up. The America's Test Kitchen show I watched on the scones had a folding technique for incorporating the berries. The recipe had all kinds of other fru fru stuff, like grating the frozen butter, freezing the dough for 5 minutes halfway through, etc. The scones turned out OK, kinda doughy, and not any better than any other recipe I have tried, except the folding part about the fruit. The third experience I had was having pumpkin cheesecake at a friend's house, and it was absolutely out of this world, by far the best I have ever had. I normally don't even like it!! She gave me a copy of the article she got the recipe from. Their fussy technique of pressing the pumpkin puree between paper towels to remove some of the liquid really did make a difference it that case. When they review brands, they only review a smattering of the options available. On the plus side, at least they try to be innovative and helpful, and the recipes are not over shadowed by personalities.

We are in need of some feedback. Here is a couple photos showing what appears to be edge flashing from a high body ceramic-Ti oxide matte interior paint. In this application it is being used on a ceiling (washable) and sprayed only. The walls are level 5 smooth and have multiple coats of the same manufacturers high build paint/sealer. The painter is going nuts. We have spent several weeks experimenting with every conceivable combination. He has tried a multitude of tips, pressures, temperatures, humidity levels, time delays for recoats, you name it. This has been a full scale research project with great control over test conditions and a lot of persistance. While what appears to be flashing can be minimized as shown in the photos, we have been unable to repeat a totally acceptable application. These photos were taken of paint applied in 55 deg. near 50% humidity, 2700 psi using a 515 with near 50% overlap. A very light coat was sprayed in one direction and a flood coat the opposite (which telegraphed). There was no percievable flashing for nearly 16 hours as it dried quite slow with the above conditions. While spraying the edges were flowing out perfect. We really though we hads it figured out. These photos are certainly a worst case scenario as they are south facing and have many windows. Thank you for any insight/advice!