- Mix 1 to 2 tablespoons soap with 1 quart of water; - Shake; - Apply/spray (It acts on contact, which means that it must touch the insect in order to be effective); - after 30 minutes, rinse plant with fresh water; - re-apply every 3 days over a 9 - 12 day period to break the reproductive cycle.

A friend of mine runs a woodworking supply store and is a very good finisher. He calls gel varnish, "The answer to a question nobody asked." The premise is that you want a varnish to soak into the surface of the wood, not just sit on the surface. When a well-known finish supplier tried to get him to carry their gel stain in his store, he made this comment to them (he is never shy about expressing his opinion). Their response was, "Well, we always thin it before using it." So then what is the purpose? I have used Bartley's Gel varnish as not was not too impressed with it. It tends to build up in concave details. The thing about gel varnishes is that the contain a "thixotropic agent" This makes the finish gel when at rest, and liquid when energy is applied. For example, open a can and put in a stir-stick. It will stand up. Stir vigorously for a minute and put the stick back in and now it will tip over. The same thing happens at a small level when the finish is padded on, it liquifies at the point of contact, then returns to a gel. Personally, I like a varnish thinner and brushed or padded on. Pretty much a fool-proof method of varnishing is to thin about 50-50 with mineral spirits and wipe on multiple thin coats. You'll need 7-8 coats to equal about 3-4 coats of brushed on, but it goes fast, no brush to clean, and you can pad on another coat while it is still green (slightly tacky). Pad on three coats in one day, while the prior coat is still "green." Let dry overnight. Scuff sand, and repeat three coats on the second day. Let dry overnight. Scuff sand and apply three more coats on the third day. Done.

Our understanding of nature is continuing to expand. I feel that there is a dilemma as to whether one should apply the precautionary principle when there is "new science" that suggests "bad effects" but the "new science" needs to be followed up by additional research. The link below leads to a new paper that I feel fits this description. http://toxsci.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/07/31/toxsci.kfw111 ----------------------------------------------------------- I have a copy of the full paper. In the Introduction section the following appears: "The toxicity of imidacloprid is embodied in neurotoxic action through disrupting neural signaling in adult insects (Tomizawa and Casida, 2005). However, little is known about its potential toxic effects on early embryo development in spite of a few reports on human health, including reproductive ability (Elbert et al., 2008; Gu et al., 2013; Wamhoff and Schneider, 1999). Currently, more and more attention is being paid to the toxic effects of pesticides on embryo development, including neural dysplasia. And the public is concerned about the risk of congenital diseases caused by exposure to pesticides, such as imidacloprid. However, there is no direct evidence of toxicological effects on neurogenesis or corresponding mechanisms nowadays. In this study, we investigated whether or not imidacloprid could affect neurogenesis and explored the relevant mechanism of imidacloprid-induced neural tube defects (NTDs) during early chick neurogenesis." The final sentence of the Discussion section states: "It is obvious that more precise molecular experiments are required to completely reveal the toxicological mechanism for imidacloprid exposure to embryonic neurogenesis."

All my roses that have come back from being killed to the ground this year have new red growth. I know that most them are above the graft or are own root. The growth is slow and steady. Dr. Huey will usually shoot a long cane super fast with the leaves spaced quite aways apart. You can tell the flower will be very dark red IF it blooms this year. Often Dr. Huey will not bloom until the second year. Not sure about the mention about Blaze stock? The old Blaze has flowers that are more of a Knockout red than the Dr. Huey. The Improved Blaze is true red, but still lighter than Dr. Huey.