Texas-Weed wrote: Anyone who knows anything about turf grass knows darn good and well Zoysia is subject to all kinds of disease problems and Bermuda can survive nuclear holocaust. With all due respect Texas-Weed, I found another source that backs up Research Professor A. J. Turgeon's list of disease potential shown above in an earlier post. Again, bermuda has a higher disease potential than Zoysia. Of the 7 popular warm season turfgrasses, St. Augustine and Bermuda are the 2 worst when it comes to disease, according to Professor Turgeon's book Turfgrass Management. But let's look at a different book :-) Let's look at Texas A&M University's Richard Duble's book called Turfgrasses - Their Management and Use in the Southern Zone. This is what Duble has to say about zoysia: "Zoysiagrasses are relatively free of serious pest problems. Brownpatch, rust, and leaf spot diseases can cause problems in zoysia turf, but the grass usually recovers when environmental conditions change." Hmm, that sounds pretty innocuous to me--pretty harmless. Now let's see what Duble's book has to say about bermuda: "Bermudagrass does have numerous pest problems, however, which tend to increase with higher levels of management. High nitrogen fertilization rates, close mowing, and frequent irrigation tend to increase the susceptibility of bermudagrass to insects and diseases. "Serious insect pests that feed on the foliage of bermudagrass include armyworms, cutworms, sod webworms, bermudagrass mites, and Rhodesgrass scale (mealybug)....White grubs can severely damage bermudagrass by feeding on grass roots. Nuissance-type insects found on bermudagrass include chiggers, ants, and ticks. "Several serious disease organisms and nematodes also attack bermudagrass turf. Dollar spot, spring dead spot, leaf spot, brownpatch, and Pythium are all fungus diseases that attack bermudagrass turf. Several species of nematodes also cause significant damage to bermudagrass turf." Gee, that doesn't sound quite as innocuous as zoysia. Duble writes very little about zoysia's disease potential, but he's got a mouthful to say about bermuda's. Now let's look at what he says about weeds and bermuda: "Weeds are also serious pests in bermudagrass turf. Vigorous, healthy turf properly maintained provides the best means of weed control in bermudagrass turf. But, where turf thins due to environmental stress, pest problems, or poor management, weeds rapidly invade bermudagrass.

Call your local extension office for a recommendation on what is best to use to control the ants in your yard. Baiting them is very difficult, but I know that there is at least one product out there formulated for leaf cutter ants. I don't, however, think that it is available for homeowner use.

Hello I am a quilter, and looking for information on the AccuCut die cutters. Of course I am more interested about the GrandeMark which is for fabric also. Do any of you have one? Or have you used one? Any information you have about them would be wonderful. Thanks in advance

I bought a GrandMARK die cutting machine in August 2007. I am a beginning quilter...started about two years ago. I was becoming frustrated with my inaccurate cutting resulting in wasting fabric and pieces that didn't fit together well. I was ready to give up quilting as I just wasn't happy as to how my projects were turning out. I began looking for a die cutting machine as I had seen some die cut fabric on some websites. I found accucut's website and found the customer representative to be very pleasant and helpful. I bought the grandmark machine along with the 8" quilt block starter set. You can also buy a 10" or 12" quilt block set. With any of the three quilt block starter kits you can make 36 different blocks with the dies you get with the machine. This is a link to a two page pdf on accucut's website which shows the dies included in the set and the blocks that can be made with the dies. http://www.accucut.com/images/documents/2006/MMQD.pdf I am very pleased as it is a real joy to use. i find that I waste very little fabric. The pieces fit together so beautifully. Some of the current quilting magazines have coupons which I believe can be used for up to 20% off on your order. I agree it may seem a little pricey but for me it is an investment which has made my quilting hobby far more enjoyable. I hope this is helpful, Kind regards