Jimster & I were discussing this some time ago. Several recipes were given, including one from the USDA... but the thread seems to have dropped off the active list. Fortunately, I saved Jimster's post in my clippings: posted by: jimster on 10.18.2006 at 08:26 pm in Vegetable Gardening Forum "It was only after reading this thread that I remembered saving a couple of recipes last year -- recipes which would have been useful this year if I had remembered sooner. INSECTICIDE: A U.S.D.A. formula combining oil and soap is effective in killing soft-bodied insects. Mix 1 cup peanut, safflower, corn, soybean, or sunflower oil with 1 tablespoon liquid dishwashing detergent. To make the spray, use 11/2 teaspoons of the oil-detergent mixture for each cup of water...." This question comes up fairly frequently, so I'll try to keep this formula posted, in the event that it disappears from my clippings (as some posts already have). I've had good luck adding 1 tsp. of sugar to the soap spray; it will kill even cucumber beetles, if they are completely saturated. It is also highly effective against squash bugs, both adults & nymphs. Soap sprays in general tend to burn foliage, so they should be targeted on the insect pests directly, not sprayed over a wide area. If large leaf surfaces are sprayed, they should be rinsed as soon as the insects have died, about 1 hour after application. For wider infestations, it might be better to use an insecticidal soap such as Safers, which is less likely to cause severe leaf burn. Safers also qualifies as organic... dish soap, while non-toxic, may not meet that qualification. A mixture of soapy water & rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle will kill wasps... it literally knocks them out of the air. The bottle should have a strong spray, such as the horse spray bottles sold in Farm & Fleet stores.

The "Jungle Mix" sold here at Lowes is a potting soil. maybe they have a garden mix as well? I've used the potting soil, and it is not any better than any other comparably priced mix. I add pine bark and orchid mix to it, since it is too fine (will compact too much) for my needs. It will be cheaper for you to use bulk ingredients if you can. Pine/fir bark, compost, topsoil, are all good additives to raised beds. Bags of alfalfa pellets from the local feed store are cheap, and enrich the soil. Worm castings would be great too if you can get them. Can you get aged horse manure? Most stables will give it away. Orchid mix is wonderful stuff to help keep soil loose and well drained. But it is outrageously expensive here! Adding bulky, coarse ingredients is critical in maintaining a healthy soil. I use bark by the truckload. It makes digging holes more difficult, so I use a digging fork, which works fine. The soil is crumbly, moist, and rich. I have to add new ingredients every year, as the organics decompose. Be sure to have a thick layer of mulch on top of the soil, even in a veggie garden. It saves on weeding and watering. Lisa

I don't think this is too easy to make. See the site below for some info. The second site sells in huge quantities, the clear and shipping is based on the weight. http://www.pioneerthinking.com/glycerin.html http://www.soapcrafters.com/soap_crafting_supplies/711 http://www.millersoap.com/glycerinsoap.html I did find this info. for you. Looks complicated. Let us know how you do. deb "You can also make clear soap from scratch. This method involves all the aspects of cold process soapmaking, but takes it a few steps further by adding alcohol for clarity and a glycerin and sugar mix to suspend and enhance the clarity. It is a dangerous process because of the alcohol vapors. If you wish to make clear soap (which will not melt down like melt and pour  itÂs one pour only soap), please read "Transparent Soapmaking" by Catherine Failor. This is an excellent resource for anyone wishing to make clear soap from scratch".

Yes, there are innumerable PDF readers for ipad. I prefer goodreader myself, but there are dozens to choose from. Not sure what you mean by "not compatible with adobe". You can't run any desktop program on any tablet (from any maker) because they use a different operating system, but Adobe has quite a number of programs for ipad, including ones that let you use the ipad to control the desktop version of PS. iPads don't do Flash, but that's not much of an issue anymore. For large commercial sites that still have flash content on their web pages there's often an app you can download that lets you view their content on the ipad.