I feed regularly. They have a slow release osmocote added to the soil plus I fertilize once a week with a solution of miracle grow tomato food 18-18-18, fish & seaweed emulsion and a touch of Superthrive. Every month or so I will toss a bit of epsom salts into the pot for good measure. This works for me. I get my plants to bloom young with this solution. This is a pic of a young Ecuador pink. She had 10 blooms. I had to put her up on a stand because the flowers were bigger than the plant!

I've spoken to the nursery and sent them digital photos. Their horticulturalist tells me that its not a pathogen but rather, a watering problem, which I don't agree with. I have 55 other conifers on the property and they are all essentially flourishing -- some browning on a few arborviate, but thats all. Certainly no blackening. I have difficulty accepting that this plant somehow slipped through the cracks and was miswatered badly enough to cause rapid deterioration in multiple colors, with a white excretion as well. The horticulturalist attributes the brown to insufficient watering, the black to excessive watering. On the same plant. The white, they suggest, is sap ooze. They are sending the photos to someone else to look at but the gist of it is that they refuse to give me another plant. I still fear pathogen and the infection of 6 other pines, not to mention the aesthetic issue of a very unwell looking plant with both brown and black discoloration. So it gets pulled.

I pop in a couple times a day as well to see if anything is going on. I don't have a show scheduled until May but it is a big outdoors show that is very successful, it is 3 days and is alot of fun. It is a German Festival. I am getting ready for that while making product and TRYING to get pics for my website that is under construction (if I don't get the pics done it will remain that way). In a recent post I added that I finally made CP soap and was very excited about it. I am getting ready to make my 2nd batch next week (waiting on a fragrance) I make Clear glycerin and Goat's Milk based soaps and now adding some CP. I also make body butter, lotion bars (huge seller for me), lotion, lip balms, bath salts, salt scrubs, body/linen sprays, bath bombs and have just added a Muscle Relief Balm with EMU oil, I love it! Oh, I just added Loofah Scrub Bars! Some things I would like to try: Body Powder, Shampoo Bar(tried and flopped the 1st time but will try again), dish soap and anti-bacterial liquid soap. I am also going to dabble growing some herbs this spring. I sell on ebay as well and am constantly trying to clean out my shop. I have refrained from listing on ebay last several weeks so I could get caught up on other things. Michelle

b-soda doesn't dry your skin out. This is from Brambleberry's site: Phenonip - A liquid preservative to inhibit a full range of microbial growth in your cremes, lotions, salt scrubs, dusting powders and liquid soap bases. This preservative is more suitable than Germaben II for products that are manufactured at higher temperature ranges. Phenonip is not a formaldehyde donor. Use at a rate of .5 -1.0% of the total weight of your product.While volume vs. weight measurements vary, these measurements may help you if you don't have a scale handy: 0.1 oz. = 3 ml 3.0 ml = 2 grams Phenonip is composed of: Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Butylparaben and Propylparaben. Here is a link that might be useful: bath fizzys