Tec - if you're going to stick to a Miracle-Gro product, a better choice would be either their 24-8-16 or 12-4-8 formulation. They are both 3:1:2 ratios, and furnish the major nutrients (NPK) in about the same ratio as that in which the average of all plants use them. I do use Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 for several reasons, but chief among them are the facts that it also has Ca and Mg, nutrients missing from most soluble fertilizers, and it doesn't derive it's N from urea, so growth is finer and internodes shorter. Using fertilizers in about the same ratio as plants' usage, is especially important when using heavy soils and watering in sips. Ratios that don't closely mimic plant usage quickly cause nutrient levels in the soil become skewed, and that isn't a desirable condition. Also, when using a soluble fertilizer like those mentioned, you reserve control over what your plants are getting and when they get it. Al

There's nothing wrong with Bt per se. In fact, it is often used in organic farming as a pesticide because it is a naturally occuring substance and it biodegrades quickly. The problem is, when you breed Bt chemicals into EVERY SINGLE ONE of your corn plants, in every single field in the country, then all you have done is dramatically, (like beyond belief) increase the selection pressure on insects to develop resistance to Bt. Case in point, I know an organic farmer who is upset as all heck because Bt is one of the few pesticides they use and his concern is that all this GMO Bt craze will do is rapidly decrease the amount of time Bt will be around as an effective option. BTW, he doesn't use plants bred to include Bt chemicals in their tissues, he APPLIES Bt to selected fields if there is a problem that Bt can solve. Monsanto however doesn't care if insects develop resistance to one of their pesticides, they will just develop others to sell to you. They are pushers plain and simple and they want folks to get addicted to using their products all the time. Who can blame them, that's how they make their living! In fact, if I was a conspiracy theorist I would say that Monsanto is trying to push organic farmers out of business by co-opting and trashing one of their best tools. Actually no conspiracy is needed, once cannot blame a business from wanting all the customers in the world!! That's their job, and our right as consumers is to buy from them . . . or not. What's the alternative?? Use IPM (Integrated Pest Management) which is a scientific method designed to MINIMIZE the chance that insects will develop resistance. You use pesticides judiciously, rotate your crops, treat infestations early, cover plants, use mechanical methods, interplant with unpalatable stuff, use traps and lures, use many varieties of corn, mix up your fields--there's a whole host of methodologies. But easier just to plant rows and rows of a monoculture year after year with your known chemical inputs that you buy from Monsanto. The idea is to take the guesswork (and brainwork I would argue) out of farming, make it more like the way a factory operates (hence the term "factory farming"). Ideally this would also buffer farmers from the financial ups and downs that come with working a natural system where so many things are unkown, although the jury is still out on how well that works in reality, since Nature still is Nature, and the laws of thermodynamics still apply. (What I'm hinting at is that these factory farm inputs all rely heavily on non-renewable FOSSIL FUELS to work.) I've seen figures from 10-20% of US fossil fuel consumption can be attributed to agriculture. I imagine the reason for the variability in the figures is that it depends on your assumputions and it varies from year to year and it is a difficult figure to pin down exactly. Being a biologist I think the way we approach food production in this country is a form of insanity, since plants and insects are living things and living things are mallable, flexible, interconnected and inherintly variable. And when this whole Monsanto-orchestrated system breaks down, Monsanto will be happy to sell you their latest "fix" for the problems they create. I'm not knocking Monsanto, they've got a great little game going and it makes them lots of money and provides people with jobs, and we know that is always a good thing right? If this is what we want, this is what we will get. And if we have the will to implement alternatives, that's what we will get. I do know that corn borers and potato beetles are EXTREMELY difficult to control, particularly for organic farmers. Hence their issues with Monsanto . . . they are making it more difficult to grow these crops organically. As a side note, the "Green Revolution" that so increased our yields in corn, (a plant that uses a lot of nitrogen which is why is was formerly used in rotation with other crops since it depleted the soil when grown year after year), did so by using nitrogen fertilizers (processed using fossil fuels) which makes corn tissue very, very palatable to a whole host of insect pests. No problems there though, Monsanto has a fix for that . . .

My 14 year old Persian kitty was diagnosed with crf about a month ago. He was prescribed subq fluids ( which I do myself) and gd canned renal food, as he has a heart murmur. He has eaten a raw homemade food all his life that I make myself..but it has bone in it..which I understand is not good for crf kitties as it contains too much phrosphuros. He likes the gd..but has lost weight and I suspect he needs more high quality protein..I have searched the web for info for a recipe using raw chicken..but I can't find any...I am fearful he is losing muscle mass...I have started adding cooked egg white to his gd food...not sure how much to add..so probably a while egg white per day..as he eats fairly often. It seems there are so many of us pet owners who are desperately looking for this info. I have found that a private consult with someone who says they can help is just too expensive! I was considering leaving out the bone on the recipe I normally use ...but not sure about adding bonemeal... A cbc done after several weeks on gd brought the bun way down..but creatinine is still high at 3.0... I even wonder how much a previous raw diet affected the original cbc levels... I weigh him every day...and he is slowly losing ... For now ...he is eating...but runs to the raw my others are eating every chance he gets..so I am a constant policeman. He also was presscribed Azodyl...I have read you can buy human probiotic at Whole Foods...but not sure how much to give..that would be so much cheaper..if it even helps..everyone on it seems to think so..but I have read poor reviews about it.. Also have read good things.about Renafood by Standard Process..it's a human supplement... B complex,omega 3 which I do put into my raw recipe...not sure what freezing does to the quality of it.. And what about Calcitriol??? The vet said he was in stage 3..but I guess that is where most cats are when not caught early...He sleeps non stop...does wake to eat fairly often..but doesn't stay awake for any length of time...when he does eat a fairly good amount..he is trying to paw into my plate...or finding his way into my one cats dry food..or the raw I am feeding the others...so does that say..what he is eating is not nutritious enough??? From what I am reading on the net the renal food is not sufficient enough for their carnavarl needs...canned food of any kind cannot be compared to a raw diet...I have feed this to my cats for 12 years...and they have always had excellent cbc's up until now... He and all the others had cbc's last year..and all were great.,but if all this happened within a year..I am going to have them all tested again.. I did take all the meat off a whole chicken..added..chicken liver..all raw..and froze this mixture into very small patties and have added a small amount to his gd food..but not sure this is enough....as you can see..I am determined to feed him raw ..if only I knew I wasn't harming him. I know there are canned foods that are not prescription..that can be low in phorphuros...right now his is 3.7.. down from 5.5 originally.. Would so appreciate your help. thanks, bev. ...

My husband just bought a 48 can double case of organic soft cat food from Costco for under 30.00 - That's 2x as much as a single case from Chewy. It's made in the US, but I couldn't very 100% that it's sourced in the US either. The only thing about it that makes me leary is that it's produced for Kirkland's by Diamond and Diamond was the manufacturer that had that huge recall of foods a couple of years back. ELMER - please read my previous post about Nylabones, buyer beware.