One situation where you would really want potted is if you are planting during the growing season. Bare root isn't really an option then, but potted plants do fine with a bit of care. I've also had good experiences with plants from Rolling River nursery, which sells all potted plants at very reasonable prices. They are not quite as cheap as bare root, but there isn't too much of a markup, unlike Berries Unlimited which is a bit pricey. I've gotten blueberries from Berries Unlimited twice and the larger plants were nice, but pretty pricey. If you have time to size them up, blueberries seem to grow pretty quickly. Along with the large plants I got a few in 4" pots late this spring and re-potted them. After by fall, the were roughly equivalent to the 2 gallon plants I was sent. A 1 gallon I was shipped is as large now as the 3 gallon. Two years ago the bare root raspberries, gooseberries, and currants from Nourse were OK, but nothing special. I got a smaller order this past year and there were some very nice plants- one currant in particular had a monster root system. It probably had as much root mass as 4 plants from the year before. Maybe placing my order earlier in the season this time made a difference. So far, I've liked Autumn Britain, Caroline, and Prelude (good for early season). I don't really have a leader yet for blackberries- I added 3 more types last year, so I may have a better idea soon.

LOL Vanessa.........I was just standing outside today, looking at the chimney stone, thinking how perfect it would have been! And it would have been so meaningful to use it on the pond, instead of "imported" rocks. oh well. Maybe by the time it comes down, we'll have a bigger pond to put it around! One question for you........are you sure its okay to put all that weight on the rim of your stocktank? I'm going to support all the stone around mine on other rocks, so it barely rests on the lip. I can't remember for sure, but I'm thinking someone brought up the issue of not putting too much weight on the lips of the stocktanks. Maybe it would be good to put 2 more PVC pipes right behind the stocktank, under the plywood shelf?? Back to my questions: Should I build up the soil where I'm going to put the waterfall, and put the liner over that........and then start adding the rocks? Do I pull up the sides of the liner, and and lay them over rocks, to make that "U"? Or could I sculpt the soil in a horseshoe-type shape, and lay the liner over that? Would that raise the sides enough to prevent leaks? hahaha I guess I need to go out there and start figuring it out. I have major problems leaning over and I guess I'm not looking forward to it, and want to have a real viable plan before I even start it. The last thing I want is to have it all done, and really like it, then look out at the end of the day and have the pond empty. hahaha So I want to make it perfect to start with. So is your built-up waterfall done already? I want pics!!

This is a fantastic thread and thank you to all of the contributors! I find mason bees fascinating. I would like to expand my mason bee housing, I only started last year. I have a couple of questions for DIY houses. I think I would like to go the paper tube route. It seems parchment paper seems to work perhaps better than brown paper bag? I have bags but easily can buy a roll of parchment if it fairs better with moisture (pacific north west). Drilling hole size if I used a solid wood block: If I use parchment, do I drill 5/16" still. With paper bag, do I drill 3/8" as the paper takes up space or still go 5/16". I am going to buy a long drill bit (about 16") and use my drill press to get deep holes. Don't really want to buy 2 bits :) . My other option is to rip 5/16" square grooves in 1" think boards and then line with tubes. The tubes will prevent the spread of mites etc between wood layers correct? This is far faster for me (rip the grooves vs. drilling a solid block) and I already have the dado blade and table saw, as well as the wood. Comments and suggestions greatly appreciated!

The wrapping will help with vibration carried down the duct sheet metal, but not so much with acoustic noise carried down the air path. The silencer has to be larger than the duct for the same reason that a car muffler has to be larger than its exhaust and tail pipes. The acoustic waves have to be partially delayed to mix with out-of-phase waves to cancel some of the sound, without adding significant pressure loss. An alternative to the silencer for reducing blade tip turbulence is to operate the blower at a lower speed. For the same flow rate, this requires a blower that is larger in diameter than the usual manufacturer matches to desired flow rates. (Compare and or contrast a Casablanca type ceiling fan -- many CFM with no noise.) For kitchen ventilation, I would look into a commercial up-blast blower. These often have a belt drive between the fan part and the motor, and the belt sheave ratios can be changed for various purposes. So a, say, 2200 CFM rated blower operated with a sheaf ratio such that at full power the flow rate is actually only 1200 CFM, or whatever you need, should be considerably quieter than say a Broan 1200 CFM unit operated at full power. There are many up-blast blowers available from commercial ventilation distributors, but determining what you need may be difficult. It would be for me without getting the necessary literature. You may find a source such as Greenheck to be willing to provide some advice over the telephone or someone at a local commercial HVAC outfit. It is also possible (I've never looked into this) that Fantech could provide some low speed in-line blowers that together moved enough air and could be set to be lower in speed. This might be asked of their engineering support via telephone. But I would be surprised if they could do so without exceeding your duct diameter and still interface to the duct without pressure loss issues. Anyway, usually roof installations are easier to access than duct installations when the duct is nestled in the joist space and covered by gypsum.