Well, the concept of 'tank mixes ' is geared for those who are protecting agricultural crops, orchards, nurseries, golf courses, and similar. The directions for combinations are pretty explicit. And that's pretty much the extent of my experience. The efficacy of mixing ready-to-use products is really out of my comfort zone. My sense of it is that the end result would be diluted....with the active ingredient in each being diluted with twice as much carrier (water) . It's not something that I would suggest. In this particular example, I'd be tempted to use the spinosad as directed and add a very small amount of a horticultural oil as a sticker. Oils are often used that way. Since we are both talking about mixing stuff together, it's probably a good idea to mention that these combinations can't be made with everything. Some 'brews ' can end up being downright dangerous, either for us or for the plant...or both.

Hi C.N. I know that Lester Meyers has small C. gigantea for sale. I'm guessing they are between 1-2inches in diameter, which I guess is beyond the tiny seedling stage. At $3 dollars each thats pretty good. Otherwise you should try Rudolf Schulz, I know that he definitely has good sized plants of Saguro. Last time I was there, they were close to a foot tall. The only problem is that they are a very long spined form, which can be a bit hazardous if yoyr trying to unpack from the box, or if your planning to put in your cactus and succulent garden that would experience high traffic. I bought my first Saguro, just over ten years ago and it was only a small seedling in a 2 inch pot. Now it is about a foot high. it has had to deal with a lot of my early mistakes when I started the hobby. They are quite tough plants. Saguro can actually grow about 20cm a year if you can provide them with the correct heat. They love it hot. Obviusly I can't provide them with those conditions living in cold , windy Melbourne. So they are not as slow as some people may think. If you have ever tried to grow Strombocactus or Ariocarpus, then you will truly know how slow some cacti can relly be. Anyway, good luck with your cactus garden endeavour, I wish you great success. Whatever you do, make sure whatever plants you put in the garden aren't too small, otherwise they may wilt and die because of the sun and heat.

Yep, definitely fruit fly. But I don't buy the fatalistic line espoused above. I have huge delicious tomatoes coming in hand over fist. A few are in this thread... http://www.au.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg0201302810487.html?5 Last year was shocking for fruit fly. This year I started with a few but there are bugger all now. Len makes a very salient point. Husbandry. You have to start by removing all spent fruit from your property and never ever putting fruit in the compost pile. I spray at first light with concentrated pyrethrum 20ml/ltr, which is organic, and try and get spray under the green collar (forgotten the name) at the top of the fruit, where the blighters will attack if pyrethrum is covering the rest of the fruit. I appear to have erradicated a very severe problem in the space of 12 months. I am awash with tomatoes of all shapes, colours and sizes. In fact, this is going down as one of my best tomato seasons ever in Sydney. Extra-large fruit this year. Even golf-ball sized ones aremore like tennis balls. If you have fruit trees on your property you might have your work cut out. But don't give up on growing tomatoes in Sydney or anywhere else for that matter. I beat my other big problem - birds - by collecting all the spare caps I could and attaching the velcro tabs around the tomato stems so the cap or two facing caps cover the ripening tomatoes. Works like a charm. And your plants look like they are enjoying major sponsorship ;) Start on your fruit fly problem now for next season. It won't happpen overnight but it will happen. And make sure you get your plants in the ground in early Autumn so they set fruit before the height of summer, which fries the flowers. But even then I have had excellent fruitset through summer by shaking branches on the sub-30C days and feeding with a bloom booster so there are always flowers ready to open after those that have been fried on the hot days. Good growing, Grub. And feel free to email me for some seeds for great varieties that can handle a bit of heat :)

I can find them in my local nursery, but they're grafted on Fortuniana rootstock, which is great here for WA, but not particularly for NSW and other parts of Australia (where Multiflora and Canina, for example, are preferred). Without suitable rootstock roses can only strive in our harsh climate so I suggest you to look further. Try some smaller nurseries, which are usually more passionate about growing better roses and are eager to help you find out some rare rose gems -- in contrast, big nurseries usually stock only "best-buys" and those roses "that can justify people's investment" (let me quote one sales rep. from one big nursery). PS. Re. fragrance, beware -- rose perfume tends to evaporate pretty quickly here in Oz. Thank that to the heat and low humidity. So even the most perfumed rose won't be very fragrant if you keep her flowers opened for too long in your garden. As soon as it starts to open, cut the flower and put in your vase.