My local Wal-Mart is selling Shade Cloth, "Coolaroo" Brand, available as either 70% or 90% shade shade factor. Coolaroo claims at least 10 years of UV resistance. I believe that Coolaroo is mostly an Aussie brand (manufactured in China and sold worldwide), so it is usually promoted as protecting people from excessive UV exposure. I really don't understand why Aussies worry about skin cancer; I just thought that Crocadile Dundee would just pull out his 12 inch knife and, all by himself, dig out any funny looking moles saying, "Ah melanoma, no big deal."! The late Crocadile Hunter (may God have mercy on his soul) would just hold out his kid in front of a crock saying "Here crocky, here crocky, bite out that melanoma, that's a good crocky, that' it". And any suburban Aussie, would just rub their pet toxic cane toad above any melanoma. Oops, I digress from the topic of this post. Sorry for the American stereotypes of Aussies. The Coolaroo display box also sells accessories, such as a sewing kit with a roll of black UV-resistant (my assumption) cord plus a special sewing needle. Shade cloth is available in two forms: woven or knitted; the Coolaroo product is knitted and does not fall apart if you cut it. I purchased a roll of green 90% shade. I attempted two methods of fabrication: sewing or silicone glue (caulking). Using the Coolaroo sewing kit with their 90% shade cloth is quite difficult. Both their cord and needle are just too big; in contrast, their needle and cord should be fine for the 70% shade cloth. Sewing the 90% shade with a smaller needle and a more light weight cord, or using an aluminum wire, are alternatives that may work. Using sticks of hot glue melt may work; but the sticks carried by Wal-Mart are not resistant to UV, as far as I know; I have not tried them for that reason. I also fabricated cylinders by pumping 1 or 2 strips of silicone caulking onto a two inch wide strip of the fabric, and pulling the fabric around over the silicone caulking and pushing down to form a 2 inch wide glued seam. There was plastic film underneath the seam to protect the garage floor from silicone. I pushed a seam roller (ie., those used for wall paper) over the glued joint. The pressure from the seam roller causes the caulk to ooze out from both layers of shade cloth- the two strips of plastic film intercept this ooze to form a thin layer of silicone on both outer surfaces of the seam. I soon remove the top plastic film so that air will induce the silicone caulk to cure. Once the silicone caulk cures, I remove the second roll of protective plastic film. Note that silicone does not glue the polyethylene (or polypropylene) shade cloth per se. Rather, as the silicone oozes around the plastic threads, a continuous matrix of cured silicone forms a mechanical layer that physically traps the two layers of shade cloth together. Gee... I'm going to have to photograph this gluing process to explain it. Be careful with the silicone. Some tubes, especially those for bathtubs, contain a biocide to kill mildew; who knows what that will do to plants or those that eat the plants. Silicone, as far as I know, is inherently resistant to mold; but silicone is not inherently toxic to mold, so mold can grow on top of silicone. Nothing prevents mold from growing on top of silicone in a bathtub, unless controlled release biocide is added. Silicone for aquariums would be best, but may be pricey. Since Wal-Mart didn't have the Aquarium Silicone; I bought the "all purpose" tube for $2.65, and a cheap caulking gun. The silicone method is the easiest method of fabricating cylinders of shade cloth from pieces cut from the roll. Now I have to figure out how to fold one end of the cylinder into a bottom of the pot. Either that, I cut out a circle and attach it to one end of the cylinder. Stay tuned for further adventures with shade cloth.

Wow, that is some list you have! I love the info on acorns too. You are in Utah, you should try the acorns from the native Gambel's oak. I am told they are among the sweetest acorns. I see from your list that you want the following that I have: yard long beans-brown seeded smooth luffa gourd-edible type cala lily-bulbs favorite beans-I have at least 10 pounds of Kentucky Wonder oriental red hot chili peppers cilantro Other unusual plants you may be interested in: New Zealand spinach-also have seed prickly pear cactus (opuntia ficus-indicus) hardy to -3F Chocolate scented tuberous sunflowers-flowers smell sweet and tubers are tasty Passiflora incarnata-maypop See also my trade list. My Wants: Actinidia Kolomikta-Arctic Beauty Kiwi-really want this. Do you have both male and female plants or just seed? Eggplant-Turkish Italian Orange Mormon Tea-Ephredra nevadaensis Cranberry Stevia rebaudiana Lovage Red Concerto Artichoke Hilds' Blue Winter Radish Purple Haze Carrots

Interesting thread. Alas, I have clay but no granite mountain nearby. Our bedrock is all limestone here except for a granite plateau a hundred miles away. I can get sand, but it's river sand dredged out of the Big Muddy (Missouri). Maybe that's why my clay gets hard when I add the local sand. Drat!

I would suggest it's a bit early to dismiss the supercropping as possible cause of the BER. I agree it's not likely, but one plant without symptoms doesn't necessarily prove the supercropping wasn't at fault. It's possible the control plant had some variable in its favor that made the difference. Of course it's more likely there was some other minor variable that pushed things against the plants with BER. For the aphids I'd say either go biological or get out the big guns. Hardcore pesticides aren't great, but sometimes it's better than a total loss. Oh, and leaving the fruit on can make the BER persist. Each of those fruits represents a major future investment of plant resources. If there isn't enough to go around (a calcium shortage causing BER) the more fruit they're trying to grow the more thinly it's spread and the worse the problem is likely to get. I'd advise removing anything with even a hint of BER. Force the plant to redirect it's resources to areas that aren't already lost causes. It may be time to look for a superior source for nutrition. I've been using Advanced Nutrients for awhile now without trouble. It might work better for you as well.