I know this is an old thread, but in case anyone is searching on this topic... I've noticed that my plants love it when it rains, they are perky and refreshed in a way that I don't see after watering or fertilizing. I decided to simulate rainwater by adjusting my tap water pH down from 7.4 to 5.5. My adjusted pH is somewhere in the 5.0-6.0 range due to small dosing inaccuracies. I acidify my water using sulfuric acid @ ~32% concentration (battery acid 1.28 mol). I've been using it with tablespoons as well as 1CC droppers and have no issues whatsoever. The acid is pretty safe to use if you take some basic precautions and aren't sloppy about it. Even so, it's not that strong of a concentration to do any real harm as long as you're close to a hose and don't get any in your eyes. Wear glasses just in case. My plants absolutely LOVE the lower pH water. They look perky and refreshed just like they do after a rainstorm. There are other beneficial effects as well. My seeds appear to be sprouting much faster than usual, the compost clumps that are sitting atop my soil have started to seriously break down finally, and my soil retains more moisture than it did before switching to lower pH water w/ sulfuric acid. Bottom line: My plants like it and I have noticed only positive effects. I will continue watering them with acidified water.

Yo Ken, if your still around your up on this one. Far as Composites go I am with the Larry/whoever We are for the most part. Composites are really no longer using recycled material because there is just not enough of it so most of the raw stuff is virgin,the energy used to make composite is an enviro no no, when its time to remove the project composite is not real big on bio degrade its tricky to burn shreading it would be silly. Bottom line composites are not so enviro freindly. Info like that might suggest its not all that good to clean it either, with anything. I dont agree>> composites will out last Ipe, left to go silver/gray Ipe is as close to no maintance as a person can get. With the softer composites like Choice/MoistureShield even trex= tjunk I have found a coat or two of TWP 116 seals up the decking,locks in the color and keeps mold,mildew,stains from causing major problems. Of course not needing to do this is the reason the Wallet goes for composite in the first place. I my own self dont like composites at all for the reasons stated in several posts here and on other sites. Welcome aboard Larry!!! Sorry I dident understand your intent at the begining . John

I think pool school is useful, but ours has been a total abomination. I'm furious with my PB. We had a basic startup, which basically reviewed how to work the Jandy Aqualink PDA controller. However, the controller stopped working within the first week. It's been 3 weeks since we've had water. We've been given multiple conflicting stories on how to use/run the equipment by different people. It became worse when the PDA stopped working and they tried to tell us what to do by phone to use the equipment manually. Of course they couldn't get out with a new PDA for 10 days. Which held up finishing ths solar, which couldn't be automated, we can't set the temp, etc, without the PDA. Then we had sputtering in the return lines and the sheer descent had problems once the solar was installed. At which point I flipped because at contract signing I specifically said that I would have paid for an extra pump in order to keep the flow steady on the sheer descent. Also can't adjust the auto-fill. We weren't shown how to adjust it, and apparently they need to add an extension to it. Again - 10 day delay till they can get out this Friday. They can never get out there when we are home. We're afraid to use the Aqualink and leave it on auto since some things are automated and some are still manual, but we really don't know which is which. They programmed the pool sweep at a time that wasn't convenient based on when we need to run the solar . . . which we have to do manually still. Despite the fact we paid extra for the automated system. They've come back and added some actuator - which we have no idea what it does or how to work it "manually". So we're just limping along . . and very hostile, if you can't tell yet ;-), until we can get a real "pool school" and learn how to use the Aqualink and what to do if we have to override manually. In the meantime, the GM finally called me last week, but hasn't bothered to follow up. The communication is an abomination. Can't get an answer on when the solar guys are coming back out to finish the job. And the icing on the cake was when we turned the solar on yesterday morning to find we got the added bonus of an additional waterfall . . . coming from our 2nd story ROOF. . . apparently the solar line on the roof has a hole in in and water was pouring down the drain spouts. On a brighter note . . . we have a pool with water right?? Sooooo.. . depending on your set up, pool school could be useful. Oh, did I mention we were told we should get out the manuals and read them to learn how to use all this? Yeah, apparently that's our PB idea of pool school that they hyped up to us. Honestly, I'd do OB next time for the hassle I've gone through on this job. In our case, we'd like a decent "pool school" as we were promised.

You mention in your subject line that you're reluctant to give this a try. Why are you reluctant to try this? How many roses do you have that you think you could lose if you don't spray them? What is your tolerance level for imperfect rose foliage? Does every leaf need to be unblemished every day of the year, or is it just chronic defoliation that would bother you? Or something in between? It's a personal decision for each gardener to make about how much they want to intervene in their plants' development. Since you're working on improving your garden soil, that should help your roses to be able to fend off the foes of the rose in the long term, but I'm guessing there will be a weaning-off period when things probably won't be pretty. It may help to think about why you're making this change, and how long you'll try it before you decide it is or isn't working, what is your vision of a healthy no-spray garden, and what will you do about any roses that don't make the change gracefully. If you have a well-loved rose that stays defoliated without spraying, for example, do you replace it with something better adapted for your conditions, do you resume spraying on a limited basis, or do you just start back with your current spray regime for all your roses? Please don't feel you need to respond to this post, I'm just asking questions to try to help you sort things out for yourself. Your subject line had me guessing you're a bit conflicted about going no-spray. Good luck, Virginia