Now, this is my sort of topic, those of you who know me would agree lol... 1. I recommend you get all persimmons from Cliff England at England's Orchard & Nursery. He has an impressive variety of scion wood and a number of grafted trees, as well. Cliff only sends out quality stuff and always for a very reasonable cost. I just got, among other things, the American persimmon cv. 'Dollywood' and a seedling selection of Cliff's of an Asian persimmon which he calls cv. 'Shin-Na-Da'. I'm not recommending Cliff just because he's a great friend, but because I know of no other nursery (for jujube, paw paw, persimmon, nuts, mulberries) that I would rather patronize, this from the first time I placed an order well before I knew him. 2. Prok. Well, first-of-all, John Gordon jr. told me that George Slate selected 'Prok' (and 'Korp') are seedlings (open-pollinated) of the American persimmon cv. 'Pieper'. That's a smaller (much) persimmon; in the distant future, it will be genetically evaluated so this matter will be settled one-way-or-the-other; to me, although a bit similar to an American persimmon like cv. 'Morris Burton', I feel the foliage and new stems are a little too rubbery; it puts on a second-flush of growth, as does Diospyros kaki; the flower's a bit too large. Yet, I'll wait until it's tested. As for Burbank's cv. 'Keener', I think it has as much chance of being a hybrid persimmon as Slate's 'Geneva Red'/'Geneva Long'; Burbank said he failed - failed at making a good fruit or making a hybrid? and when did he say this, before or after 'Keener'. As David LaVergne said to me, Burbank may have had a lot of failed attempts as a result of, unknowingly, using 60-chromosome strains, and not just 90-c. What really interests me is to know: can 90-chromosome American persimmons freely hybridize (open-pollinated, without double-mentoring) with 90-chromosome Asian perismmons (or D. lotus, D. rhombifolia, for that matter, all being 90-c). 3. As Lucky points out, cv. 'Early Golden' wins the taste-tests and cv. 'Yates' is excellent and very large, although not as large as the questionable 'Prok'. 4. As for cv. 'Early Golden' being not just parthenocarpic but also self-fertile, Jerry Lehman told me that this is over-stated and there are not that many male limbs set forth, even on a mature tree. Yet, seedlings produced by crossing 'EG' with itself produce female seedlings, from which good cultivars often come. 5. Lucky, I spoke with John Gordon jr. a few weeks ago on the phone. He's doing good, but his home is not any longer on the orchard. Nuttreesnorth.com is now his page. As for F-100, if Cliff doesn't have it, you can ask Jerry - I should be getting some this spring, I'll send it to you. 6. Lucky, interesting: yet, I think, like you suspect, maybe the few male limbs on your Early Golden-family trees are responsible for the seeds. 7. Benny, I wish I knew for sure. Wes Rice believes that persimmons, in general, are parthenocarpic. Put it this way, I've found many persimmon (female) trees planted in areas without males and they have fruit; these are not cv. 'Meader' for sure. 8. Mk_in-Ohio, well... all of the sources I can think of have only scion wood. BUT, you can contact Cliff England and ask him if he would graft 'Szukis' for you. http://www.nuttrees.net/ 9. Benny, interesting - I'll have to look into that; re: F-100 not always setting fruit.. I've been curious about that cultivar for a while. Also, I agree with Lucky - I'm very interested in finding out how your D. kaki interstem experiment works out. 10. Lucky, cv. 'Hokkaido' is only supposed to stay true to its dwarfing form when grafted upon it's own species rootstock, not D. lotus or D. virginiana; for your area, that likely means I suppose you didn't grafted it onto D. kaki. Steve (p.s. changing my user name soon)

@mango_kush yes we have problems with fruit flies here also, but they don't attack the Ruby Supreme guava. They do attack other guava varieties with a strong guava smell. I have even picked rotten guavas off the ground and inspected them for maggots and found none just sugar ants. The soursop has been that height for over 3 years now. When it reaches the height of the house the cold weather kills that wood. All I ever do is trim any dead wood when it goes dormant. This soursop is a Filipino variety. I planted it about 2 feet from the house on purpose so that it could survive the cold weather since its extremely sensitive to cold temperatures. @pulglvr1 you can try contacting the company that makes the product using the link below. When I first saw the product I knew that it was perfect for protecting plants and this past winter definitely proved that to me. Be aware that just covering your plants using this product alone may not enough. You must also provide a sustainable heat source such as a light bulb of sufficient wattage. I did lay this bubble blanket along the ground to the window sill on the west side of the house to protect sugar apple and pineapple plants. From the picture you can see that all the plants below the bubble wrap survived without any damage even though I did not use a heat source. The bubble blanket was able to trap the heat from the ground and the cinder blocks to keep the plants alive. If you look closely you can see that 3 of the pineapple plants have fruited. In front of the wood fence at the far end of the house are the rolls of the bubble wrap ready for duty this coming winter. Here is a link that might be useful: Astro Cooler

Wow what a decision. I have the 1986. When I was doing research back in 2002 I decided on the 1926. When buy time came the 1986 was there and I bought it in Jan 2003. There are differences. The 1926 will allow for 4 or 5 rinses. The 1986 will allow for 2 or 3 rinses, but ends up using the same amount of water. This is because the 1986 uses more water for each fill in the rinse plus I have mine programmed for higher fill rinses. The water can be up over the bottom of the door and into the glass while the clothes are lifted and then plunged into and through the water. A good looking rinse. The 1926 does the rinse and I think then does a slower spin between each rinse. The 1986 will rinse and then do a faster(not max) spin between the rinse. The 1926 lets you select the spin speed in rpm. The 1986 uses terms like low med high max, but these translate into the same spin speeds as found on the 1926. At first I was upset with the lack of rinses but found that 2 or 3 high fill rinses with spins between work just fine. If you use 3 rinses, the middle one will do short tumbles and longer pauses so that the clothes soak in the water. Also if I want additional rinses I can use the fine rinse cycle. This cycle provides two very high fill rinses, with the water for the last rinse being taken in through the fabric softener dispenser and you can use any spin speed you want. Jeans, Dress shirts. Perm Press works just as well in my opinion except that it will not give the same type of spin that Jeans, and dress shirts do. The speed will be there but the duration is not. Perm Press gives what I call half a..s spins but well...things don't require ironing. Silk...I use this cycle for silk shirts..it works great. I also use the wool cycle for wool sweaters....great. The 1926 defaults to extended, the 1986 defaults to quicker. I don't think the default quick cycle is the same as the rapid cycle on the 1926. I think the 1986 default cycle may be a bit better. Extended. when I first bought the washer I used Extended for white cotton all the time, and I would use a temp of 140F. Now I find that white cotton gets very clean using the default cycle and I use 120F or 140F if very dirty. If you use Extended each phase of the cycle is longer. However the length depends on the cycle you select, so less time will be added if you select extended for dedicates, than if you would have selected it for cottons. Here is one thing I don't think the 1926 has and that is fuzzy logic to determine load size. This is a major plus for me. The 1986 will determine the size of the load and then adjust the estimated wash time...So If I start a small load with an estimated time of 49 minutes, after a few minutes the machine will detect that it has a small load and drop minutes from each portion of the cycle....and still get everything clean. The shortest wash phase i've seen has been 10 minutes. Time reduction occurs when using the Extended option also. Also the machine will automatically add a rinse if needed, but this has only happened 1 or 2 times for me. The 203F cycle is something I really don't need. I only use 190F on items that do not contain spandex or polyester. If you subject these to temps much over 140F they will start to fall apart quickly. I will say though that when you use 190F and you stand near the machine you can hear the water near the boiling point during the tumbling pauses. You know that sound you hear in a pan when the water is really really hot. Prewash. You can use this option on almost any cycle. It starts with cold water, heats it a bit, and then drains it and the washer moves on to what ever cycle you have selected. This is very good for stains. So over all I am pleased with my 1986. Of course I didn't have the option of getting the 1926 but I am pleased with the machine I have and don't plan on getting another anytime soon. If I move..this washer goes with me too. I hope someone with the 1926 will reply and describe the operation so that you can get a good idea of each machine.

First off, I'm a function-over-form gal! So, keep this in mind as you read on... Since there is a possibility that you may stay longer than a couple of years, I would think about remodeling with what will please you...and, IMHO, I think a combination of function (#1) and form (#2) would please you best. Cabinets: Have you looked at IKEA cabinets? They are very affordable and many people here really like them and have found they're not too difficult to DIY the install. They're actually designed, I think, with DIY in mind. Even if you don't like the door styles, Scherr's has many different styles and now is able to drill for IKEA cabinets. Cost is a fraction of the cost of most stock & semi-custom cabinets. Style: I think if you use wood doors and a simple but classic door style (shaker or simple raised panel--similar to what you like in Harbor) you will find they will remain current enough for resale a few years down the road. Materials: Wood for doors. For Countertops, possibly granite (tiles, prefab, or a low-cost "pattern" like Uba Tuba) or a higher-end laminate would work in your area. Stay away from ceramic/porcelain tile. I think that's already dated and many people would look at it and think it would be hard to keep clean (I know I would) Appliances can be either stainless steel or white. I think both are acceptable in mid-to-high end kitchens. I'd probably stay away from black b/c they are more difficult to keep clean than SS, at least I think so (I have a black cooktop & it's the most difficult item in my kitchen to keep looking clean). For a sink I would stick with either stainless steel or Silgranit. I'd let cost & form drive that decision. (For SS, check out Galaxy Tool Supply's Ticor sinks w/the free sink grids (http://www.galaxytoolsupply.com/category_s/58.htm).) For faucet, I would go w/a pullout or pull down with or without a soap dispenser...I think a soap dispenser is a nice-to-have, but I don't think it will necessarily add to resale...but if you want one, go for it. As to finish, chrome is fine or go with a SS or brushed chrome or SS. I'm not sure if there's a price difference b/w brushed chrome and something like brushed nickel or oil rubbed bronze. Cabinet Hardware: Hardware doesn't have to be high-priced. Check out Home Depot or Lowes for lower priced but still very nice hardware. Look at finishes such as iron or pewter. Stay away from black if it's a painted finish...the paint will eventually chip on your most-used handles/pulls. Refrigerator: Your refrigerator will look best if it is cabinet depth and enclosed so it looks built-in. To achieve this look, install a 3/4" finished end panel on each side of the refrigerator, approx 27" deep--deep enough to cover the carcass (but not the door). Put a full-depth cabinet over the refrigerator to further make it look built in. If you cannot get a full-depth over-the-refrigerator cabinet, then get a regular...