If the post was current, I'd say: #1 suggestion would be to stop using any household cleaner (dishsoap) as a way to clean leaves or in an insecticidal capacity. See something I wrote about it below. BTW, disregard any argument that goes something like "I've been doing it for years and have noticed no adverse effects ......". The fact is, it destroys cuticular wax, and if it gets to the roots, root lipid membranes. So, it prevents or limits roots from taking up water/nutrients, and destroys the mechanism by which plants limit water loss from their foliage and protect against insects and entry of pathogens. If you need a product to clean leaves or to use as an insecticide, insecticidal soaps are made from long chain fatty acids, formulated to be safe for most plants, though there are a few plants sensitive even to insecticidal soaps. A mix of 70% isopropyl/rubbing alcohol and water at 1:1 or 2:1 (2 water: 1 alcohol) if all you need for mites. Spritz the plant thoroughly at 4 day intervals, making sure you coat the entire surface of the plant, including inferior leaf surfaces and and leaf axils where they tend ti hide in the dark. A change in watering habits or a change in your grow medium are usually all you need to be rid of gnats. Unless your pot is 5" deep or less, avoid the advice to water when the top inch or two of the soil is dry. It's a recipe for over-watering and the very idea is enough to make a gnat's eyes spin in anticipation of the orgiastic frenzy induced by media the surface of which provides a never ending supply of wet/rotting organic matter. This should be helpful, as would be changing to a highly aerated medium, the surface of which dries quickly, and using a "tell" to "tell" you when it's time to water. Detergents Dishsoap/ detergent’s effect on plants varies with the mode of exposure. Dawn, Palmolive, Joy, ...... dishsoap, as an example, are each and all a mishmash of chemicals, at least eleven of which are phytotoxic. If the top of the plant is sprayed thoroughly with even mild detergent solutions such that all surfaces including leaves are covered, the detergent can easily dissolve the protective coating of cuticular wax on the leaves of the plant, causing abnormally high rates of water loss and possible necrosis of all or part of the leaf. Cuticular waxes prevent leaves from drying out, and help stop pathogens from attacking the leaf. Strong solutions will even dissolve cell membranes, causing death of the cells. If a detergent solution is used as a soil drench or makes its way into the soil as a consequence of over-spray or run-off, the effect on roots is immediate. Because one of the main function of roots is to absorb water and nutrients dissolved in water, they lack the waxy protective coating that leaves employ. Detergent solution in contact with root cells can quickly dissolve the lipid membrane surrounding cells, killing the cells and inhibiting water/ nutrient uptake. Hair cells growing as appendages off larger roots do the lion’s share of assimilating water and nutrients, and these very delicate cells would be the first casualty of any detergent in the root zone. There are widely available insecticidal soaps, designed to be used topically and made mixing potassium with only long chain fatty acids, carefully selected and specifically formulated to be safe for mammals & birds, death on most insects they contact, and most important, safe for plants. If you need something "soapy", it would be much better if you selected a product intended for use on plants than one intended for other purposes. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. What I use for grow media: Al

A more shallow watering, particularly during summer, over tree roots isn't necessarily the worst idea. Those tree roots suck up water like nobody's business, so more frequent watering will be required in this case. We're talking twice a week, maybe three times if the weather is blisteringly hot. It's very hard to keep grass in a shady area! If you use synthetic fertilizer, feed normally--it boosts the grass too much and it's easy to put down excessive nitrogen on lawn that doesn't see enough sun to photosynthesize. Most of the benefit from fertilization goes to the trees, which isn't a mistake. Organically, pour it on. This is less to feed the grass than it is to transform the soil to hold more water. And by all means, use the shampoo. Worst case, it can't hurt. Best case, it'll lighten and loosen the soils and hold more water! Reseeding every fall is probably in your future, grasses really don't like heavy shade. Avoid bluegrass as it loathes even light shade, and favor the fescues as they do better and have deeper roots. It's worth looking into grass varieties that tolerate a little more shade (no grass species tolerates full shade). You'll still need to reseed--just less often! Red creeping fescue might be a good choice for you (it's green, not red!) It's pretty shade tolerant, but...well, you'll need to reseed. Perennial ryegrass is a fast sprouter that'll look good for about a year, but will still need reseeding in fall. Fortunately, reseeding is not difficult and the grass develops so quickly that this might be the simplest answer for you. Plus rye is a nice grass, tolerant of drier conditions, and feels nice underfoot. White Dutch clover is shade tolerant and adding some to your mix will give you a greenery cover at grass height that looks good even when the grass doesn't. You may not want clover, however--I sure understand that!

In regards to Louisiana_botanist and anyone else interested in the effectiveness of Mosquito Barrier... I purchased two bottles of this to help combat the army of mosquitos that we had just in our backyard. The first application I added a little more of the product than needed but we had severe mosquitos. The product claims to also repel fleas and ticks which is a plus since we have two dogs. I applied the stuff with a sprayer following instructions and sprayed entire yard and some of the tree near our patio. Once you apply it, your yard will smell like garlic for an hour or two so be sure to spray it in a way so you don't step on the grass that was just sprayed (I sprayed it walking backwards) so I didn't track the smell in the house. The next night we went to see how well it did, surprisingly enough it worked well. Instead of getting bit 8 times while constantly moving around for 2-3 minutes, I didn't get bit at all for 5 minutes while even standing still but I did see at least one mosqutio while out. It lasts for a good while so long as there isn't a heavy rain or you water the lawn more than once a week. General application would typically last 2-3 weeks for me due to needing to water at least twice a week and/or rain. The "barrier" tends to be breached by a few mosquitos as each day passes until they increase in numbers where you notice them again and need to spray a second application. Since I used to live in New Orleans I know how bad mosquitos can be there but I would say you will definately see a difference after using this. The cause of my mosquito problem was due to a neighbor with a water fountain in the backyard that had lots of standing water. Now that they have let it just dry out, I have 1/10 the mosquitos I had before and haven't needed to spray anything in over a month.

I suspect they will be early this year since it has been so warm. On the other hand it's been a dry spring too so maybe that will help. I have already seen a few. Luckily I have also seen lots of dragonflies and those guys really help keep them at bay. I've heard lemon grass discourages them, but other sources say it doesn't work. With all the lakes in my neighborhood and a swampy area at one end we get a lot of them. I'm just trying to enjoy the nice weather before they show. I sure would be interested in any ideas too! -Ais.