I saw a brown colored snake in the rocks, about 10 feet from where my veg garden is situated. It slithered right under my dog's bellies when we tried to catch it to "take care" of it. It got away though... Where do I buy DE for the garden? I will not use my pool DE anymore. No wonder I still had green worms on my broccoli. I was using our DE that we use for the pool filter....Where do you buy it?

Thanks everyone. Mike - Most folk around here are happy to let these fantastic creatures be, except if they decide to reside in the bedroom! It takes great effort to relocate them, but wildlife organisations will help. Hilarious, Purple Star! Now that Lisa, John and Agatha have cancelled, the Tate B+B has some vacancies available for reservation. This week's special deal includes a complimentary bathroom raincoat and umbrella, and free photo of each guest with Monty. (roared laughing at that name, Lisa!) We have no attic as such, and not even a man-hole to get into the roof area - so Monty will just have to toilet-train himself... Cheers, Kerry

If I'm not mistaken, some conifers do not have determinate growth as described by maple grove, such as yews, Chamaecyparis, Thuja, Larix. Having said that, Abies does. However, while total amount of cell division (Excluding lammas) is largely predetermined, the amount of potential cell elongation is not. To be honest though Dave, what you propose doesn't strike me as having significant effect. In other words, just the usual things like ensuring adequately moist soils throughout the growing season and use of moderate soil nutrient boost would easily outpace any gain from this plan. That's what I think. The possibility does exist that I've not thoroughly understood your proposition too! I am glad though that this wasn't a post about topping that nice leader, you know-to "make the plant fuller" lol. For a split second as I first saw it, I was afeared we were going down that road! +oM

Bill Meyer posted this on Hallson's forum. Perhaps Sluggo is not as safe as thought. by Bill Meyer Jan 05, 2010 9:57 am Hi Everybody, I've had doubts about those iron phosphate slug baits for a while now and recent studies are starting to come in that raise very real questions about how these products got the reputation that they have. These products are sold as "safe and non-toxic" in their advertising, based on the claim that they use only iron phosphate to kill slugs. The ingredient labels show only 1% iron phosphate under active ingredients and 99% inert ingredients. The latter is wheat gluten. Actual analysys however shows that they contain over 1% EDTA in addition. If these slug baits really were what their label says, they would be as safe as they are advertised to be. They also would not kill any slugs or snails. It is only the addition of EDTA that makes them work, and that EDTA makes them far more poisonous than they are advertised to be. In Switzerland (study below) the organization that decides if a product is to be certified for organic farming reviewed these baits and denied them because of the EDTA. In their report, they said that EDTA is more poisonous than metaldehyde and that they didn't think the products would be much safer than metaldehyde baits. This is turning out to be true, as animal poisonings are starting to be reported. Below are links to two reports of dogs being poisoned, and the Ohio State study (also below) says the EPA reports "5 domestic animal deaths, 8 major domestic animal incidents and 106 moderate and minor domestic animal incidents from the use of iron phosphate slug and snail baits". These products do not contain Bitrex as do the metaldehyde products, so they are more likely to be consumed by pets and widlife, and worse yet by children. These are mainly caused by iron poisoning, which is very serious itself. Additionally, excess iron builds up in the system and is very hard to get rid of so continually eating small amounts of these pellets slowly increases the amount of iron in the system until it reaches toxic levels. I have contacted the EPA about this, and others have as well. I think we'll see a re-evaluation from them in the near future, but I don't know how long that will take. It will almost certainly involve reclassifying these baits as poisonous and requiring that the EDTA content be shown on the label. If you have these products or are planning to use them, I strongly recommend that you treat them the same way as you would the metaldehyde baits, and consider them equally dangerous until we know more about them. Be extremely careful to keep children and pets out of the containers. Use only sparingly as directed, don't put big bands or piles anywhere, and clean up spills. Do not allow children or pets to play unsupervised in treated areas, and watch for neighbor's dogs or kids when the product is down. It is ultimately our responsibility to keep kids, pets, and wildlife safe from poisoning when we use or store poisons. Both metaldehyde and iron phosphate baits are pretty safe if used properly, but they are both dangerous poisons. Remember too that the iron phosphate baits as far as I know do not contain Bitrex so they are much easier to eat in large quantities. .......Bill Meyer Dog Poisonings: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/avj/2009/00000087/00000007/art00011 http://blog.oregonlive.com/pethealth/2008/07/gardners_beware_of_socalled_pe.html Earthworm Poisonings: http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~soilecol/Full%20articles/2008/Crop%20Protection%2028.pdf http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T4B-4JKJT15-1&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2006&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f73325d8a5e3b2c97804dd3ac845cb8c Swiss Investigation for Organic Certification: http://www2.eduskunta.fi/kerhot/luonto/eurosiili/pdf/FIBL_FeP_Jan06_E.pdf Sluggo Label and Advertising: http://www.montereylawngarden.com/pdf/sluggo_03_bilingual.pdf http://www.neudorff.com/index.php?id=181 http://www.growercentral.com/UPLOADS/PDFS/ferramol%20brochure.pdf NY Department of Environmental Conservation Statement: http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/insect-mite/fenitrothion-methylpara/iron%20phosphatic%20acid/ironphosphuricacid_500.pdfIf you thought the auction was fun, come to the meeting! I've used both baits and found metaldehyde works better and I rather like seeing the slug carcasses as proof that the stuff is working. Mark