I've been using nutricote for about a year on catts and oncids in Aussie Gold and phals in sphagnum moss. I use it as a *supplement* to liquid fertilizers, not instead of. This is as recommended by Fender's Flora. I push all the plants with light, including phals. Nutricote is supposed to be a little different from osmocote in the release. It was recommended in a newsletter from Fender's Flora (you can find it on their website). I know many growers use it, because I have seen it in the mix. I like it, especially for plants that are outdoors in summer, since rain interferes with any watering/ fertilizing schedule. Have gotten good new growth on everything, but no soft growth, just good healthy growth. Why not try it on a couple of plants, see what happens?

"Schmidt's Buff Giant" came from my garden. The original cultivar is still going strong and re-blooming in medium shade. We figure it is at least 80 years old. It is about 7-8 feet tall, and 15 feet across, and is growing inside a thicket, under several large trees. I agree with Vintage Gardens that it is Anna Olivier. I took it to the HRF meeting in CA in 2005, and the Tea ladies from Australia all identified it as Anna Olivier. Also, it agrees with every written description of that rose I have seen. It is, however, VERY mutable depending on the weather. Most of the time the blossoms are buff with a brick red reverse on the outside, as per the written descriptions I have seen. However, at certain times of year I have seen my bushes in full bloom with EVERY flower a uniform pale pink. At a different time of year, they have bloomed with EVERY flower a uniform pale yellow. However, I have never seen them look like the pictures from Sangerhausen, with a darker yellow in the middle and pale yellow/white on the outside. But, they have very different weather there than we do here, so who knows what this sneaky rose might get up to?

The Fantech guy said he never heard of anyone using in a kitchen? Not sure why he said ths. Bad thing is that the CFMs are much lower. For an 8" duct, the max cfm offered is 428 on model FG 8EC for example. Than a 10" duct gives you 489 cfm on the model FG 10EC. For the non EC fan, the 8" duct get you 800 plus CFM on model FKD 8XL. This has me all confused now. Still have not decided. Feel all screwed up...the cabinet guy has this backwards, he made the cabinet size first, versus making the cabinet to fit the insert. Which forced me into a narrower depth insert. It appears most better inserts are 20 plus inches in depth. My options are very limited. The prestige seemed nice, but had issues with the blowers. Because their inline blower was too long and too high, I than looked into a 1000 cfm roof top version. Than Fantech because it was smaller and could fit into a 3 foot vertical run to the roof. But cannot install a silencer.

New organic way is to understand each rose rather than blindly spray it with Bayer like ARS recommends. In my alkaline clay with pH near 8, roses grafted on Dr.Huey are quite healthy ... Dr. Huey's root secret plenty of acid to release potassium from rock-hard clay. Saw the neighbor with Angel Face (grafted on Dr. Huey), tons of blooms, and 100% healthy for many years. But multiflora-rootstock is a blackspot-fest in my alkaline clay. Multiflora-rootstock doesn't secret enough acid to un-lock potassium in my hard-mineral-clay. Wimpy own-roots that don't secret enough acid isn't best for my heavy clay. I had a Kordes rose, Deep Purple as own-root which was 100% healthy in loamy & slightly acidic potting soil .. but broke out in blackspots when I put in my hard clay. New organic way is to understand that each rose is different in its need for different minerals. Dave and Deb Boyd, zone 5a, noted that Double Delight and Oklahoma have a higher need for iron. True, I put red-lava-rock (high in potassium & iron) on Double Delight, and it blooms lots. But red-lava-rock was a disaster for Betty White .. its white petals turned brown at the edges. New organic way is to understand that roses like a STABLE environment FOR HEALTH. 1) Stable moisture: After more than a week of no rain, I peeled off 2 inch. of alfalfa hay, in full sun ... the soil is soaking wet underneath, with tons of earthworm. I peeled off grass-clippings as mulch, decent moisture, but less than alfalfa hay. The driest spot is under 2 inch of wood-chips, and it was in shade !! Zero earthworms, soil is bone-dry like the wood-chips above. 2) Fluffy and loamy: I put various additives in many holes in October. Dug those holes today, June 29 .. that's after 9 months. The holes stuffed with leaves are moist and fluffy like chocolate cake. The holes stuffed with crack-corn (high magnesium) was fluffy at first, but corn's stickiness and high-magnesium glued up with my clay into concrete. The holes stuffed with woodchips is really dry and glued up with clay like concrete. The holes stuffed with alfalfa hay is soaking wet, but gluey & compact, due to alfalfa's high-magnesium & calcium. The holes with alkaline clay broken up with coarse sand and gypsum is very fluffy, lots of earthworm. 3) Stable pH: Clay has the best buffers (hard-minerals) to neutralize acidic rain. But loamy soil, like potting soil in my pots .. cannot buffer the acid in my fermented alfalfa-tea, nor too much acidic rain. I have to top my pots with alfalfa pellets and pea-gravel for their buffering capacity. Alfalfa at pH 5.8 is high in magnesium and calcium. Pea-gravel has pH of over 9, high in calcium & magnesium & potassium.