Hi Bill, You are correct. As long as you add a lot of organic matter like leaves, shavings from horse stalls, etc. on a regular basis, your plants should have all the nitrogen they need on a steady basis. I can only think of a couple of cases where you might have a lack of nitrogen availability. One would be if you added in a lot of sawdust or wood chips or shredded wood that has not decomposed and tilled it into the soil. In that case, the wood products could tie up your nitrogen as they decomposed. It is OK, though, to have those on the soil surface as mulch. I assume your horse stall shavings have urine or horse manure on them and those should add enough nitrogen to the shavings to keep them from tying up nitrogen as they break down, I think. Another instance would be if your soil were to be incredibly wet for a long period of time after the plants were in the ground. In that case, the water actually clogs up the roots and keeps them from taking up nitrogen from the soil. I have had that happen three times since moving here--during the April-May-June flood months in 2004 and the flood months of May-June 2007. Then, after we received over a foot of rain in April '09 the plants had the same issue, but only for about 5 or 6 weeks and then the soil dried out enough that growth resume. If you have that kind of waterlogging, you have to wait it out. Once the soil dries out, the plants can conduct proper nutrient uptake again. There can be a separate issue where nitrogen is available in the soil but some plants cannot take it up and use it while soil temperatures are low. That's usually a short-term situation in the early spring though. It is so dry where you are, Bill, that I don't know if you'd ever have enough rain there to prevent nitrogen uptake. So, pile those leaves on and let them decompose. Plow or rototill them into the soil if you want. They'll only help and not hurt. It is almost impossible in our part of the country to put too much organic matter into your soil, although Jay has been trying. (He still got great soil test results though!) Best of luck to you too! Dawn

So sorry to hear about your Blues, Nina. How very sad. Like Bluebars said, you will probably never know what happened which is too bad. Sparrow spookers are a great invention. I have to tell you a story about one this year. I had it on a house that the Blues started laying eggs in. After the 4th egg was laid Daddy Blue disappeared. Momma during this time was so very skittish. One day was a pretty windy day and you could see she didn't like the noise the spooker was making when the mylar strips would hit each other. She kept going into the box but then right back out several times. I decided to see what she would do if I took the spooker off so I went down and took it off. Got back to the house and looked at the nestbox and there was a TRES looking in the box. That fast there was another bird at that nestbox, nothing ever bothered it once the spooker was on it but as soon as it was down, bam something was checking it out. Needless to say it went back up immediately. I didn't intend on leaving it down, just wanted to see if that was what was bothering momma so much. Thankfully on day 5 of Daddy's disappearance he returned and momma settled down. Take Care Donna

I can't answer your questions about how long to wait for the Americoat, but in response to your question about the plaster.... To be "by the book," you should not go into a newly plastered pool for at least 7 to 10 days. During that time, you should be brushing the sides and bottom at least twice a day, every day (and three times a day is preferable). The reason you need to brush is to get rid of all of the "plaster dust" so that it doesn't calcify in place, causing rough spots. You need to get rid of all of that dust before you start swimming. Also, the plaster will still be wet when the hose is put in (so the end of the hose should be wrapped in a white towel or sock). Plaster cures under water, and if you go in too soon, you will create footprints / dings / gouges / marks, etc., that will be permanent.

Piaa, I too am very new to all things pool related as this is our first! Hopefully some pros will chime in with input! If you look at the first picture I posted (the split screen) you'll see the incredible amount of plaster dust that builds up on the surface. Our PB did an acid wash first. And the finish was beautiful after it was done. It went from the streaky mottled finish to a more even gray and the gold flecks and dark blue quartz were exposed! After we filled the pool with water, they came back and dumped 8 gallons of acid in and the PB began to show us how to brush the QuartzBrite finish. It was amazing! The layers of white dust just brushed right into the water! And well, you can see the difference after just that one brushing! We brush 3 to 4 times a day. We don't see the enormous amount of dust each time we brush, like we did the first time, but the idea is to expose the beautiful finish and let the filter remove all the dust from the water. He said if the dust particles adhere to the finish it will be rough and uncomfortable on your feet. Not to mention hide the pretty quartz that you're paying for! It's a labor of love and so rewarding! I think you have to do the acid bath and brushing with any quartz or plaster finish. I don't think you have to do this with pebble finishes. I hope if anything I'm saying is incorrect someone can correct my information!