Leon, you are right that I am making an envelope out of it just one layer thick. I think it is important to have a wide contact area on the ground, to get as much heat out of the ground. Remember that a couple feet down there is a 55-degree heat radiator which is downright toasty when its 0F in the air! So I would not make it too narrow. I don't tie down my branches at all, I just prune them. Fignut, I must have used around 120' for my two rows: 30' of row length, two sides, and double height. To figure out how much to use on a tree just go run a string around it at the widest spot and measure the length. I built the covers in-place: I just wrapped the stuff around the trees. If anyone is going to try this, here are a couple more tips. I found the best attachment technique to build the envelope is to staple every couple of inches. The staple seam I use is an "outsie", with the two sheets put back to back and stapled an inch or so from the edges. I originally used somewhat more widely spaced staples but it ripped apart there so I went to 2" spacing. You need to have the cover low enough that it touches the ground on all sides. If it is not touching everywhere the wind will come in and ruin your effort. It is also very important to have some way to firmly attach the bottoms and to "cinch" a rope around it. Before I figured out how to attach it well I had the covers blowing all over my yard. Running ropes over the top does some good but the cover can still slide all over if it is not attached to the ground. To attach to the ground I mainly use ground staples (6"-long tine staples). If you hammer them all the way in and use enough of them, say one per foot, that cover is not coming up. If you don't use enough ground staples the cover may come up and rip a hole where the staple was. One other thing I do is when I get them on there may be a few branches keeping the cover from getting on all the way. I then get under the cover and prune back the offending limbs. I do prune before putting the covers on but there always seems to be a couple limbs that are keeping the cover from coming down all the way. Scott

Here's the latest: It looks like the situation has been resolved. I've been told that the hybridizer is growing some of the seedlings, that two have bloomed and they look like P. 'Mission Dolores' (P. parritae x antioquiensis). So apparently the pollen somehow came from P. antioquiensis, which is growing in the hybridizer's garden. Interestingly, as far as I can tell the seedlings resemble P. parritae in many ways, and some features, such as the petiole glands, differ significantly from P. 'Mission Dolores'. Perhaps there is variability in the cross, or maybe these change as the plant matures. I thought it was important to figure out whether the seedlings were new P. parritae clones. In this case simply waiting for the flower to bloom could have led to the loss of many of the clones if people didn't think think another hybrid was worth the time, space and effort. Plus there would have been less reason to aggressively propagate the seedlings. It was surprising that the answer to their identity came so quickly, and of course the more information the better.

golferdude, I have a WP Cabrio 6200 agitator machine and the matching gas dryer. We have had it for 8 months. It washes very big loads easily. It does not twist things up in a ball. (I did have the HE Cabrio before the agitator one - it did twist things up in tights balls - so much so that sometimes the clothing was dry after a cycle where they were twisted)It was also hard to get all the wrinkles out with the dryer alone. We improvised by setting the spin speed lower. I like that you can set the water level manually or let the Auto feature decide. It washes a pretty hot wash. The display panel is always steamy during a hot wash. It cleans clothing well. I have 2 small children and a hubby who works in a factory on the metal line. I have cut down on loads I do weekly as the capacity is so large. The only con - it can use alot of water depending on how full your load is. Also I can't speak for it's longevity as we have only had it for 8 months. But, so far 8 months have been trouble free. Good Luck. I guess if I could do it all over again I would just buy a standard top loader and standard dryer. In the end I spent around $1600.00 Canadian for the set I have now. In my opinion I probably could have bought a FL for the same $$ or saved myself $1000.00 and just bought a $600.00 standard set. Oh well, you live and learn I guess!

I prefer romaine lettuce over iceburg lettuce but that is because I like the crunch factor of romaine. I have a recipe that uses both a head of iceburg lettuce and a head of romaine in it, the other ingredients are a chopped red onion and a small bag of shredded 6 cheese blend of Italian cheese(brand Sargento is what I use.) The dressing is olive oil, red win vinegar, sweetened with a tsp of sugar, till sugar dissolves, then add minced garlic and chopped basil and oregano. Pour dressing over, toss and enjoy.