Ace, my basic spray program only goes to 4 if you use Sevin. I don't need to control fireblight in any of the 100 orchards I manage, I only get small strikes that run their course innocently enough (I don't use full dwarf rootstock). I often have to do more sprays with stonefruit to control BR but on many sites we get adequate control with just 2 sprays if we forsake oil or add it in one of the insecticide sprays. Brown rot control can be maintained most efficiently with Orbit, Indar or Pristine and you can experiment with a single spray in early July to control BR on all your stonefruit. Sometimes this will solve the problem entirely up here. Mark has recently drawn my attention to Assail which I don't think is restricted in NY and he mentioned research that would indicate that it could protect for as long of intervals as Imidan. Thank you Mark! Don, it's crazy that you posted within minutes of my last post here and had some similar but more detailed advice. I wouldn't necessarily recommend using composted manure in large amounts however. If she has a deep rich soil with a lot of organic matter already she might want to go easy on enriching it further. I get the best fruit from soil not overly rich. It really depends on the sight, the species and rootstock as I'm fully aware you know.

I just moved back to Long Island from Philly. I worked at an Aquarium Supercenter which got its roots from Big Als. I'm dying to find a comparable place in the area. I checked out Total Aquariums in Lynbrook and was disappointed with the size and product stock. The livestock was pretty nice however, a large variety but crammed in a very small space. Parrots of the World in Rockville Centre has a decent selection but their tanks always seem to have some sort of disease process flowing throughout the system. Plus, the kids they have working their don't seem to know much. The manager and the owner of the store are very knowledgeable however... you just have to catch them instead of the kids in the back. So basically I'm looking for a place in Nassau County (or a place in Suffolk that packs with 02 and is worth the gas money). Also, are there any places around here that sell live food such as Black Worms or Brine Shrimp? I haven't found any yet. Thanks a million... My fish thank you too!

Cactus dude, its all good. If you're not familiar with mid Atlantic and Northeast Beach culture, its radically different than going to a beach in California. California is more about day tripping to the beach. It's a year round beach climate and people go there to surf or picnic or watch the sunset. Here, our beach season is short. Businesses have three precious months to make money for the entire year. Rent is VERY expensive. Anything that sets you apart from your competitor or makes your place look more "beachy" will help make the season. Tourists generally don't do day trips either, as most of the east coast cities are a few hours drive from their favorite beach resorts. So visits are often in increments of every weekend, entire week's vacation or entire seasons renting a house (often year after year or generations). Repeat loyal customers are big business. The thousands spent on "disposable" palms can translate to hundreds of thousands for the beach club, bar, mini golf or restaurant. Same for the garden center that sold the palms and installed them. Growers too.

If you could go back in time, you should have had it finish graded the first time. Whatever you do to this soil will have to be repeated when the final soil is in. Then you could have started watering it as if you wanted to sprout new grass seed. That daily watering would have sprouted all the weed seeds and then the RoundUp would have given you a perfect bed for new grass. Even if you kill all the weeds in this current level of soil, the new soil will bring in more weed seeds. When you start watering the new grass, the new weeds will sprout and you'll be starting with a weedy lawn. Looking forward if you had the soil delivered today, you could begin watering daily now to sprout the weeds, spot spray the Round Up in a week, and then do your seed.