I think you will find the 4 month formulations don't actually last 4 months. You might wish to purchase from a wholesaler/nursery supply place as I find it is easier to get 8-9 month or 6-7 month formulations that way. The 4 month claim is based upon a constant 70F under lab conditions. I strongly suspect your tomato containers get much warmer than that since I know mine do even in a mild Wisconsin summer. This is a link to an excellent series of articles on controlled release fertilizers. Note that the link takes you to the first article. To find the others you need to click on the archive link on the left. The year of the article in 2007 and the month for the first one is July. So, for the next one look under August 2007. Once you read through the series I think you will know more about CRFs than you ever thought you would want to ;)

The botanical name for Self-heal is Prunella vulgaris. There are several herbs whose common name is All-heal. An infusion of the leaves taken thrice daily will soothe inflamed membranes associated with diarrhoea. Applied to cuts, it will stop bleeding and reduce scarring. It is one of the best wound herbs. Use as a gargle and mouthwash for sore throats and laryngitis. Apply juice of leaves, flowers or root to alleviate a headache. Useful in the treatment of haemorrhoids and heavy menstruation. Good for sprains, burns, cuts, diabetic sores, boils, conjunctivitis, tinnitus, vertigo, hepatitis, jaundice, swollen glands and bruises. Infusions or weak decoctions are used for heart ailments, acne, bruises, burns, cuts and diabetic sores. Use the tea as a gargle for throat irritations or chew the leaves for sore throats. The tea can be used as a wash for inflamed or sore eyes. Research indicates in may be useful in the treatment of AIDS, heart disease, venereal disease and cancer. The flowers can be used in infusion for children who are hyperactive. Usual Dosage: Pour 5 drops of the juice of the plant into 1/2 glass hot water. Allow to cool before drinking. Or pour 600ml boiling water over 30g dried herb, leave to steep for 10 minutes. Take 2-3 times daily, or use externally as a wash. Some basic recipes: To make a herbal ointment: Combine 1 part of powdered plant with 4 parts of softened lard or vegetable fat or petroleum jelly or mutton fat or melted beeswax or soft paraffin wax etc. Store for up to 3 months. (in the case of self-heal, use the leaves.) To make a herbal cream: Combine 30g dried or 75g fresh herb with 150g emulsifying wax, melted, 70g glycerine and 80ml water. Strain mixture through a fine cloth or coffee filter. Stir constantly until the mixture is cool. Transfer to small jars, seal and label. 5ml of borax or a few drops of friarÂs balsam (tincture of benzoin) added to the mixture will extend shelf life. Storage time is about 3 months. Rub cream onto affected area 2-3 times a day.

Well I am back and the self watering plant trays worked perfectly with all my indoor plants looking great. The Hoya drip system also worked perfectly and there was some significant new growth on a few plants while I was gone, must have been happy. I am seriously considering keeping a few Hoyas on a smaller self watering tray because they seem to have grown much better than usual. My Hoya caudata added another leaf and peduncle while on the tray and Hoya patella and blashernazii have started growing much faster than usual. The only problem that occurred was a cracked line on the outdoor drip system so I did loose a couple plants but mostly just some annuals I grow from the hummingbirds. I will have to pick up some more flexible tubing from the pet store to fix the outdoor system. Mike I rigged up a large storage tub complete with timed light, a pump and spray bar to keep the humidity up for my mounted plants. All the plants did very well including my Brassavola nodosa which continued maturing it's buds. Over the next week or so I will be working on the photos I took while on vacation and will have them on my Flickr site. Mike

Actually I never had any devastating disease problems with my plants. Most of the plants I lost (and these were no more than only a few dozens over the past 4 years) during the winter months because I wasn't able to provide adequate conditions - lack of space, poor ventilation, not enough light... Avoiding these and generally working on prevention had saved me from any real trouble so far. The reason I have asked for a book was to have a quick and easy reference to help me to identify some problems that I can't currently relate to anything particular. It is far more efficient to look at some description and photos to identify a problem and if needed to dig further do discover all possible reasons, instead of taking pictures by myself, posting to forums and asking questions that have being answered hundreds of times probably. For example I have Lagerstroemia indica plants and some of them are having some warts on their leaves as if the leaf is dusted with salt or more correctly like if salt crystals are protruding through their epidermis or maybe like some cysts filled with liquid, it is hard for me to describe it. Obviously I am lacking a basic knowledge in this area. I had troubles with all possible pests on my Clianthus puniceus plants and I am tired of babying them so I am about do discontinue them. They are not dying, but are losing their good appearance and hardly ever get to flower. They are looking good enough for sale just for a short periods of time after intensive treatments with quite poisonous chemicals against spider mites, heavy pruning and heavy feeding to develop some new foliage... I have some Aristolochias that show some browning of the lower leaves that I cant identify. Nutritional deficiency related problems is another topic I need to know more about. Otherwise everything grows as vigorously as it can, making my greenhouse to look ridiculously small... again.... :) Currently I am growing more than 250 species of plants with widely varying cultural requirements - carnivorous, succulents, bulbs, shrubs, vines from all around the world. I am slowly heading to reducing this number and some specialization, but I will always want to try some new plant so it is unlikely that the number will drop significantly. Compared to my tiny space and not so good location this number is big.