would like your feeling on AGRISERUM" I just did a quick look at what's up.. It just seems like bacteria.. I couldn't find prices, so i would expect it to be expensive.. Guess where you get all your beneficial bacteria- Yes, your correct, compost! I don't know if your listening to me, and just not registering what I'm telling you, or your gettin caught up in all these marketing schemes.. Let me try to tell you again- plants never needed any of these products out of a package, they didn't even need human intervention, what makes you think they need them now? You are doing far more good in a good compost.. I really think you are under estimating compost.. Let me remind you, the world record tomato grower, who grew 30 foot tomatos, with thousands of pounds of fruit off one plant, just uses compost... All I need to do is find a place to get rock dust, can you even buy this stiff? I've been told that they will give it away free if you can find it: true or false? So I am looking for a place, if you canhelp me that would be great." When people tell you you can get rockdust for free, it's most likely from a gravel pit, with very little nutritional value.. Its not the rockdust that people talk about.. You could buy rockdust, that has over 70 trace elements, and everything but the kitchen sink, but again, it is expensive.. Th product is "azomite".. One thin that you said stuck out to me - "all I need is rock dust".. That hit home, when i was beggining,I always looked for the best of the best, for a very quick optimal garden.. But the truth is, it takes years to get your soil in good production.. Remember it's your soil that's growing your plant.. All this stuff is good, but it is UNNECCESARY.. The majority of gardeners don't use any of the products you want to buy, not even talking about this expensive they are.. You are falling for a marketing scheme.. Please read this thoroughly: instead of paying hundreds of dollars for a few bags/ gallons of fertilizer and other miracle amendments, spend your money on getting quality compost/soil delivered for your garden.. Spend your money buying cover crop seeds.. Spend your money on water filters for your hose.. Spend your money making a rain harvester.. That stuff is really effective for your garden long term, and is very critical to your soil.. Would you rather have your whole garden with a few inches of compost/soil, or a few bags of the expensive dust/liquid? That sol/compost is going to do much more for you soil, an your plants, not only in the long run, but this season as well.. a 56 lb bag of winter rye, I pay $30.. That would do a few years, depending on your garden size.. What you really need to do is build your soil with traditional methods, that been around for centuries.. And is cheap!: -Mulching -composting -cover crop/ green manure I haven read the book you mentioned.. But i think that is your problem, your "researching" a little to much! Please keep it simple for the first year or two.. You actually CAN damage your soil all these products you want to buy, believe it or not.. Please keep it simple until you really he a feel for what you are doing, and what actully observe what plants needs.. Start with mulching/composting, move to cover crops/green manures.. Then mayb get into the nitty gritty trace elements,etc... I bet after you start composting and recycling nutrients and organic matter from your green manures/cover crops, you are going to think twice about needing expesive products... Ps- you mentioned you got a soil test.. Do you have the results? That would be very helpful.. Joe

Barbara, Our local conifer club puts in a order for conifers from Larry Stanley every November. Larry sets them aside and ships late April. Acer palms. don't like to go from Oregon to Kansas overnight because it can still get cold here. They arrive already leafed out. That's why he holds back to avoid weather issues. We just received our order on 4-28...about 165 conifers and trees altogether. I didn't order the Picea a.'Karaca' on a standard...it was shipped that way. I was presently surprised. You didn't see those offerings on the latest availability list because they are long out of stock. His plant availability list changes every week. Late Fall is the best time to select conifers from him for shipment in the Spring. His inventory is at its best for picking and choosing what you want to buy. The Acer p. 'Kiyo Hime' is from the local nursery I order/ buy my plants from. $48.00 bucks...what a deal. It pays to nose around...you never know what will jump out at you...needless to say I jumped back and snatched that one up. Dave

It really should be a "fail-safe" experiment. It is almost impossible for it not to work. It is just that it takes many days for the water to dry out and the crystals to grow. It would help if you start out with "seeded" strings or sticks. First soak the strings or sticks in the sugar water and let them dry out completely. The strings or sticks will be "seeded" You can also melt some store bought flavored candies into the sugar water to give it color and flavor. Don't put too many candies in the sugar water. Candies may have inverted sugar, which doesn't crystallize as well. Good luck. dcarch

I think the guy with the old house air leak philosophy is basically saying it is important that the old walls be allowed to dry to the inside and the outside like they always have but that only works for sure in mild climates or if there is no insulation in a cold climate. With insulation installed in a cold climate, the interior side of the exterior sheathing becomes cold enough for moisture to condense against it before it can pass through to the very dry (in winter) outside. If an interior vapor retarder is omitted, the exterior sheathing must be highly permeable (no, I'm not going to say breathes) and that may be the case with old style horizontal boards or beaver/buffalo wood fiber board. Omitting the vapor retarder can sometimes work if all the other elements are right but I would add a coat of vapor retarding paint on the interior to slow down the passage of water vapor in the winter in rooms that have a lot of moisture. Think of water vapor as trying to equalize itself just like air pressure only incredibly slower. For me, the irony of all this is that interior air in old houses in New England is so dry, chairs are constantly falling apart so the idea that moisture would condense in a wall cavity is pretty far fetched except near a shower, a sink, a dishwasher, etc., or if the HVAC system has a really good humidifier.