Dave, good luck with that! Let us know how it turns out. Sunseeker, you might even consider cutting out a center piece to graft onto an even shorter trunk, then you'd have a nice thick center-cut to root as well. In fact, you might be able to air-layer at two spots on the trunk, one about a foot above the other. That would be a good experiment. And to answer your question from the other post, yes, I did lose that inflo on Makaha when it got grafted. It was awful because the buds were so close to opening but the cutting was getting horribly shriveled and I was afraid I'd lose the whole thing. Now I have to wait another couple years to see those gorgeous buds again, which looked sooooo promising! The air-layering posts on MPG came up shortly after I discovered this on my multi-tip Intense Rainbow: For some reason it wasn't covered with latex though I found the break after only a day or so. Don't know what happened and if it was ball play damage, no one here is fessing up to it! After reading about someone's borer experience I freaked a little and quickly covered it with masking tape to discourage any boring critters that might want to make a home there. The break goes about 2/3 of the way around. I checked it after a couple of weeks and it, too, is starting to swell to form roots, but I decided instead of air- layering I would just let it heal and grow over like a graft since I'd rather have just one Intense Rainbow with several tips.

This leads me to believe the soil in Plot B is causing the problem. Could this be true? Easily. It has nothing to do with the tomatoes other than that is what is growing there. The effects would be the same regardless of the crop planted. The problem is the vastly different soil composition in the beds and the drainage problems, nutrient retention problems, pH imbalances, decomposition issues, and soil structure problems those differences create. The fact that they performed equally well last year was likely the result of happenstance/coincidence more than anything else. Given the info provided on composition there is little to no chance that Bed B could perform well in following years. It is both mineral and nutrient deficient and will have severe water drainage/retention issues. lasagne gardening method by piling on coffee grounds, leaves, and grass clippings atop a bed of cardboard Lasagna beds are also supposed to have layers of soil incorporated into them when built and require regular additions of compost throughout the season and at season's end and again prior to planting. And that compost needs to be very diverse in ingredients and as pH balanced as possible (leaves are very acidic) for it to work. It was never intended to be a build and forget method. Rather it requires continuous building to work. One can learn a great deal about the effects of different soil compositions as well as the problems associated with lasagna beds that aren't properly maintained and amended over on the Soil & Compost forum here. Dave

Maybe. They definitely sent the clear message that they don't actually want to sell. So I have a feeling they wouldn't be too heartbroken to hear we moved on. But maybe I'm wrong and they're just clueless. Either way, we'll probably never know.

great options to think about! thank you! lisa and lyfia...i didn't know engineered wood could be refinished! thats why i don't like it (or didn't lol) because i thought it was a one shot wonder. i'm looking into the pros and cons of cork :) i used to have berber but dh hates it (goofball prejudice like mine for engineered wood) but that explaination actually kind of shows that aside from orientals...it;s about the only reasonable option for play. foam squares lol....we always put about 200 of them out on the cement out front for ds and the neighbor girl. i'm not sure i can face more inside lol! os...i'm in complete understanding on that carpet issue. i always have significant issues with new carpet myself. i'm going to have to research that option, because frankly, i've never seen anything like that in a carpet store. one reason i like the wood, verses carpet is frankly the cats. the little furballs are so much easier to deal with on wood than carpet! if we do carpets over a wood floor, they'll be high quality natural fiber carpets. the way the room is shaper, we could do a rectangle and a square and leave just a foot or so on the perimiter. oh and tile....lovely idea, but not so much used in alaska because of the earthquakes. we have more annually here than the balance of the US combined. we often have 5+ and at least one 6 per year as well as a 7 here or there. no one here uses tile in large expances because it crack so badly during the shaking. our place is worse because of the pilings (which are a good thing because they take most of the shock). :( which is too bad because i could have some fun doing wonderful tile down there. i'm off to research! i have to let the gc know we're making a change! i just don't know what to lol!!! i love this forum! i have lots of new ideas now :) its great to put millions of creative minds to work! i can't wait to start the remodel mockups for the rental and have ya'll vote on which walls to move lol