Toni, I dug one out of the trash bag before the rest went into the snow storm...;-(((( No one here seems to be interested in plants as I, let alone take care of any...I would rather see them freeze to death, than give them away to anyone and see it die a slow death.... I kept the "duke jasmine". They smell soooo good when in bloom and it had such a healthy root system! I felt horrible looking at such a healthy plant, and then just to kill it. I inspected it thoroughly, and it had no mites, so it was spared...But I intend on keeping it small and spraying on a regular basis. That should keep it from being a magnet..Crazy ha, how much we love our plants? My adenium had no mites either, but it has been known to be a mite magnet in the past, and I wanted to take no chances..That is at work now...I will take a pic soon and post how happy it is... I examined all my plants today, and not a ONE had a bug! It must of been just those few I talked about earlier. Even my Cordy is growing beautiful leaves now, mite free. I just have to make sure I spray often for the next couple of weeks. That one to is in a seperate room.. I PRAY you do not have mealie....Toni, I know how much you hate them! You know a pest worst than that? Thrips!!!! Oh yes. I know a place where you can buy plants, and they have had thrip problems for years there. They hide when you spray, and come out when your gone..They are good hiders. You can't hit them with spray like you can the ones you see. They tell me they cut off the new growth as it emerges on most their plants..YUK..Thank God I have none of those. They make mites seem like a picnic I guess..Not only would I never buy a plant from them, but I would not even step foot in there for fear one might hitch a ride to my home...I am lucky I havn't brought one of these home from other stores, and if I did, I would hire beneficial pests to rid them..Ones that search out and destroy these thrips! I called them yesterday to see if they had more FP, asked if they were using the spray you showed me to use since the last time I talked to the girl there and she said yes. She also said that she hasn't seen thrip damage for a while..Hummmmm You will getting an e-mail soon. I have so much to share with you... By the way, it only took me an hour to spray ALL my plants and the plant room today, along with cleaning the walls, shelves and floors...getting better at it...What a feeling to know all my plants are clean for the time being! Hugs to you, Mike

referencing article on painting over Benjamin Moore Oil Impurvo with Impurvo oil, you do not need to reprime. just give a wash if dirty, rinse, dry, light sanding with say 150, 180, 220 grit sandpaper or sponge, vacuum, maybe some deglosser - old school tolulene based for oils- note krud cutter makes good deglosser if your use latex paints or hybrids (sythetic oils). Then just paint your beautiful trim with your Impurvo. I would just suggest touching up if possible. your never fully match due to the yellowing of the paint but it looks better than bare wood nicks. I have come to appreciate very slight tints to my with trim paints - better hides. If your going to stick with Imurvo- suggest couple drops of yellow to start - but good paint mixers will have there knowledge formulas. Unfortunately, if you choose pastel bases, your coverage / hide will always be two coats- unless your very good or spray. If you decide to take the plunge and convert to latex, Bejamine Moore advanced is the stuff. The jury is still out on whether to prime or not. I would recomend a good undercoater - oid fresh start is still the best, Yet i this advanced has one in latex, but many stores don't stock. and then top coat - now you can touch up spots for years. Yet i still love oil on trim.

Professional, licensed painting contractor here. Only age 30, we do very high end work. I do surface testing myself using scientific method and also read a TON of textbooks, literature, etc. The best primer to use is oil-based or alkyd-based, and I’ll tell you why. THEN, I’ll tell you why unfortunately some in the industry LIE. And it has to do with money, special interests, and EPA regulations. IN SHORT: Oil-based primer is better than latex primer because of the binder (oil), preventing moisture from intruding into the wood. (Oil and water don’t mix) Wood swells and expands when it’s surface gets wet. The oil primer prevents the rain from entering wood. This prevents paint chipping and peeling. Latex primer- even if it bonds great to the wood- still doesn’t prevent rain from soaking into the latex paint and latex primer, and then into the wood. When the wood expands, the paint chips/peels because paint has low elasticity. For a more scientific explanation: Ever seen how accidental oil spills in the ocean, result in the oil sitting on top? This is because oil and water do not mix. They cannot mix. This is because water (liquid H2O) is held together by hydrogen bonds. Whereas oils and fats not have any polar part and so for them to dissolve in water they would have to break some of waters hydrogen bonds, which they will not do, so they remain separate. All of the paint advancements in the world, cannot change the fact that the binder in latex paint remains water, thus it is WATER SOLUBLE. This is a problem when it rains. You can paint interior cabinets (just not in bathrooms) with a urethane acrylic (water based) paint and it’s generally fine. But outside wood, where it’s going to rain? It’s a very, very bad idea to use latex based. WHY THE INDUSTRY LIES: Paint Manufacturers (Corporations) receive money directly from our USA government as well as European governments, in order to promote what they call “environmentally friendly policies”. As oil-based paints are less “environmentally friendly” due to a higher VOC count, this results in paint manufacturers and paint stores feeling obligated- generally FINANCIALLY OBLIGATED- to push customers to purchase latex primers over oil based primers, even when oil based primers are much more effective according to science. Oil-based solid stains have actually been cut out of circulation completely… you cannot buy them in the USA anymore. For oil-based semitransparent stains (which are much better than water based stains), only a few states manufacture them and our state needs to have them shipped in. This is because of EPA regulations. I want to reiterate that I am certainly in support of helping the environment, and I understand the importance of that. I think both sides of the aisle can and should agree on that. However, I don’t agree with government corruption or misleading consumers in order to push incorrect claims. Any agendas should be based on truth and honesty, nothing else. There’s a reason the girl, in a comment above, mentioned How she had applied oil based primer to her deck and siding and it held up perfectly, whereas the latex primer and paint over that had peeled. Because latex primer on wood outside, fundamentally does not work on a molecular level. Corruption and EPAA regulations and government funding are the reason why companies incorrectly tell you to do this. But if you get a skilled and intelligent painting contractor, that really knows what they are doing, they’re going to tell you otherwise. And again, I’m 30, I grew up in a time period where I could do experiments/ tests on both oil and latex primers and come to factual conclusions based on the data. I have no bias, except I want to do the best job and make the most money obviously. And jobs hold up better and look better with oil based primer on EXTERIOR wood.

With a stain that dark, ambering is not going to be an issue for you but I would not use an oil based product regardless. Brain cells are too important! My personal preference is minimal sheen so I use matte finish top coat or low luster. As mentioned, the names and sheen will vary among manufacturers. With any of them there are certain things to remember - never shake the can, do not stir vigorously so as to create bubbles but DO continually stir gently as you are working. the solids settle out very quickly with low luster products especially and what you are left with on top is going to dry improperly and give you inconsistent sheen levels. This is a big project and needs to be approached with the long term goal in mind regardless of the time it takes which will be longer than you think - it always is. When you get tired of it and try to rush it, you'll see the result of that in the finished product. This is hard for me because if you were a friend of mine here in flesh and blood I'd do anything to talk you out of it. Of course it can be done and many people show their beautiful results but for every one of those there's probably 2 people who got part way into it and wondered why in the heck they ever started. But I'm going to be a cheerleader and say go Shee go! - you can do this, take your time and don't ever work on it when you're tired.