Hi all, I was going to post a qestion about the effects of all this rain here in the northeast. At the time of this post it is raining again. Most plants seem stunted and light green, which got me reading the books (Rodale). It seems that the rain may have washed most if not all nitrogen out. Calcium and magnesium also leach away. Pulverized lime is cheap today yet so I dusted every plant late in the day. I mean all including potatoes, lettus, amaranth, cabbage, brocoli, peppers, peas, beans, onions, ect.. Everything took a leap in appearance for the better. Greener and just plain better looking. As urine is endorsed here, I saved a milk jug of the liguid, cut it 50.50 with saved rain water and tried it on the brocoli. Success, so saved up some more, you can easily get 1 gal. a day, and donated it to the the balance of the plants. It works. Dear other does not know. In short try a dusting of lime followed a day or so later with some nitrogen whatever the source. You add the lime first I am told by some farmers. Anyway it works. Best regards to all.

Kirk..Are you talking about your new fish? IMO it is sometimes what they have been used to eating versus a new kind of food. My fish will eat anything, but prefer floating pellets because that is what I give them. They don't like to have to find them on the bottom. They will eat sinking pellets, if I drop them slowly. My daughters fish only will eat sinking pellets, because that is what they are used to. They seem to like scrounging around on the bottom for their food. Your new fish also need to adjust to a new invironment. You can give them cooked green peas minus the skin of the peas. Hope they start eating soon for you. Glenda

Probably just fussy. Try some live brine shrimp and he'll hunt them down.

While looking into midge chemical cures, I found disturbing information on merit and bees... sigh. I found this info in the American rose Annual from 1918 on the treatment of midge at the time by Mr. Koch in Humboldt Park gardens in Chicago. I don't know where I'd get a load of tobacco stems, (ha), but I thought this organic treatment was interesting. "He found many of the plants affected with mildew and stem- blight, and, in 1911, rose midge had been introduced with new plants in the three principal parks. Hybrid Perpetuals and Gruss an Teplitz were found particularly susceptible to attacks of the midge. After considerable experimental work, Mr. Koch adopted mulching four inches deep with tobacco stems. It is applied after the first summer hoeing, about mid-June, and spaded under after frost in autumn. Where the mulch becomes thinned or shifted in the course of the summer, additional appUcations are made. This, he found, prevents hibernation of the pest. Last summer but few larvae and few injuries were found. For the greater security of other varieties, it was found necessary to remove Gruss an Teplitz from Douglas Park entirely in 1915." Any thoughts, my knowledgeable friends?