Wally, This may interest you. http://store.rainbird.com/product/detail/F39000-M.aspx enjoy. Aloha

Hope this is still active. I have my sprinkler system controller in my garage. I have valves for the front yard sprinklers and valves for the back. My controller will still turn on front yard sprinklers, but not the backyard. It usedan to wor fine. The connections seem tight at the controller. Don't see any loose connections by the valves though it is somewhat complex looking at there. The valves will turn on the sprinklers if turned manually. How can I check for loose connections versus wire shortages. Not sure if relevant, but we (gardener) did change front yard sprinkler stations prior to the backyard issue started. But I can't remember if the backyard sprinklers were working after that for a short period of time or not. Thanks for any help.

Nan, I bought mine at SBS which is a feed, grain and garden store for the wealthy gentleman farmer. The store is owned by Ralph Packer's(he supplies all of our oil) daughter. Some of the garden tools are to die for but again not cheap. The dramm wand and sprayer I would consider a quality item in very cool...easy to find in the garden colors. Here is a link that might be useful: Dramm products and store locator

First of all, dormancy is very individual to each plant. At a certain point, one plant will suddenly, literally overnight, have its leaves turn yellow and drop off. Right across from it, an identical plant may be full of green leaves and even flowering. From my experience in So.Cal., mature plants that naturally go dormant will almost never have any claws and will be clean rounded at each branch end. Young plants and plants that are taken inside before they have completed growing will often have small claws on the branch ends. Remember we are dealing with plants from the tropics of Central America and the islands south of Florida. Their dormancy is a natural adaption to the drought periods not to freezing weather. In the temperate regions, the cold and the short periods of light trigger the dormancy but often the grower has to rescue the plants from the cold and thus force an early dormancy, pulling in a plant that still has small leaves growing from the branch end. The plant that was cut in the valley in February was probably coming out of dormancy early due to its size and the warm weather that the valley can have in early spring. I would guess that in January it had no claws showing. This year, So.Cal has been so warm all fall, that I only have 6 plants bare, while I have 20 still flowering, about 60 fully green, and about 40 in various stages of dropping leaves. I really wonder what this year will be like since at this time last year, two thirds of my plants were dormant by now. I used to think the shorter light was the trigger, but now I feel it is a combination of light and heat. Wierd year.