Terpguy, I'm grinning about the Dr. Bronners. In the 70s, when all the back-to-the-landers first got going, anything "natural" was way in, and nothing was more way in than Dr. Bronners peppermint soap. We used it full strength for showers - poured on rough loofahs, of course. :) Washed dishes with it, cleaned floors and windows and cars - it was ubiquitous. I feel more grounded w/ a small bottle in the cabinet at all times and have never minded the strong aroma - probably still influenced by the mindset of the time. When the eucalyptus and almond Dr. Bronners came out - well, the stratosphere was a better place. That said, a commercial grower offers this recipe for a homemade insecticidal soap: For a gallon of water - 1/2 to 1 cup alcohol 1 tbsp cooking oil - Canola being preferred 1 tbsp Dawn dishwashing soap One question - what are people's thoughts about 1600 X-clude? It's also recommended by one of the commercial growers. The label says active ingredients are Pyrethrins; Piperonyl Butoxide, Technical (equivalent to 1.76% [butylcarbityl] [6-Propylpiperonyl] ether and 0.44% of related compounds); and N-Octyl Bicycloheptene Dicarboximide. All these are under 3%. It's swell to use - in the garage (if it's gotten too cold outside), outside w/ no wind and in late afternoon (no direct sun), or in the greenhouse, put a lot of plants together, stand a couple of feet away, and spray with a few sweeps back and forth. Repeat in a week. Supposedly, it's okay to use in the house, except for fish and birds, but I won't do it w/ our 3 cats and 2 dogs. The can has those warnings about if it's swallowed, if in the eyes, if on skin or clothing, and if inhaled. Nope. The label says it kills just about everything that attacks indoor/outdoor plants and ornamental trees, including ants and gnats, plus kills cockroaches, spiders, flies, crickets, silverfish, fire-brats(???), and moths. There are several pdfs available online that give complete label info, but I don't know how to link to them here. This last summer, my plants stayed inside. The 2 summers before, they got sprayed w/ the 1600 X-clude twice before coming in, plus a couple of times during the summer. This year is the first time I've had problems w/ pests. Dunno if it's cause and effect. Spider mites got going before I even knew it - barely beyond newbie grower. Since then, I've used lots of Safers or equivalent and have wiped a lot of leaves w/ alcohol. Another factor may be that I used to wash leaves w/ my fingers under running water whenever plants were flushed, and I've cut way back on that for several reasons - too many orchids being one. Bottom line is so far, I've been reactive, rather than pro-active. Good topic, Kevin, esp. because orchids have to be inside in the Northland. Whitecat8 Here is a link that might be useful: 1600 X-clude

Wow, this site has been here for 11 years. Every complaint under the sun and not one real solution to the problem of companies like HD and Lowes getting by with selling trash for what they call "Top Soil". I own a resort where we have no less than 2 acres of landscaped flower beds and 80 foot trees. I have been buying "top soil" from the two companies mentioned as well as from Walmart and one or two feed stores. I realize that top soil is not garden or potting soil, but I have been using it for planting and bedding material for over 35 years. I have gotten buy with using it in a mix of approximately 1/2 topsoil, 1/3 cow manure, one or two 2 lb coffee cans of peat moss and a can or two of vermiculite. This has given me tremendous success in planting everything from maple trees and crepes to using it to "enrich" the soil around a bulb. I have seen a great deviance in quality of "Top Soils", but have never seen anything like is being offered over the last 6 months. I usually buy 40 - 80 bags at a time, several times a year. I have used some for filling holes and dispersing it over soil that needs a little help with creating runners in the likes of Bermuda. But it is mostly used as stated above. In the last 4 months I have never experienced a "top soil" that has actually tainted the surrounding soil to a point that you cannot even grow a rye seed mix with fescue in it. Everything it touches gets killed or at least strained to the point of withering away. At first, I thought it might be one lot of soil that came in, but subsequent lots were contaminated as well. If you go back an read one lady's complaint about her Top soil smelling like gas, it tells me that the main problem with today's soil has been around for sometime. It has been mentioned that decomposition of manure and products like moss, or wood shavings may play a roll. Maybe so, but I suggest all you have to do is to wonder what is happening to the thousands of miles of road surface that has been hauled away during the repaving of our black top roads? Could it be that the petroleum odor is coming from ground up tar. Same color and everything. Most important, have you ever seen grass seed grow on the blacktop surface? Poor a little oil over your fresh seed and see if it grows. One final observation. Someone said to cut open the bags and let them dry out. Try it with todays "Top Soil" and you will end up with a brick. I used some to freshen up my Xmas poinsettias. When it dried, water would not penetrate it. When customer service was approached and aske to take it back, the answer was the same as it was years ago. Bring it back in the bag it came in and they will refund it. Right!! Beware, the "topsoil" you may be buying today is not suitable for use in a planting mix. I doubt you will be able to use it with out your skin burning and your nose running. I wish I had an alternative. Lowes did.....buy the mix already in the bag at a cost of 3 - 4 times the cost of today's Top soil. Captainjim

Jan, I assumed they were under contract but given the important role they're filling in the lives of those kids, I bet your son and daughter-in-law wouldn't pack up and come home tomorrow even if they could. I so admire the work they're doing and hope and pray they remain safe. I am glad your volunteer firefighters were able to stop the fires that burned onto your place from doing worst damage than they did. I appreciate all our volunteer firefighters too. I see them put themselves on the line time and again to stop a fire, save people from dangerous situations like fire, flooding, icy highways, etc., and even venture into lakes and rivers to search for drowning victims. They have a remarkable kind of courage and "can do it" spirit. Through my involvement with our fire department, I've met so many remarkable heroes from all over our county and from outside our county as well. Down here along the Red River, it is not uncommon for firefighers to cross the river to help their fellow firefighters on the other side of the river, and I know that is true in all border counties as well. When I take our firefighters cold drinks, snacks and meals, they always are so grateful that someone is looking out for them. I tell them over and over again that we appreciate them and that making sure they have cold drinks and food is just a tiny way to say "thank you" for all they do. I am in awe of their willingness to protect not only people but also their property and wildlife as well. Carol, Tim uses OKFire a lot, and I've used it for other info, but haven't used the satellite maps much until the last couple of days. When you're at the OK Mesonet page, clicks on the "Programs" category. From there, click on "Wildland Fire Managment" and that will take you to the OKFire main page. Once there, you can click on "Satellite" and use the menu it brings up to see various satellite images of fires. I haven't spent enough time on those pages to understand what all the data shows, but I could tell it was showing us a lot of fires and smoke. We have used the Prescription Fire Planner pages before, and I often use the OKFire page to check the fire conditions from my phone when we're out at a fire and the Incident Command officer is wanting to know windspeed, humidity levels, etc. The satellite stuff is new to me and I'm going to try to figure out more of what it shows when I have time. Dawn

Sahoy: Be sure never to get in the position I am in - ordering 1000 crickets every other week!! I have special 12" tweezers made for picking up crickets. They don't hurt the crickets at all (unless you squeeze too hard!). I only use them to handfeed certain animals, but you could definatly use them to avoid touching the crickets. If I were you, I would go to petsmart once weekly and buy a few dozen crickets. You could keep them in a plastic critter cage and use the tweezers to transfer some to the the frogs' cage daily. When you run out of crickers, you could take a day to clean the cage with hot water and then re-stock your supply. I honestly don't know why everyone makes such a big deal about the crickets. Yeah, they're gross, but it's not rocket science. In my experience, you just need to keep the crickets alive in their cage with plenty of food and water, and then clean and re-stock the cage when you run out. It's that simple. BTW, my firebelly eats up 3/4th inch crickets, has no UV light, and is has been going on strong for 5 years now.