very cool. I would think it would depend on the variety of tree if it needs to be in the ground. going to look up freecycle

quirky, don't lose faith yet. About 1/8th of my current lawn was common bermuda grass 2 years ago that spread from my neighbor's lawn. It's all bluegrass today, and since the roundup attack of 2 years ago, not one bermuda has returned. The lawn was sprayed by a Landscaping company, then after it died, I completely destroyed the roots system with a roto tiller. I wish I would have taken pictures of it them, because I know that seeing is believing. Having said that, I constantly have to patrol the areas adjacent to my neighbor's bermuda lawn. To matters worst, my neighbor is the type of guy that will let his bermuda grow to about 4 inches tall, seeds out like son of gun because it's a commong type, then chops it down to an inch leaving bermuda sticks and dirt. Then a couple of weeks later the cycle repeats. I have a plan, next spring when the bermuda starts to come out of dormancy, I'm going to spray Turflon at night to make sure stays a sleep a little longer:-)

Dingy whites. I think it's better to figure out the cause before you execute a "cure". Dingy whites is often from not enough detergent, too much detergent and a build-up from not rinsing out of the clothes, and/or a combination of hard water and detergent build-up. Since using Charlie's Soap, I don't have a problem with detergent build-up, so I don't have dingy whites. You can check Charlie's Soap web site for tests done on detergent build-up in fabrics. It's pretty interesting.... If your whites are dingy from soap/detergent build-up, here's an "old-fashioned method" to whiten dingy whites I found in a Cooperative Extension Service laundry guide sheet from New Mexico State University. Wash the dingy whites in HOT water (NO detergent) adding enough water softener product to make the water feel slippery (about 1-cup in a TL). If the water becomes sudsy, the clothes were not rinsed enough, causing the whites to become dingy from soap scum build-up. Wash them again adding ONLY water softener. If the clothes do not whiten, add soap or detergent and rewash. Hanging whites out in sunshine will also whiten them, without the need for harsh chemicals that can damage fabrics. Sparkling white clothes - yet another benefit from line-drying clothes outside. Hydrogen peroxide is another add-in for whites, but I never use it. On rare occasions I have added some Cascade Dishwasher Detergent to a load of whites as a laundry booster for the enzymes and phosphates found in the Cascade. I've successfully used this method, and a long soak, on really dirty laundry from yard work, including ground-in dirt and grass stains - especially on white cotton socks. I can't use bleach in our water because the minerals react with the bleach and causes whites to yellow, and it's really hard on fabrics. Add-ins, like bluing, are only an optical illusion and actually don't whiten anything. That shade of blue tricks the eye into thinking the color is vibrant white. I'm the white T-shirt queen, some are REALLY old, and still worn daily for work-out clothes, gardening, etc.... All of them are all nice and white - just using Charlie's Soap. -Grainlady

Well, I'd like to start with the disclaimers. I live a few miles away from Jon's home, he and I belong to AW.org. Like Joel said above, yes, it's all true, he has spent quite a lot of time and money developing Rosalie's Zero Suds. It does not take much to make him talk about a lot of stuff he tried etc. With that out of the way, here's what I've heard from people I know and trust who actually tried the detergent: some did not like it because the scent was too faint, some did not like it because the scent was not faint enough, some did not like it because it wasn't unscented. I've heard people claiming that they could NOT deal with a detergent that basically made no suds, they are too used to seeing suds. Some couldn't deal with the detergent being so concentrated that just a tiny scoop would do. Most agreed that it was a competent detergent and that it cleaned well or really well. A lot of the "problems" expressed above could easily be solved by a large corporation just by offering the same product with different scents, concentrations and suds suppression, but this is not the case here, there is one formula, not everyone will be pleased. I have been using this Rosalie's since it was released -- Jon gave me a free box, and I already bought another two from Gray's Appliance since. When it was released it was *clearly* the best American detergent for sale, after that, Henkel released Persil ProClean which forced P&G to release Tide HE Turbo, which have similar performances, but produce more suds than Rosalie's. I would have probably bought more boxes, except that, I don't know if y'all have ever heard of this condition, I find it very hard not to test any laundry detergent I see at the supermarket that have wordings to the tune of "New" or "Improved", so I have a stash of Tide HE Turbo, Persil ProClean etc competing for attention with Rosalie's. I find it funny to see people talking about the price not because they shouldn't but because *I* have succumbed to the temptation to buy *imported* German Persil *multiple* times. I find Rosalie's and German Persil to be mostly tied for performance, one cleans some stains better but change stains and you might need the other detergent. Here's the thing: the "use one scoop" direction is for High Efficiency washers with about 8 pounds of regular soiled clothes. This is not that different from what many of us here have been using when we use German Persil. If you have more than 8 pounds, or the clothes are very dirty, or your water is very hard etc, you will need more. If you are using a deep fill toploader with the traditional agitator, the box directs you to start with 2 or 3 scoops and increase from there. Here's what I like about Persil and Rosalie's -- with the water I have available to me (0-4 grains most of the year, thus "soft"), I can use enough to clean most things. I have had one of my frontloaders washing about 16 pounds of *heavily* soiled clothes and I used, if I remember right, 3 scoops in the pre-wash and 6 scoops in the main (hot) wash, everything came out clean, the washer did not suds lock in the interim spins and the last rinse was clear water. The clothes were clean with a very mild scent that reminds me of old-time detergents, not the sweet cloying stuff on the shelves today. The dosage I used of Rosalie's is very close to the dosage of Persil Megaperls that I got from Germany when you use the Persil scoop provided. I don't know much about business, so take the following with a grain of salt: I've heard that when All was released in the 40's or so, they released a small box to emphasize how concentrated the product was and it did not start selling well until they started selling it in a large box and people who failed to read the directions (we don't know anybody like that, right?) started using a heaping measuring cup of All instead of the intended dosage (I forgot if it was 1/2 or 3/4 cup), which of course made it clean and rinse better than other detergents of the time. I think that might be the case here -- if Rosalie's came up with a box 4 times the current size and an oversized scoop directing people to use the same quantity they tell us now, a lot of people will use the full scoop (or about 4-10 times as needed) and the thing might start flying off the shelves, because it will rinse well and clean well. I am sure there will be some absurd dosage that will make it oversuds or even sudslock, but I have not found it yet. Maybe people with different water quality will experience differently than me. The other thing I want to say is that if you look at the ad in the webpage, the two women are holding a box that appears to be twice as tall as the current box, but with the same number of loads, I think. So, I commented in person to Jon that I was surprised the box was shorter (changing box sizes and having to print a new different run is expensive) and he told me that one of the problems he found out a bit too late was that he had to experiment with the formula and make it more concentrated because shipping depends on the volume of the box and also the weight. At that time, boxes were about 2 pounds, if I remember right, and his goal was to make it under one pound because anything above one pound gets *much* more expensive to ship. This is not a huge company that can tell FedEx or UPS that they'll go with a competitor and get a much lower rate. Someday, if the shipping company starts parking several trucks at their docks everyday, shipping might go for peanuts, right now I think the company is paying about as much as I would if I shipped it. Anyway, I believe he was offering free samples. I would suggest people take him up on it and make up their minds. I like the product, most people I know liked it too, a lot of them find it too expensive, but such is life until production can ramp up significantly. I would like to add here that the opinions I've expressed above are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone at the firm that researches, develops and/or manufactures Rosalie's Zero Suds -- I have no connection (financial or otherwise) with that company except for knowing the inventor of Rosalie's. Cheers, -- Paulo.