I also wanted to go the organic, environmentally friendly route with my roses (72 and counting), but it's a difficult road to travel. Conserve SC is $150/qt at one prominent site, and I just can't see spending that kind of money. What I have noticed is that their Conserve SC is 11.6% spinosad, where others, such as Monterey and Green Light, are only .5% spinosad. However, the mixing ratio for Conserve SC appears to be .1 ounce(2.96ml) per gallon of water (from: (http://www.cdms.net/LDat/ld24P009.pdf), so it would appear that this "professional" Conserve SC is just a way to make quite a bit of money, IMHO. I haven't found either the Monterey or the Green Light brands locally to date, but I'm still looking. In the meantime, a tip in our local Houston Rose Society "Rosette" told of an Ant Killer called Surrender, which is 75% acephate, and sells locally for $12.95. As earlier stated, I'd love to go the organic route, but there's just too much work, sweat, and money tied up in my roses, so I'll be using the Orthene in the lowest % acephate per gallon to control thrips if the .5% spinosad doesn't work out. I actually saw some other products that contained the same .5% spinosad at a local feed store, and purchased a bottle of this product, which I'll try initially. Please correct me if I'm wrong on those mixing ratios.

I don't know if it's true, but I heard Tide and Borax had the same detergent-boosting compound. Regardless, I react badly to both. I have a lot of allergies and sensitivities. I'm trying Oxy-Clean. It got most of the odor out of an impossible nylon/spandex blend. If it doesn't make me itch I'll use it on all my problem clothing. A word of advice: if you plan to try a new combination of chemicals, try it first on a single garment you can afford to lose. And someone said it but it bears repeating; never mix chlorine bleach with anything but plain old detergent. It could kill you.

I'll have to check at the library for the latest Consumer Reports reviews on washers. I am limited as to what Lowes carries because that is where the gift card will originate. We have looked at the new Bosch Vision 500 and they look cheap not as nice as the original Nexxt series. We looked at the Samsung, and the Electrolux. We both like the Electrolux, reversible washer door (which works well for our setup), it has prewash, larger capacity which helps in washing pants and shirts weekly. At this point, I do not know what's wrong with it. They tech is putting a new motherboard and motor controller board and I'm going to ask him if this does not work that we both speak to Lowes and get it replaced. We paid 999 for the washer and I bet there will be that much in repairs after this time. I will always get extended warranties on anything electronic these days when they come with a lot of moving parts. Dishwasher, washers and dryers are key to these warranties. Also, does anyone know what they do with the set? Do they take them or do I need to discard them myself. If they let me keep them, I might give them to a friend who is in need of a washer/dryer. Maybe she will get it repaired and working correctly who knows. Matt Spfd IL.

"If I had it to do over, I would have started with a load of sand/silt loam typical to the Saginaw River Valley) and added about 10% each of pine bark and reed/sedge peat and called it good. Still, it remains very productive. " Unless it's a small container and/or weight requirements are a factor, I too am a big fan of just mineral soil and some organic component. (for most applications, I use some flavor of sand or loamy sand) I design a lot of soil profiles for general landscapes, bioswales/biofiltration, light weight rooftop applications, sports field root zones, etc. and one thing that I've learned over the years for deeper plantings is that, rather than placing organic amendment the entire depth, it can really help to do a "split layer" using the mineral soil / organic blend in the top 10 to 12 inches and just the mineral fraction without any organic below that. With less organic, you'll have less settling over time. And, since you're amending the top foot or so, that will be enough to provide a favorable rooting environment for a broad range of plants. This has the extra bonus of helping to avoid the formation of anaerobic conditions at lower depths when you've got deeper rooting species to worry about.