Based on what I have seen here the blue cedar will have a stake due to a deformed rootstock being used, and the tops of the box are plenty big enough for their roots to be matted - the magnolia will not be the only one that needs work at planting. With deciduous magnolias it appears you want to be subjecting them to root damage only when they are in leaf. Otherwise they may just sit there and rot. When a potted plant has the correct proportion between top and roots the top looks undersized to many consumers. This and growers not keeping up with potting on anyway results in under-potted stock being the general situation in the retail setting. Loosening up the outside of a matted root system is not too hard to deal with; corkscrew roots, hard woody root turnips and other severe deformities in the center of the root mass, right below the crown - resulting from stock being left in bands, liners or 4" pots way too long at production facilities - is a different story, and just the thing to spoil a woody specimen after it has grown for many years and made a nice big top. Tall, fast growers like cypresses or pines may even break loose and go over, when part of the root system is caught up in going around and around - instead of all of the main roots immediately leaving the vicinity of the trunk and radiating outward to their full lengths and forming a good anchorage. This post was edited by bboy on Tue, Dec 31, 13 at 16:38

Tigerdunes brought up demand defrost versus timed defrost. For the past 18 years, I have dealt with my Lennox defrost scheme. The only times I heard it go into defrost mode were when the unit was first running in heat mode. The unit would switch over from heat to defrost, the defrost cycle would complete and everything would turn off. I never heard it run a defrost cycle when it was not first heating. I rarely heard it go into defrost. I never heard it defrost on a fixed cycle such as every 90 minutes. Am I to understand that a Carrier will just go into defrost mode every X minutes whether it needs it or not and is not in a heating cycle; just turn on and defrost itself? I found this information in the Carrier 25HNB6 heat pump installation instructions: AUTO defrost adjusts the defrost interval time based on the last defrost time as follows: When defrost time When defrost time 3-5 minutes, the next defrost interval=90 minutes. When defrost time 5-7 minutes, the next defrost interval=60 minutes. When defrost time >7 minutes, the next defrost interval=30 minutes. The control board accumulates compressor run time. As the accumulated run time approaches the selected defrost interval time, the control board monitors the coil temperature sensor for a defrost demand. If a defrost demand exists, a defrost cycle will be initiated at the end of the selected time interval. A defrost demand exists when the coil temperature is at or below 32_F (0_C) for 4 minutes during the interval. From that description, if the time interval elapses and the coil is not at 32 degress, then no defrost will take place. That, to me, sounds like a form of demand defrost. Is Baldloonie saying that the coil could be at 32 degrees or less without frost and, therefore, a defrost cycle would be unnecessary? What kind of ambient sensor detects presence or absence of frost? Neohioheatpump asked, "When your old A/C would run, was it producing water?" It was producing water and I saw it dripping from the condensate drain. One weekend I went out of town and came back to find water on the floor around the return box that the fan coil sits on. I opened up the access and found the interior insulation of that box soaked. Turns out the condensate line was plugged. Took awhile for that to dry out. On the other hand, this past summer I did not see water dripping from the condensate drain. The drain line was not plugged and the drip pan seemed dry. I thought it was because I had dried out the air so much with the two dehumidifiers that there wasn't enough remaining for the A/C to remove. Cooling was normal. Running the fan on manual started with the installation of the Lennox and an associated Honeywell Electronic Air Cleaner. The house suddenly became dusty and I blamed the EAC for not doing its job. The Honeywell zone representative came to my house, sized up the situation, and told me to run the fan on manual so that the dust would remain suspended in the air and available to be captured by the EAC. I did that and it was of no help for the dust situation but it did help reduce the temperature differential between the first and second floors during cooling so I kept doing it as a matter of routine. Thus, I cannot say that not running the fan reduced the humidity. Though I complained about humidity, the heat pump contractor never told me that I was humidifying the house by running the fan (on orders from the Honeywell rep). I will continue to run at least one dehumidifier in the completely below grade basement during the summer because I want that area to be warm and dry to avoid mold and mildew. I've been in the basements of other houses in the area that don't use dehumidifiers and they stink. Mike Home said, "You stated in an earlier post that you run the fan in the summer because the upper floor is 2-3 degrees hotter than the lower floor. I think adding the attic insulation will help this." I agree that adding attic insulation could help. But, having a Dutch Colonial house with a barn-like roof that is covered in dark shingles on the east and west sides causes a lot of heat gain through the second floor walls. I'm not keen on opening the walls to determine the amount of insulation or add to it. Changing to a light-colored roof would make the house look out of character with the neighborhood. There are newer shingles that reject heat gain that I will investigate. Mike Home also said, "You could also zone the first and second floors, but this is expensive and probably not feasible with your current duct work." There is but one main feed duct and it runs through the basement. There is no way to segregate the room feeds in this scheme without doing each one individually. I'll leave that expense to the next owner.

Wow....what an amazing list of people.... too many of them no longer with us or active here. It is nice to remember some of their names and their struggles that we shared. Thanks for the memories.

I don't think the English system is the same as that in the US. We had termly schools reports . . . although many schools only had ONE at the end of the Summer Term. We were not ranked by A - B - C's etc. Our parents just received a sheet of printed paper, with a list of subjects down the left hand side and next to that a section for the teacher's comment . .good, fair, tries hard, makes no effort etc. At the bottom was a space for behaviour. After 11 years old a similar 'report' would probably have the extra school exam/test results and, of course a much longer list of subjects studied. I think we took 'internal' exams twice a year maybe Feb and June/July? The whole school hunkered down, everyone crept about muttering dates/equations/passages from Shakespeare and so on. By the fifth year (15-16) came the dreaded 'O' levels (Public Exams) and two years later even more fear-inducing 'A' levels upon which your future depended. Good results meant the 'chosen' University/College place. If you were really brilliant (not me) you would have been offered an 'unconditional place' probably at Oxford or Cambridge and would have whizzed through the exams without even a bead of perspiration on your brow. These days the system has changed . . . and keeps changing. Employers complain that interviewees, even those with so-called degrees, know nothing, can't write a sentence, don't know how to behave when questioned and have little concept of what the 'world of work' is about. The Govt. is promising to tighten up the exam system. Now where have I heard that before? My parents were most unconcerned about our education and luckily only glanced at our reports. I did have one friend who came from an East End of London background. Her Jewish Father had high hopes and expectations for his children and they lived in fear of a bad report. He took education to extremes and even decided what subject they would study, which university they would attend and so on. The oldest girl's way out was to become a nun! Her Italian Mother was a Catholic so there was little the father could do. Another sister rebelled and became a drug-taking hippy, was expelled from school and rusticated from university. The brother, a very clever boy, married (in a hurry) when young, never finished an Oxford degree, has several children and lots of grandchildren and seems very happy. ;-)