MikeyMagic

Manipulation of facts results in mental illness. Funny thing is, if look at one those "Smoker death statistics" bar graphs you see on cigarett packets sometimes, alcohol related death massively trumps the deaths from "all other illicit substances combined"!!!

..definately looks like the first pic in the link from Mikey - Magnesium. Interveinal yellowing on the older leaves not young, mottling and wrinkled where yellow, leaf margins beginning to die. <<< *Blows imaginary smoke from tip of secateurs, spins them in hand, then holsters them and rides off into the sunset on a bee..*

They do in the form of atmospheric dust, but this is normally minor and of little concern.

Thats an easy one; Basiclly it comes down to a mix of Carbon (for simplicity let just say dry brown things like dry leaves, paper etc) and Nitrogen (Wet green stuff such as veg scraps, freshly cut grass etc) the ratio of which many people will argue but @ 1 part Nitrogen to 25 parts Carbon (give or take) It also help to contruct it in layers that assit in drainage The first layer would be sticks for this purpose. then a bit of green stuff, a bit more of the brown stuff, maybe a little soil to help intiate microbial break down, and contiue layering... (Compost heaps made in one go are far more effective, but I rarely bother to do it all in one go.) ...water then wait, when the heap colapses get some air into it with one of those compost corkscrews. By what you say about your compost, if you mix some more carbon in it should come good. Might be easier to open it up and re-set it up in layers.

Testing the soil/media is of more benefit than testing the water (although this is still helpfull in decion making). There are a number of test methods but from what you say it seems the plant of concern is in a pot. The most appropriate method (although not the most accurate) would be the; "Pour-through technique for mix in pots This tecnique is widely used as a quick and non-destructive method of determining the pH and EC of mix in pots. It is less accurate than slurry methods but is often found to be good enough for many practical situation. 1. Two hours after normal irrigation, select several pots from a batch for testing. 2. Suspend each pot over a saucer or dish of a diameter that is a little larger than that of the baseof the pot. 3. Pour onto the surface of the pot a volume of water that gives about 50ml of drainage. Do this slowly, so as to allow time for the added water to move through the mix to displace some of the water already there. 4. Remove the pot and determine the pH and EC of the drainage water." Growing media for ornamental plants and turf Handrek & Black. This is the soil bible for Australian soil, and the basis for the majority of our soil research in Austrlia. Well worth going to a book sale and looking for this one. Normally theres half a dozen copies for @$10 There are different tests for getting accurate readings on potting mix or soil. If anyone is intrested feel free to ask. I fed my sick plant some Ph adjusted water yesterday for the first time (white vinegar) - I'll post back how it responds. This seems a little risky to me, has anyone else tried this? Has anyone done any research on or used fulvic acid? No, but I have used sulphur to acidify soil (this must be done sparing, carefully and with lots of watering in to avoid burning plants) Ive also used various suplhur containing compounds as aids to acidify media. I normally work on the media pH Thanks for your detailled reply too. It gives me pleasure to share what I know with those who have a geniune intrest. It also helps me reinforce knowledge relavent to my proffession. So get used to seeing me around people!

Intresting. Have you any links where I could follow this information up? Compost is fantastic for helping to stabilize soil pH, it brings it more towards that ideal range and also improves soil structure.

Yes, I believe you are correct in all these things. I tend to use Dynamic lifter. Its cheap @$20 for 25kg Its a 'slow release' organic fertilizer which contains a good balance of all the essential nutrients which will feed your plants for a month or 6. It also has the advantage over synthetic fertilizers, in that if the person ignores the reccomended useage instructions the plant will be undamaged. Allways water enough to open up soil channels first, then distribute fertilizer/tonic and water in to maxmise results. Liquid fertilizers offer faster results but require more frequent application. Seasol is a great 'tonic' to assit with micronutrients Powerfeed is great to assit growth during the warmer months.

Quite right. The secret is to squint at it to get a true perception of the colour. In my former career I would often have to do colour matching of gelcoats. Eeek! I suspect some of the colour receptors in my eyes switched off in protest of having to perform under high pressure situations!

There is a tried and tested tecnique for determining if a plant is valuble of just a weed; Pull everything out. If it grows back, its a weed.

Apart from a well balanced fertiliser and good soil, does anyone feeds their plants human supplements? No, not affective on the scale I work. Never tried. vitamins? No minerals? Yes, I use various minerals for soil improvement when called for. multivitamin tablets? No Are any of the vitamins humans need detrimental to plant health? If you are only using a very small amount, no. The reason I ask is because I have some plants that seem to be chlorotic. A possible sign of a nutrient imbalance. Can you post a picture? I've also been reading that the Ph is very important for plants to be able to take up nutirents. It is. It might be easier to approach this subject first as this will give you a better understanding of your plant's needs. "pH" is a measure of the activity of the Hydrogen ion on a scale of 1-14, 7 being neutral below that acidic, above that alkaline. Most plants are happy at a pH arround 6.5 -7, many can tolerate outside that (but thats often when pest and disease problems occur) and some are much happier at other specific pH levels. Here's a little more on pH : http://vro.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/surface-soil-pH#measure My tap water Ph is close to 8 - which isn't helping some of my plants I think Probably not. I'm unfamilure with your local soil pH, so it is hard to say the end pH. Due to the alkalinity of your water and the colorosisther is good chaance it is too alkaline Here's a good link with various colorosis pictures due to insuffient levels of specific nutrients that might help to determin what is missing in the soil http://5e.plantphys.net/article.php?ch=t&id=289 But, in some cases it can still be hard to tell. Check the pH of the soil first, you can do this with a "colourmetrix" pH tester avialable from most hardware places for @$30 I have difficulty with colour perception (apparently) so I find these tricky to use. The "stick it in the ground probes" you can get very cheaply but I find them highly unreliable. Personlly I use an electronic tester which I could probably write another chapter about but in the intrest of finishing this post I will save that till someone asks. Testing the soil for pH, and assuming it is too high (alkaline) water your plant with 100gms of Epsom salts (Magnesium sulphate) dissolved in 9 ltrs of water. This will help to do two things, firstly the Magnesium will aid clorophyll production, and secondly the Sulphur will help to acidify the soil making more nutrients 'available' for your plant. Micro-nutrients such as manganese should be present in sufficent levels in most soils given correct pH balance. Can Zinc, Iron, Mangansese or Magnesium burn plants? Short answer? Excess nutrients cause more damage to plants than not enough.

"I heard dope growers spray their crop with mortein for a better buzz too". Wouldnt that kill the buzz? Ahh but seriously this is a beautiful discussion. If there is one person with a question or misunderstanding there will be a thousand more out there in the shadows. I may have said this once before, but each of us floating these words simmering away in our brains helps to dispell fear due to misunderstanding. Personlly I have shiploads of knowledge about certain things, but on the flip side I have massive voids in my knowledge where I should have... more.. like about mushrooms...

An optimist would say the future is uncertain. Many would trace "The Problem" back to capitalism and money, but, lets dig a little deeper. Consider this: Money provide's a false sense of security in a world where anything could happen! Statisticlly speaking its most likely any one of us could be killed from a coconut falling on our head or from falling off a ladder! How many of you are fearfull of coconut tree's or ladders? It should be higher up on your list than the end of the world! No yellow safety lines adhering to government regulations or wads of cash in your pocket are going to change anything if you get a hard enought clunk on the head. Where am I going with this? The purist form of energy starts in the mind. If we cultivate it, and nourish it with love we can create. If we adhere to fear then all of our creative energy is drained and we are prone, and willing give our power away to anyone that says they can help (if we allow enough fear to be fed to us). The reason why this form of 'slavery' is so effective is because so many 'fears' have been created, and accepted by us. One more thing. There are many who would say "Not my problem". I would agree with you. But then again, I made a concious desision. I have no children. Nor will I ever. I am following a path of removing all fear from my life and others (if they allow it) . I eat a minimal amount of food (although addmittedly more than 80% of the world get!) Meat has become an occasional food rather than an all the time food. Money comes to me when needed thanks to plants rather than me chasing money too much. Ive spear headed a seed saver group, I run workshops on "Green" issuse and gardening. Other than giving everything I have away and going walkabout I figure I am doing as much as I can to change things. So in that sense, I feel I have earned the right to say "not my problem" Though I would feel sad for the child who's parent had that attitude. I understand that my lifestyle is beyond what most people could realisticly achieve. However, there is one thing that EVERYONE that has a desire for a better world can do: Face your fears. Learn about them, understand where they come from, then cut and release them from your conciousness. Fear is unable to cause damage when you wave it goodbye You have just been given the single most powerfull tool to change the world. The rest is up to you! All apolagies to anyone ofended by the preceeding Mumbo jumbo. All mumbo jumbo and derivative comments intended purely assist others in creating the Utopian society for themselves which was falsely promised under capitalism. Any and all emotional attacks either real or imagined contained with-in the above text are purely constructs of fear fueled mind and should be dismissed as unintentional, and broadly spoken to illustrate an important point. All careless wording due to too many reasons to explain right now(have any idea how long I spent on this post alone?) is subject to change without notice.

Acacias have what is known as "Perfect" flowers, which means they contain both the 'boy bits' (anther and filament makeing up the "Stamen") and the 'girl bits' (Stigma, style and ovary making up the "Pistil") However many Acacia flowers seem to rely on insect pollination, as on any particular "perfect" Acacia flower, the boy's and the girl's are not ready to dance at the same time. Flower parts often reaching maturity at different times. So consequently, (boy's being boy's) the boy's hitch a lift to another flower, hoping to get an invite to dance. The massive abundance of pollen from the stamens ensures insect activity, thereby ensuring the likelyhood that mature pollen will come into contact with a mature stigmatic surface.) I dont think its neccesary to have multiple tree's to set seed, nor to pollinate them, as long as they have access to insects! http://www.worldwidewattle.com/socgroups/igsm/20/45-53.pdf (Just in case you have trouble sleeping over this!)

Good point Red.. likey just Glyphosate or 'round up', to manage vegetative growth. Edit: I say 'just' because it is common. However depending on who you beilieve, this is either a really bad substance for humans or "safe as houses". All I can say for sure about it is; It works by penertrating the stomata of plants through leaves & green branches etc, circulating throughout the plants vascular system from there it works as an "Inhibitor of EPSP sythase (needed to sythesis amino acids)" Plant protection 1. 3rd edition 2003. R.M. Kerrusish & P. W. Unger. Page K40. In that respect very small amounts of the chemical will be present through out the entire plant. ie It cant be washed off! It can be present in plants for up to a month before the plant begins to die. It also needs the plant to be hydrated (full of water) to work effectively. It is inactive in the soil. Possibly a good reason to be aware of the management of particular titles of land if you wish to harvest wild edible mushrooms. Although due to the breif emergence period of mushrooms and the probabiltity this "herbicide" is inaffective on fungi perhaps this makes everything Ive just typed irrelavent... (gRR! I even opened a book even though I was telling myself Im too lazy to do that!) Oh well, hopefully it adds to the pool of knowledge anyway!

In my back yard I have a native bee hive of Trigona carbonaria. They are set up in honey supers, but I havnt bothered to collect any yet. It should be full by now, they are slow producers but the honey is more intense for flavour.

<<<Stone! monkey that floats around on clouds.

I have heard of it before, but I havnt used it. But it looks pretty good to me due to the micro-porosity which would help the media store air, water, and allow a high cation exchange capacity. The Aluminum content would assist in nutrient exchange. What size grading of material was he reccommending? Have you had a chance to do any testing with the material? There are a number of tests created by Handrek and Black in their book "Growing media for ornamental plants and turf" which can help determine if this material is up to the standards you require. If you have trouble finding the book let me know and I will post some of the tests.

The ultimate quick growing, high yeild/space would have to be.....SPROUTS! http://herbsarespeci...nformation.html The ultimate survival guide would have to be this: http://herbsarespecial.com.au/self-sufficiency.html

Zoysia is a Genus of very hardy and low maintenance grass if you just wanted an easier to care for variety. Its natual form comes as a thick layer of small leaves. The whole layer tends to get undulating lumps, which can make for an intresting 'lawn' It has also been cultivated into more 'normal' looking lawns.

Have you any knowledge if they are spraying Glyphosphate (Roundup) to control weeds? or is it something else?

Untill you get a flower it can be tricky to tell.

Happy new year to all the friends I havnt met yet! May plants guide your way!

<<< Cancerian "Physcologically hard wired to seek pleasure and avoid pain"!!! There seems to be a lot of crabs silently scuttling out of the water.....!

Partly due to the fractured perspectives of reality everyone undergoes. Party due to apathy. Mostly due to irrational fears.