Straw- When would you lay down this black plastic? How big an area? And for how long were you thinking? Thanks for continuing to provide this information. I'm hard pressed to use chemicals but I completely understand the frustration and limited options that lead to doing so. I winter sowed a container of marigolds to companion plant w/2 roses with rose slugs. I think I can probably sow another container to put elsewhere. I've been interested in the lemon/citronella thyme and grass etc... good reason to give that a try in earnest. Thanks again for all your information.

mas_loves_roses- I'm so sorry to hear about your infestation. That's definitely worse than what I experienced last year. I can't speak to what might occur this year. That you mentioned it infested your potted roses is such a complete bummer to hear, because that was going to be my next step if I couldn't eradicate this in the garden. I hope you have a good season this year! I'm guessing you can add organics to your soil to repopulate with the beneficial insects etc. I still wonder how this gets started in the first place. Maybe if I knew that and felt a 1 or 2 season spray of chemicals would put an end to it, I'd follow that route too.

I see AnnofPa posted above with the same question...lol

But my question is what if a person aleady has a well established rose garden. Could plastic be used under roses without hurting rose roots? No one I have talked to in the past has addressed that question...lol

Like how long can plastic be placed under roses yet still be effective at killing the midge without cooking roots?

I have no doubt plastic could work...

After the spring flush last year, midges damages started to appear in one of my front rose bed. I really do not know where they came from because I had bought roses from many sources, locally and mailorder. During the summer, the JB's ate most of the flowers. After the JBs were over, I thought I was going to have nice blooms. Nope. The midges took care of that; 95% of my roses were distorted, damaged, or buds never made it to bloom. If I don't treat it, I think it will only get worse.

Karen- I so sympathize with you. The JB's were horrible last summer. I seriously think I'm nuts to try and grow roses. I just started reading Roses without Chemicals, by Peter E. Kulkielski, former curator of the NY Botanical Garden. He apparently lists the best roses to grow without spraying etc. I'll be interested to get more into the book, because I can't imagine there are rose's that can withstand JB's and midge, not to mention the other rose pests. I'll certainly post if he states otherwise.

HI everybody: Great questions about the black plastic, I wonder the same. I repost the info. about midge life-cycle: "The insect completes one life cycle every 12-16 days. In the spring the adult female emerges from the ground and mates laying eggs in the delicate new growth shoots of the rose bush under attack. Within 2 days the eggs hatch and the emerging larva (maggot) begins feeding on the internal structure of these leafy tips. This goes on for 5 to 7 days until the mature larvae drops to the soil and pupates by constructing a white silk cocoon beneath the ground surface."

From Straw: I would put black plastic BEFORE spring, and pull it out prior to a heavy rain ... then cover again AFTER a rain. The plastic sheet is 4' x 50', so one can cut into different sizes to kill a large area around the rose. Roses need water once a week. If we can prevent the adult female from emerging from the ground, then we can nip the vicious cycle from the start. Since the eggs are laid in the new shoots of rose bush ... spraying the shoots before the eggs hatch is another preventive measure.

I used to have the worst JB infestation 15 years ago when there were no trees & no birds. After planting 25 trees there are more birds, and much less JB. I also put JB traps FAR FROM THE rose garden, then feed the JB to the birds ... birds acquire a taste for JB ever since.

Flooding worked great against midge for my heavy-clay, but NOT feasible for sandy & loamy soil. Black plastic can be used along with spray. Info. from below link: http://www.ctrose.org/Documents/New%20Approaches%20for%20Combatting%20Rose%20Midge.pdf

―The Rose Midge‖ by Dr. David Shetlar, Extension Entomologist at The Ohio State University ... His description of the life cycle—a mere five to seven days when temperatures are in the 70s and 80s - The female lays eggs in crevasses of new growth which are so deep that contact pesticides cannot reach the larvae that feed on the stem and rob it of bloom. Granulated insecticides put on the ground in hopes of killing emerging adults have some effect, but the insects are typically tough enough at this stage to survive.

Dr. Shetlar uses a new product, dinotefuran, commercially available in Green Light insecticides containing Safari® (www.greenlightco.com), he applies it as a soil drench at the first hint of bud formation and reapplies after the first flush and with deadheading of subsequent bloom cycles or every three weeks for ever-blooming roses.

He also said dinotefuran does not need to be alternated with other chemicals and has a Category III toxicity level (Caution), so it will not harm earthworms or wildlife. He says that, like all the insecticides we use, it is toxic to bees... Because dinotefuran’s uptake is just one to two days, we should wait until we see the first buds forming to treat.

Another mistake Dr. Shetlar sees is improper application of drenches. He stressed that mulch must be pulled back first, and the drench should be poured right at the base of the plant. Mulch can then be put back in place.

Cultural controls, such as using woven cloth mats or agricultural plastic beneath plants and hand-picking insects combined with pruning out infested stems might work if implemented early in the season.

Finally, midge can only fly a maximum of 100 yards. Corky Thacker, CR "

Great info Straw!

Knock on major wood but Jb's not a problem here...I've only seen 4 Jb's since 2008...

Now my mom lives 5 miles from us and she gets jb's by the hundreds & hundreds...

Hi Jim: That's interesting !! The healthiest rose I had ever seen in my life was my neighbor's Angel Face, grafted on Dr. Huey. It was planted right in the middle of the lawn, with grass growing around the base ... it had tons of flowers & zero black spots. Sometimes mulch, or fluffy soil isn't best around roses .. they retain the optimal moisture for midge-larvae to hatch, plus black spots spores to germinate.

Same with my Mom's pear-tree in Michigan ... tons of fruits, and it was smacked in the middle of the lawn. She never spray that tree, nor have any midge problem (she has neutral clay). I didn't know the midge can affect pear, until I read the below of how a pear-grower solved the problem: she vacuumed them!!

"Close observation of the emerging midges at blossom time, they are quite large, like eighth-size crane flies, showed that they emerged just before sunset and formed small mating swarms. Finding that water jets were ineffective, in desperation I fitted a long PVC bathroom waste pipe to the vacuum cleaner nozzle and found to my astonishment that midge clouds could be very effectively hoovered out of the sky!

The improvement in fruit yield was dramatic .. Using garlic spray against scab and feeding the tree has completed the restoration of an attractive and now productive garden pear tree."

hi everyone,

Straw, thanks for posting!

I would like to try the plastic but I don't think I can. All my roses are in mixed beds closely planted with other perennials so I wouldn't be able to cover the 5' radius that midge lays eggs in.

much to my chagrin I think I will have to do the systematic that will kill all my beneficial bacteria as well and then I will have to work on building it up. It would otherwise be hard to treat 160+ roses. However, I will plant citronella and chives around some of them and see if that helps. :)

The more I research on midge, the more I see their resemblance to mosquitoes, rather than flies. A mix of apple cider and garlic was used to ward-off biting midges from horses. Another link stated, "Make friends with bats! A single bat can eat over 3000 midges and other insects in one night!" http://www.cheaptents.com/blog/midges-and-midge-repellent-a-guide-to-avoiding-bites/

Jim, I know that you probably are tired of the snow but it provides nice insulation for the plants. My plants have had quite the fluctuation. Last week was in the 70's, this week in the 50's and 40's and tomorrow night we might have close to a record low of 18 degrees.

Hi Mas: It's cold here too, and I love it !! I have been in zone 5a for over 20 years and really miss the winter when it's gone ... we have a fireplace so it's quite cozy. I learn a few things from the above camping blog on how to keep midge away: "Get an empty spray bottle mix a few drops of lavender oil with water and spray all over body. Also 25% dettol and 75% baby oil. Others used Avon So-soft lotion to repel midge. Vicks vapour rub both as a repellent and for the bites. Also lemon grass oil from the health shop.

http://www.cheaptents.com/blog/midges-and-midge-repellent-a-guide-to-avoiding-bites/

" Rosie - I went to Australia 5 years ago and really got eaten alive by their hungry mozzys, since that time I have taken B1 and it's worked as far as the mozzys are concerned. But in the last week, with the weather getting damper, the midges coming out to play, I have been bitten like no tomorrow, and the B1 doesn't seem to be doing a thing!! "

*** From Straw: I like Rosie's comment on B1 against mosquitoes. Many people swear that Brewer's Yeast (high in B-vitamins) fed to their pets help to prevent fleas & being bitten by mosquitos. I used Brewer's yeast daily last summer ... didn't get bitten much. I really don't like to spray OFF mosquito on myself, so I'll try the lavender oil approach. I find that one mosquito-lotion works better than OFF spray, will check the ingredients in that mosquito-lotion later.

Our roses that were closest to house and covered in snow have the most green. Same type of roses but out in the open more have much more winter damage... Winds dry canes...

I have the same problem as mas_love_roses1. My rose bed is mixed with bulbs and perennials so using plastic or newspapers is not possible. From my experience, it did not take long for the midges to infest the whole bed. After I found out that midges were the cause of damages to the rose tips and buds, I started to pick off tips that showed signs of midge presence and disposed them in bags tied and then placed in the trash. That did not make a dent in the damages that continued afterward. I can handle JB's as their season of infestation begins after spring flush and ends before the fall flush. Whereas midges affect spring blooms thru fall . This pest is an organic rose grower's nightmare.

Interesting that you mention lemon grass, straw. In this rose bed that I had the midge infestation, I grew clumps of lemon grass, onions, garlic plants around the roses. But that did not seem to deter the midges. Though it did seem to help with other pests as I did not notice aphids or rose slugs in this bed.

KarenPA- Thanks for mentioning those companion plantings that help with aphids and rose slugs. They're on my list of things to plant/transplant around the roses this year and it's nice to hear from someone that actually grows them and feels they make a difference. Although disappointed that the lemon scented plants made no difference. Thanks for sharing!

I too have a mixed bed and initially thought the eggs dropped directly from the rose, so the affected soil would be below the rose. I wasn't thinking it could be so wide spread.

Thinking about the plastic for Rose Midge I guess applying plastic under roses in colder zones in the Spring would not hurt a thing... I just would not apply plastic in the hotter months under roses...

I used plastic here in the hotter months but only after I took out my two Rose Midge infected roses...

Having perennials and bulbs throughout the rose bed does cause problems with using the plastic idea. I only have annuals which get planted late May...

Be careful when you buy new roses as I feel my two infected rose bushes came from the vendor like that... (Potting Soil containers infested with Rose Midge...)

Not sure what the best way to kill Rose Midge in newly arrived roses would be? Any ideas anyone? Only thing I can think of is to soak container under water somehow?

Hi Everyone: Jim, soaking container under water is a great idea ... roses can be in standing water for the entire day without harm, but that will destroy midges' eggs & larvae.

I use Lavender oil everyday for sleep. Just a few drops of that on a tissue, is enough to make THE ENTIRE ROOM smells great. Here's an excerpt from below link: "Our Scottish natural midge repellent is called Stop Bite, and is made with Lavandin (a hybrid of lavender), Bog Myrtle, rosemary and common lavender. We think it smells great, but the midgies don't! It also works with mosquitoes and other insects." http://www.midgerange.com/

Something worth trying: Dilute lavender oil in a spray bottle, and spray the tips of roses. NOW Lavender oil is awesome, only $12 which gave me months of blissful sleep. It has 1,805 positive reviews on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/NOW-Foods-Lavender-Oil-ounce/dp/B002N0PY8S

NOW is health food company in Chicagoland. I sniffed all their essence oils, their lavender oil IS THE STRONGEST ever. A few drops of that is enough to perfume the entire room. People also swear by NOW peppermint oil, with 2,093 positive reviews on Amazon ... folks use peppermint oil to repel mice. I don't think NOW peppermint oil is that strong, planting mints next to my house is much more effective in keeping mice population down & there's chemicals in the mint which cause a decrease in births in mice. Lavender oil is proven to deepen sleep ... the scent is very potent even on humans.

So Lavender oil would put rose midge to sleep.. (just teasing Straw!) lol Great info Straw!

Good & Bad insects are part of the food chain I guess...It's a shame though that so many bad insects love our roses so much... :-/

THanks Straw. I have to get some lavender oil and spray on the tips of infected roses. Do you think I should dilute the oil?

Woke up this morning to a 20 degree temp and some snow...Maybe 1/4 inch of snow and its still flurrying... Where's Spring? lol

KarenPA asked you a question above in a post Straw...

Time will tell but looking at our Mister Lincoln real good in the light with my glasses on he does have a greenish color to his canes near the bottom of the plant. I might have to cut ML way back but I think he will be ok and come back to life after this brutal cold winter we had...

Our Mister Lincoln is in a large container and is sitting on our open (except for a roof and 3ft high bannisters) front porch all winter... I placed ML container into a 24 inch high plastic half barrel container. I just sat ML in there with no other protection. 3 ft Porch bannisters blocked some of the howling winds... I put snow on top of the container throughout the winter to provide a bit of water ...

Hi Jim: Great joke !! I love it. I'm a winter-freak, I celebrate when it's below 50 degree .. I store my extra-veggies and groceries in the garage. Hubby was screaming bloody when his yogurt was frozen in the garage.

Hi Karen: NOW lavender oil is VERY CONCENTRATED. I use only 3 drops on a tissue to sniff before bedtime .. and that perfumed my entire room. If it's in a dropper, then it would be easy just to put few drops on the tips of rose bushes BEFORE the temp. gets up to 70 ... that's when female lay eggs in the crevices. Too bad NOW lavender oil comes in tiny bottle, with zero dropper, so one has to shake it to get few drops out. If you can find a dropper, one drop of lavender oil on each new growth would work, as soon as temp reaches 70's. Lavender oil lingers for more than week. I spilled lavender oil on my desk. A week later my kid picked a non-fragrant flower, laid it on the desk, I sniffed the flower and it reeked of lavender.

If you read the link by Dr. David Shetlar, he mentioned "Because dinotefuran’s uptake is just one to two days, we should wait until we see the first buds forming to treat." Other chemicals takes much longer to work (4 to 5 days). I would use the lavender oil BEFORE chemicals, because lavender oil works immediately, and the scent lingers for more than a week.

http://www.ctrose.org/Documents/New%20Approaches%20for%20Combatting%20Rose%20Midge.pdf

KarenPA, above in a post Straw addressed your question on Lavender...

Alittle history on our (own root) Mister Lincoln... I bought ML from Heirloom Roses as a tiny band in May of 2010... I couldn't decide whether to plant him in the ground or large container so starting out I placed him in a large container. ML grew quickly... Toward the end of 2010 I changed my mind and planted him into the ground... The location got all day sun which caused ML blooms to fall apart 18-48 hrs after they opened... Realizing then that ML blooms lasted longer when he was in the large container and getting less sun. But I was lazy and just left ML in the ground until March of 2014...lol

March of 2014 I put ML back into that large container so I could move him around. Giving him less sun while blooming ML's blooms lasted 4 days to 6 days depending. Much better than 24 hours when he was in the ground getting pounded by all day sun...

Mister Lincoln (own root) has never grown more than 3-4 ft high here. Mostly because ML gets a lot of winterkill here in our zone 6a... Plus own root ML's do not grow as tall as grafted ML's...

ML has been blackspot resistant here since 2010. But started getting moderate powdery mildew problems last year in 2014 for the first time...

ML is NOT a heavy bloomer here but is rather slow to bloom... We might get 24+ blooms off him in one season total.

I find this ML to be a bit boring in the bloom department but keep him because he has been disease resistant... If that ever changes I will chop him up for firewood...LOL

Hi Jim: I love the slender & elegant shape of your Mr. Lincoln. The rose park nearby used to have a bed of Mr. Lincoln decades ago. They were the best-looking bushes, and the best smelling bushes among Cantigny's 2000 roses. The leaves are so pretty. That reminds me to check the stores next month (April) for cheap bare-roots. My zone 5a winter is so harsh, that I'm leaning toward cheap grafted-roses. If they die, no loss. Chrysler Imperial is more hardy, but can't compare to Mr. Lincoln's wonderful fragrance.

Grafted Lincolns can grow to 8+ft tall in some climates...lol... Serena in Kansas says hers get to 6-7+ ft

Thanks, Straw and Jim. Great info as always. Hope my ML give me some nice blooms this season. This winter has been cold and long. My crocus haven't even bloomed yet.

Hi Karen: Lavender oil is $12 per bottle, but eucalyptus oil is only $5. I was at NOW health-food store, I sniffed at least 2 dozen oils yesterday, ranging from citronella (stinky), to eucalyptus (nice!), to rosemary (strong), to rose water (stinky), rose essence (stinky). I notice that the local-source oils like lavender or peppermint is VERY STRONG, VERY PLEASANT ... but the imported-oils like rose is stinky & stale.

Eucalyptus oil is effective in repelling midge. See an excerpt from below link "Mosi-guard Natural has been extensively tested under field conditions in Tanzania, Malaysia, Bolivia - and most importantly against biting Scottish midges! It's highly recommended as a midge repellent.

The repellent is made from Citriodol®, a lemon eucalyptus extract which smells fresh and very pleasant, except to the midge! It's clinically proven, 10 hour lasting. http://www.midgerepellent.com/

Citronella oil is cheap, $5, but stinky. It's in the lemon-grass family. Here's an excerpt from link below "most clinical studies have shown that the insects are at least deterred by the scent, but whether they are deterred enough to leave the area is largely a matter of circumstance. In most cases neither the tree nor the grass has this same effect. The oil must be chemically extracted and used in high concentrations in order to get good results."

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-citronella.htm

My Mom used to have a citronella plant. She used the leaves to rub on the skin to deter mosquitos. Other ways to repel midges from Yahoo "6 drops of Peppermint, Tea Tree and 9 drops of Eucalyptus oil in a diffuser will also work and be a bit more refreshing. Also a blend of lavender and lemon." Interesting to see eHow listed baby oil as moderately effective against midge. A friend gave me Johnson & Johnson baby oil .. that stuff has such a strong, repulsive fragrance that I had to toss it.

Here's from eHow "Several essential oils, including lavender, eucalyptus and citronella, can effectively repel midges. Lemon eucalyptus is particularly effective. A mixture of two parts baby oil and one part lemon eucalyptus is less likely to cause irritation. Lavender does not cause irritation, and may be used undiluted. Baby oil itself is moderately effective at repelling midges, and can be used alone as a repellent by those with sensitive skin. Neem oil is commonly used in India as a midge repellent, and a Scottish plant called bog myrtle also can be effective. Read more : http://www.ehow.com/facts_7482428_midge-repellent.html

The most effective plants in repelling mosquitos & midges are, in order of most effective : Lemon eucalyptus, catnip, citronella, lavender, Bog Myrtle, rosemary, mint, Lemon balm, basil, bay leaf, marigolds. Iowa State University found catnip essential oil is 10 times more effective than DEET in repelling mosquitoes.

Organic soy oil—Research cited in The New England Journal of Medicine found that repellents made of soybean oil are just as effective as DEET-containing repellents. ... research shows that an ingredient in soy can slow the growth of body hair when applied topically. Choose organic soy oil if possible since many soy crops are now genetically-modified. Black pepper —New research from the same study shows that an extract of black pepper is effective in repelling mosquitoes.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/8-natural-mosquito-repellents.html#ixzz3Vt8paGcp

The oil I would buy the next time I visit the NOW store is NOW peppermint oil, $6.45 on Amazon, with 2,099 positive reviews. I read through those reviews, people use peppermint oil in their drinks & baking, also to repel mice, cockroaches, and bugs on flowers. Here's a review: " Five Stars

ByHarry L. Bennetton March 22, 2015

Worked in keeping bugs away from some flowers wife used on."

That peppermint was the BEST SMELLING among the 2-dozen varieties that I sniffed. Peppermint scent helps to suppress appetite, that's what I intend to use for: losing weight !! Here's from http://www.livestrong.com/article/518563-is-peppermint-tea-an-appetite-suppressant/

"The scent of peppermint affected the appetite of study participants in a 2007 study by Wheeling Jesuit University. When inhaling the peppermint scent every two hours, participants reported feeling significantly less hungry and that they ate 1,800 fewer calories than normal. The researchers noted that peppermint scent can also reduce cravings and can reduce the intake of fat and sugar."

Great info Straw!

I finally sprayed Mister Lincolns canes down with hydrogen peroxide today... (2 cups water to 5 TBS of 3-9 % hydrogen peroxide into a spray bottle...)

Our ML has Powdery Mildew residue plastered all over its canes from last year. Hopefully the hydrogen peroxide works and kills the fungus spores...

I started looking at the ehow site on hydrogen peroxide for powdery mildew and it lists a different formula then above? Damm which one is best? Ehow calls for 3 parts water to 1 part hydrogen peroixide...)

http://www.ehow.com/how_5898362_use-peroxide-kill-powdery-mildew.html

Hi Jim: I would use the MORE CONCENTRATED formula. I use hydrogen peroxide quite often in laundry ... the ones at the store are quite diluted. Didn't know that catnip is a mosquito-repellent ... I once bought $7 worth of catnip, and it was invasive in my garden ... spent hours killing it. Here's a recipe to make catnip-oil for mosquito & midge repellent:

"Gather the catnip leaves and stems and chop them finely to expose more surface area of the plant. Cover the bottom of a casserole dish with the plant. Cover the greens with oil. I use olive oil for its stability, though soy oil may also be a good choice as it may have some mild repellent ability on its own.

Heat in a very slow oven (about 200 degrees) for 2 to 3 hours. I usually make this in the evening, and just turn off the oven for the night and let the mixture sit overnight in the oven.

When it is cool, strain out the leaves, and refrigerate the oil until you use it. The down side to this method is a house that smells strongly of catnip. It can be a bit much for people sensitive to smells. I wouldn’t recommend it if you have cats. I’ve been making, using and sharing catnip-based repellents for about 30 years, and appreciate that I can make it myself rather easily and very cheaply. It's also safer and nontoxic (I use the oil on my dog)."

http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/food-drink/four-methods-to-create-a-natural-mosquito-repellant/

We have cats...lol... They would be bouncing off the walls...lol

I sprayed ML canes with the weaker solution then I seen the Ehow article and mixed their stronger hydrogen peroxide formula and resprayed ML canes...

Oh, this is wonderful to know. Thank you, Straw. I will look up lemon eucalyptus oil to try to repel the midges with my less infected roses. I will let you know how it works by the end of the season.

I sprayed ML canes again today with hydrogen peroxide then it started raining and has been raining/sleeting all day...lol

I do not see any leaf buds swelling on any of our roses yet except the little rose bush I transplanted from my sisters house last Sept-Oct... Which is ok because we are still getting colder weather.

Hi Jim: I love our cold weather since I like to cook with slow-cooker. We sleep really well when we put bones in the broth ... the slow-cooker releases magnesium, all B vitamins & nutrients from broth for the best sleep. Google "benefits of bone marrow" and you'll see. We use to spend $$$$ on steaks, but had lousy sleep, so we buy cheap bones from Mexican store for soup, and have the best sleep ever !!! That's the logic for chicken soup for colds. The quality of life is more important than the quantity. I get such enjoyment from a few favorite roses, but lots of pain & work on the ones that's extra.

I talked to my old neighbor yesterday: she rarely eats meat, and is B12 deficient. She has all the symptoms of B12 deficiency: depression, loss of balance. I told her about clams, beef liver, and beef marrow as highest in B12 ... the last time she ate beef liver was when she was a child !! Beef liver is good when it's FRESH, but when it's frozen in the store for months ... it becomes rancid & nasty. So glad to find a Mexican store nearby which sells beef liver for $2 per package. I'm going back to bean soup, plus bones. Bean soup alone is acidic, but putting bones in there helps to neutralize the acidity. Here's a link on the benefits of bones in broth: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/cooking-with-bones/#axzz3VWRHcii7Bone

Some excerpts from livestrong.com on the benefits of cooking with bone-marrow: "Rebuilding the Body: bone marrow contains myeloid and lymphoid stem cells. The foundations for red and white blood cells, these cells build immunity, assist with blood clotting and help provide oxygen to cells. Collagen, the protein-rich substance that cooks down to gelatin, can also help repair the body. Collagen deficiency can lead to poor wound healing, easy bruising and bleeding gums.

Easing Digestion and Healing the GI Tract

Dr. Auer prescribes bone marrow in the form of bone broth to his patients suffering from inflammatory conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, gluten intolerance and leaky gut syndrome. He notes that, for people with digestive disorders who may have trouble digesting supplements or other certain foods, bone marrow's collagen can provide nutrition while rebuilding damaged tissues and intestinal lining. Marrow's immune-boosting capabilities can also speed up the healing process for people trying to overcome these conditions, he says.

Fighting Cancer

Dr. Astrid Brohult, a Swedish oncologist, administered calves' marrow to leukemia-stricken children in the 1950s, hoping it would replenish white blood cells destroyed by radiation therapy. After administering the marrow, some of the children improved immediately; many experienced increased energy and white blood cell normalization. After conducting a decade of research on the subject, she isolated a group of compounds called alkylglycerols (AKGs) in the calves' marrow and discovered they were responsible for normalizing the white blood cell production.

Here's my Pinterest board of slow-cooker recipes:

https://www.pinterest.com/clonewar/slow-cooker/

They just drawed 6 tubes of blood from me to check nutrient levels... I'm not one to fuss over roses or any outside plant either so only the best that make us happy will remain here... Even if that's only a few...

Doctor office called today and said my nutrient levels were all real good...

My sisters transplanted rose into our yard last Sept has little leaves all over it now. It was the first rose bush to break dormancy. Also the rose bush with the least winterkill only the tips were effected... (Probably because it was under snow a lot of the winter...lol) Our other roses just have swelling leaf buds right now...

Nothing at all going on with Mister Lincoln yet...

Today is in the 60's so I cut out all black dead canes and all skinny worthless canes to the ground. Three year roses I like to prune out 1/3 of the oldest canes to make room for new better flowering canes... I still have my main pruning to do yet sometime later in the month...

Hi Jim: I need to prune tomorrow. Frederic Mistral is a giant .. 6 feet wide !! A friend has 2 low-thorn hybrid tea bushes .. they look good even bare. I like the slender & less thorn look the best. I'm happy to hear that your blood test came back good. You mean blood sugar, triglycerides, cholesterols are all good? That's my goal too. I would love to know what you eat to stay healthy ... are you taking Brewer's yeast bi-weekly, or daily? I'm too busy eating my kid's left-over .. so I take B.Y. only twice a week. Thanks for informing me of your secret of a healthy blood-results.

I take B.Y. 3 times or more per week. My current blood test only checked nutrient levels etc. Straw...

I had a yearly blood test about 2 months ago and my cholesterol levels were on the brink of being to high and my urine test showed borderline diabetic so I'm in the process of changing my diet...

Last year everything was fine... Two things I changed was we started using real butter and drinking whole milk and now my levels are much higher this year.

So I'm going back to Skim Milk and Margarine...

Hi Jim: Brewer's yeast helps with diabetes. U. of Michigan medical website gave B.Y. three stars for effectiveness with diabetes. Here's an excerpt from U. of Michigan on Brewer's Yeast: "Brewer's yeast is often taken as a powder, or as tablets or capsules. High-quality brewer's yeast powder or flakes contain as much as 60 mcg of chromium per tablespoon (15 grams). When doctors recommend brewer's yeast, they will often suggest 1-2 tablespoons (15-30 grams) of this high-potency bulk product per day. Remember, if it is not bitter, it is not likely to be real brewer's yeast and therefore will not contain biologically active chromium. In addition, "primary grown" yeast (i.e., that grown specifically for harvest, as opposed to that recovered in the brewing process) may not contain GTF." See http://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/hn-2816000

*** From Straw: NOW brewer's yeast has a poor-rating on Amazon due to its bitter taste, and it's recovered from beer-brewing (from barley). In contrast, there's the less bitter & better-tasting Lewis Lab, which is grown on beets. I'm on my 3rd container of NOW brewer's yeast, a reviewer of that brand stated that NOW works against fleas for his/her dog, but other brands DID NOT. I bought NOW brand from a local store, cheap less than $10 per big container, which lasts me for many months. At first I thought it was disgusting, but buckwheat honey and milk took the bitterness away.

Hi Jim: I forget to ask what brand of brewer's yeast you take, and how you make it yummy? I will have to try organic cow milk with my Brewer's yeast ... I gave soy milk & B.Y for my kid and it wrecked her sleep many times. It also wrecked my sleep if taken in the evening. When I googled for "soy" within gardenweb, many women reported it screwed up their hormones: make them depressed, moody, and weepy. Plus it messes up one's thyroid (hypothyroid). Some info. on soy from below link: " (Thanks to theWeston Price Foundation): http://www.greenhealthspot.com/2010/05/is-soy-making-you-fat.html

• High levels of phytic acid in soy reduce assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid in soy is not neutralized by ordinary preparation methods such as soaking, sprouting and long, slow cooking. High phytate diets have caused growth problems in children.

• Trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders. In test animals soy containing trypsin inhibitors caused stunted growth.

• Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.

• Soy phytoestrogens are potent antithyroid agents that cause hypothyroidism and may cause thyroid cancer. In infants, consumption of soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.

• Vitamin B12 analogs in soy are not absorbed and actually increase the body's requirement for B12.

• Soy foods increase the body's requirement for vitamin D.

• Fragile proteins are denatured during high temperature processing to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein.

• Processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.

• Free glutamic acid or MSG, a potent neurotoxin, is formed during soy food processing and additional amounts are added to many soy foods.

• Soy foods contain high levels of aluminum which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys.

Thanks for the info Straw!

Tomorrow will be 60 degrees again... :-)

I like weird tasting things so B.Y. tastes fine to me...lol

Twin labs genuine B.Y. (mild tasting written on the container...)

I can't wait to try Easy Does It Rose bush again... I tried it once but it was planted between other severely BS-ed roses. This time it will be planted in a totally different area by itself...

Here's a pic of its bloom I took the first time I grew it...

I love that orange color !! Amazon Folks said Twinlab B.Y. taste better than NOW brand. We have nice weather here today, my kid's last day of spring break. So glad to find the culprit that perpetuates my right-hand-rash: carrageenan in Silk Organic Soy milk. I googled "carrageenan and eczema" and found tons of info. There's a link between carrageenan and stomach inflammation & acne & eczema. Carrageenan is found in many products: from ice cream, almond milk, coconut milk, flax milk, coffee creamer, cottage cheese, cake mix ... Below is a link that list which products has carrageenan. So glad my husband switched from coffee-creamer to half-half cream for his coffee. I used coffee creamer (with carrageenan) to make brownies and my kid broke out in pimples. Now I use half-half-milk to make brownies, and her face is much clearer. She used to break out in rash with ice cream ... I thought it was the cow milk, but now I realize carrageenan is added to ice cream & many products to impart a smooth taste:

http://www.cornucopia.org/shopping-guide-to-avoiding-organic-foods-with-carrageenan/

Glad you found the problem Straw! I just drink regular Skim Milk.

Slowly but surely the weather is improving here... woooooooo

Happy Easter, everyone! That looks extremely good, Jim - no more freeze and frost for the next week. I love Easy Does It. Not only the color and flower form are nice but also the fruity scent is so wonderful!

Straw, thanks for that info on carrageenan. I would not know manufacturers add all these stuffs to the foods that can have adverse effects on health. Glad you found the cause of your rash. These days, we have to be our own doctors to find out what is making us sick as most of the stuffs are processed with additives, not 100 naturally wholesome.

Hi Karen: Happy Easter to you .. We enjoy the waffle recipe you gave a lot, many thanks. I decreased the yeast to 1/2 teaspoon, and leave it over-night at room-temp (my refrig. is always crowded). It works well that way ... save money on yeast, less of the "yeast" smell, and the batter is still light & fluffy. I also make "no-knead bread" that way. After I messed up my Kitchen-Aid mixer by making barley-bread, I tried the "no-knead bread" recipes, and LOVE IT !! I just use the regular egg-beater to whip up the dough, rather than kneading the bread. Here'a a "No-knead bread" recipe:

No Knead Bread: 3 cups of flour, 1/2 tea. of yeast, 3/4 tea. salt, 1 plus 1/2 cup water (use 1 plus 3/4 cup for whole wheat), 1 Tbs. sugar, 1 1/2 Tbs. oil. Mix yeast with WARM water & sugar & salt & oil. Let stand for 15 min. Use egg-beater to whip in the flour. Cover & let rest for 12 to 18 hrs. at room temp. Shape the dough. Let rest for 2 more hrs. Bake 350 for 30 min. if it's a loaf, and 20 min. if it's small rolls.

You are welcome. I used to have a breadmaker but it broke. Someday, I have to try your No Knead bread recipe. I don't have time to do much homecooking right now. Thanks very much for it.