I use a faked name and faked birthday in Facebook to protect my privacy. Lots of benefits with Facebook Groups: loading pics. is super-fast & easy, versus real pain & extremely-time-consuming to load pics. in Houzz. Folks load like 20+ pics. at once in Facebook in a few minutes, which would take the entire day in Houzz. If my computer wipes out any pics, I can retrieve them if I posted in Facebook, but I CANNOT RETRIEVE THE OLD PICS. THAT I POSTED IN HOUZZ. Houzz does not allow copying any pics. posted in Houzz, EVEN IF THEY ARE MY OWN PICTURES.
In my personal profile in Facebook, I posted pics. and set them to ONLY I CAN SEE, or FOR FRIENDS TO SEE, or to PUBLIC. So my pics. are protected & stored in privacy on Facebook and I can retrieve them later, even if my computer crashed and I forgot to do a backup. With Houzz, whatever pic. you post is Houzz's property, and NOT yours to retrieve later if your computer got wiped out.
It's easy to search for any topics in Facebook, and you don't get Houzz-written-stuff. I quit Houzz since I always post links for reference, and Houzz deleted the ENTIRE THREAD (with other posters' comments), just because there's a link to Amazon to buy THE CORRECT SULFATE OF POTASH. Houzz does not tolerate any commercial link, even if it's beneficial for the public.
I tested Azomite twice, it's mostly calcium plus many trace minerals, but IT'S FAR SUPERIOR TO LIME. There are many trace elements in Azomite that promote FAST growth, and absorption of calcium is best IN CONJUNCTION with other trace elements. Marie Pavie doubled in size, same with other roses (more leaves in late fall).
YES to Kelp. Nothing can give roses deep colors, including dark-green leaves like kelp. The famous rosarian, Kitty Belendez, posted the best pics. of roses in HMF. She has alkaline sandy soil in CA, and uses Kelp in her SOLUBLE fertilizer.
YES to blackstrap Molasses (higher potassium than regular molasses). Dr. Rudolph Ballentine says that, “Since it is a concentrated residue, molasses contains significant quantities of minerals such as iron, a fair amount of calcium and generous quantities of trace elements such as zinc, copper, and chromium.”
NO to alfalfa tea if you have tons of rain. Rain is acidic at pH 5.3 in CA, and even more acidic at 4 in the east coast. pH or rain in my Chicago sub. is 4.5. See the map below of pH of rain across USA. Alfalfa tea is VERY ACIDIC after 3 days. It's useful for VERY ALKALINE region, no rain, but DAMAGE roses for high-rain months. Pickled veggies, or Kimchi, gets sour within a few days (even with salt to slow down the souring). Making alfalfa tea is like pouring diluted vinegar on your roses. I wilted plenty of roses in hot summer when I fixed my pH 9 alkaline tap with vinegar. They also break out in blackspots immediately even in hot & dry weather. Think about how lettuce gets wilted if you pour vinegar-dressing on it. I tested alfalfa tea and roses WERE NOT perky nor healthy.
Houzz makes it impossible to search for any topics, such as "Your top 5 roses", or "blackspots and alfalfa". Houzz's goal is to promote their stuff, rather than help in searching for truth. In the good old days of easy search in Gardenweb, I checked on alfalfa tea, and 2 other people REPORTED black spots on roses when they doused roses with alfalfa tea. Rain is acidic enough, there's no need to make sour alfalfa tea, and the nutrients in alfalfa tea is very low, like 2-1-2. My grass clippings have higher nutrients at 4-1-1. For roses to be healthy, the potassium needs to be at least 10 for disease prevention.
Potassium is LESS AVAILABLE at pH BELOW 6, like alfalfa tea or acidic rain. To prevent diseases prior to rainy month, I top roses with horse manure (pH 8) with lime & potassium & many trace elements, esp. anti-fungal elements of copper, zinc, and boron. Molybdenum is essential for nitrogen uptake and re-growth of leaves, and IS LESS AVAILABLE when pH is below 6. Click on pic. below to enlarge to see pH of rain across USA:
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Melissa, I might trade it all for your cheese. I’m really envious of what I can only imagine is the most delicious cheese I’ve never had! :-)
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