HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist)
Subject: Re: Seek info. on lawn mawer.
Keywords: grass, lawnmowers, greens, mulching
Organization: INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, Naperville, IL
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 1992 20:43:21 GMT

In article <1992Apr4.014444.13513@bnlux1.bnl.gov> ping@bnlux1.bnl.gov (Shiping Zhang) writes:
>Any one has any opinions on manual lawn mawers?
>My yards are small (about 35' x 65' totally), so I'm thinking of getting
>a manual lawn mawer.  I'm not sure if it's a good idea.
>Thanks for any info or advice.

I've been using a manual push mower on my 200' x 60' lot for about
3 years.  It takes no longer than a power mower.  Also, reel-type
mowers in general cut more cleanly than rotary mowers, which is healthier
for the grass.

Drawbacks:
 +You can't get behind in mowing.  If you have enough rain that
  the grass will grow several inches a week, you may have to mow more often.
  A manual mower doesn't cut well in very tall grass; if the grass is
  too long, you have to mow twice, in opposite directions.
 +Sharpening is more expensive, and it's more difficult (so far) to
  find sharpening shops with the proper equipment, though this is beginning
  to change as the mowers become more popular.  (If all else fails, call
  the greenskeeper at a local golf course, and find out where they get
  their mowers sharpened.)

Advantages:
 +You get a bit of exercise.  Since I'm basically a couch potato,
  and work at a desk all day long, this is most of the exercise I get in the
  course of an average week.
 +They are quiet.  If you only time you have available to mow really is
  at 7:00 on a Sunday morning, your neighbors will not kill you.
 +You don't have to keep a can of gas lying around.
 +They are inexpensive.  The best manual mowers cost less than $200; several
  are available in the $80-$100 range.  (Mine cost $5 at a garage sale.)
  Compare that to $400-$500 for top of the line gas mowers.
 +They are considerably safer to passersby - they don't throw rocks, and
  it takes considerable effort to seriously injure someone by running
  into them.  (Properly maintained, however, the blades are very sharp,
  so don't consider them foolproof...  Any resonably intelligent child
  can still figure out how to get hurt with one!)
 +They are quiet.  Or had I already said that?
 +They take very little storage space.  The handle on mine folds up to
  store flat against a wall.  Lighter models could probably be hung on
  the wall.
 +They are quiet.  You can hear yourself think while mowing the lawn.
  (In all fairness to high-end gas mowers, I grew up with very noisy
   2-strokes.  Probably explains my obsession with the lack of noise.)

We are moving to a house with a much smaller lot (roughly 40x80); the
gas mower is being left on the curb at the old house for the scavengers
to pick up.
-- 
Jonathan E. Quist                              INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation
jeq@i88.isc.com                                        Naperville, IL
'71 CL450-K4 "Gleep"  - "Worth the Obsession"
DoD #094        "I'm not mad; just terribly, terribly hurt."  HDM #007
From: karen@synopsys.com (Karen Vahtra)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: illegal plants--lobelia
Date: 7 Apr 92 20:52:12 GMT
Organization: Synopsys Inc.

In article <1992Apr6.145306.11700@hemlock.cray.com> dadams@cherry.cray.com (David Adams) writes:
>Two days ago I heard that lobelia (Indian tobacco,
>pukeweed) was illegal, or at least that it could
>not be sold as an herb.  Does anyone know 
>anything more about it?  Do any catalogs
>sell seeds for it?  

It can't possibly be illegal because I just planted some in
my backyard and I also tried to grow them from seed last year.
Lobelia is a flower not a herb.

While were on the subject of lobelia, I have a problem with
mine that someone could perhaps help me with.  The leaves are very
fragile and can't have much water on them.  How does one efficiently
water them without a drip system?  I can't spray them like I normally
do because the leaves just start drooping.  Filling up the dirt
the old fashioned way takes forever and moves a lot of dirt around.

Karen
From: acura@cbnewsi.cb.att.com (james.r.feeney)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Recommendation for bulbs to plant in spring
Date: 6 Apr 92 14:40:47 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T

We are looking to plant some bulbs in our garden. Are there types that
can be planted now and will do well, or must bulbs be planted in the
fall? 

Thanks

Jim Feeney
From: rosentha@bldrdoc.gov (Peter Rosenthal 303-497-5844)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: coaxing blooms (tillandsia)
Date: 15 Apr 92 23:12:10 GMT
Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology

I have a small Tillandsia specimen.  Bought it in bud, with two
crowns and two spikes.  It bloomed beautifully and then put
out two new plants at the base.  These proceded to grow to
about three times the size of the original plants that
flowered.  They have not bloomed in the two years they have
been growing.  

I heard that there is a trick involving a plastic bag and
some fruit to induce blooming.  Something about ethylene
gas...  

Does anyone know anything about this?

Thanks,

Peter Rosenthal

Email rosenthal@cmg.eeel.nist.gov
From: aphrk@Msu.oscs.montana.edu
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: RE: Lobelia/Poison Neurosis
Date: 8 Apr 92 19:47:28 GMT
Reply-To: aphrk@Msu.oscs.montana.edu
Organization: Montana State University

I probably shouldn't say this... but here goes.   ANYTHING can be a poison
if used incorrectly and in the wrong DOSE!  If all these herbal medicines
are so dangerous why aren't the emergency rooms filled with these folks?
Lobelia is not used much anymore, but sometimes is contained in combination
with other herbs in remedies.  Digitalis leaf is still used in Europe,
though I don't know anyone here who knows it well enough to use it.  
We are talking about heroic medicines here, those which should never be
used (at least not in moderate to high doses) by the untrained.  

As far a Datura (Jimsonweed), it is still used in Mexico by skilled
healers there.  I would not recommend experimenting with it either for
pathological reasons and especially not mind-expanding reasons.

Just trying to set the record straight.  Don't be so paranoid.  There
are plenty of "legal" foods and medicines trying to do us in presently.

Robyn Klein
Herbalist
From: bruceh@natasha.pen.tek.com
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: W.S.U. Experimental Station
Keywords: Peaches, Spraying
Date: 17 Apr 92 18:40:54 GMT
Article-I.D.: tekig7.5131
Reply-To: bruceh@natasha.pen.tek.com
Distribution: pnw
Organization: tektronix


In article <1992Apr15.222936.20533@ichips.intel.com>, marcos@pdx047 (Marcos O. Camargo) writes:
|> I am looking for an email address of the Experimental Station of Washington
|> State University in Mt. Vernon, Washington.
|> ...
|>
|> In Oregon peaches are affected by brown rot/blossom which can be controlled
|> by sulphur sprays.  If I don't spray do I lose the whole crop or just 50%
|> of it, or what?


You can lose virtualy the entire crop to brown rot.  You can lose the tree
to (appropriately named) peach leaf curl.  Given our damp springs, neither
of these posibilities is uncommon.

Spray your peaches.

Bruce Harrington
bruceh@natasha.pen.tek.com
From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: glyphosate and composting
Date: 9 Apr 92 17:24:34 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

djd@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (david.j.daulton) writes:
> Last year  our environmental club here at AT&T Columbus brought in a
> speaker to talk about the blue bird paths he maintains in central Ohio.
> He carefully monitors his paths, and he said that after years of monitoring
> he can pretty much tell you what local farmers are spraying on their fields
> by observing bird mortality.  Some cause eggs not to hatch, some kill
> hatchlings in the first week etc.  Among the treatments that kill hatchlings,
> he listed Roundup.  That surprised me, since I thought it was well tested.
> This guy was no "environmental extremist" and had no ax to grind.  The more
> I learn about herbacides and pesticides, the less I like them.

Dave: (sorry, but the mailer to you is bouncing at the moment)
  This is the first I've EVER heard of roundup being inculpated with
hatchling mortality.  Can you find out the speaker's name?  I'd like
to review his evidence.  I find it a bit odd that bluebird hatchlings
are coming into contact with roundup, since (at least around here),
most farmers use it as a rope-wicked application, starting well after
the time that bluebird hatchlings have learned to fly.  When I lived
in Slater, we had an abandoned RR right-of-way behind us, separating town 
from farms.  I used to walk it every night for about 3 miles, and never
noticed any problems with roundup.  On the other hand, the year that
someone used diazanon and we had a bad episode of dry wind that put
LOTS of soil in the air, we had HEAVY bird mortality...

Kay
From: bbeer@milton.u.washington.edu (Robert Beer)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: coaxing blooms (tillandsia)
Date: 17 Apr 92 00:18:05 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

... heard that there is a trick involving a plastic bag and
>> some fruit to induce blooming.  Something about ethylene
>> gas...  
>
>A couple of methods for inducing bromeliad flowers.  You are supposed
>to be able to turn the pot on its side for a week or so and induce
>flowering in some species (presumably, you "upset" its metabolism 
>enough to induce ethylene production) -- this one has never worked for
>me.  The other method is to bag the bromeliad with ripening fruit --
>apples do nicely -- for about a week to take advantage of their
>ethylene production.
>
>Kay Klier   Biology Dept  UNI

This will often work, but it does have one disadvantage that I have noticed - 
When a plant is forced to bloom by ethylene, the bloom tends to come and fade
faster than it would normally.  Sometimes we get bromeliads into the shop I
work at which are in spike and yet are much too small to have bloomed on their
own.  These tend to fade quite quickly.

I keep my tillandsias outdoors all summer - they do require a bit of misting
here as our summers tend to be really dry.  But they grow very well.  My mom
lives in Arkansas, where it is so humid during the summer that she really 
doesn't need to mist at all, except to give them a little extra fertilizer to 
boost them along.  

Some of 
the small blooming plants (of Tillandsias as well as other bromeliads) have
been forced into bloom to make them more appealing at the plant shops, but many
of them will naturally get quite large before they bloom.  A large, well-grown
plant will usually produce a better bloom spike than a young one forced, so 
if you are patient, it is usually worth the wait!  

Bob Beer
From: rosentha@bldrdoc.gov (Peter Rosenthal 303-497-5844)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: coaxing blooms (tillandsia)
Date: 17 Apr 92 14:43:52 GMT
Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology

>
>Some of 
>the small blooming plants (of Tillandsias as well as other bromeliads) have
>been forced into bloom to make them more appealing at the plant shops, but many
>of them will naturally get quite large before they bloom.  A large, well-grown
>plant will usually produce a better bloom spike than a young one forced, so 
>if you are patient, it is usually worth the wait!  
>
>Bob Beer

I think you are right.  My Tillandsia pups are  about four times
the size of their parents (bought with flower spikes growing).  
They had been growing for a long time, and seemed to be resting.

In nature I think they would have gotten some cue to initiate blooming
by now, and I wanted to help them out.                

Does anyone know if they can be pollinated and seed propogated?

Peter


Xref: sparky rec.gardens:2286 misc.consumers:10149 misc.consumers.house:6069
From: cbrooks@brahms.udel.edu (Chris Brooks)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens,misc.consumers,misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Seek info. on lawn mawer.
Keywords: grass, lawnmowers, greens, mulching
Date: 7 Apr 92 13:02:44 GMT
Followup-To: rec.gardens
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Delaware

In article <1992Apr06.204321.13043@i88.isc.com> jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist) writes:
>Advantages:
> +You get a bit of exercise.  Since I'm basically a couch potato,
>  and work at a desk all day long, this is most of the exercise I get in the
>  course of an average week.
> +They are quiet.  If you only time you have available to mow really is
>  at 7:00 on a Sunday morning, your neighbors will not kill you.
> +You don't have to keep a can of gas lying around.

[More advantages deleted.]

I agree with all of the advantages already listed, and I wanted to add
one of my own (a little tongue in cheek, however).

* You might get all of the kids in the neighborhood to mow your lawn for
free.
We bought the manual mower so our kids could mow more safely.  It turned
out that my daughter almost never had to mow herself.  She'd sit out
front with the mower, and her friends would line up to do the mowing.
I'm surprised that she didn't charge THEM to do her job.
From: celeste@stokely.mtview.ca.us (Celeste Stokely)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Sane outdoor flea control?
Date: 17 Apr 92 12:39:47 GMT
Followup-To: rec.gardens
Organization: Expert Support Inc., Mountain View, CA

I'm looking for some way to rid my vegetable and flower garden of fleas, in
the most environmentally sane way possible. My elderly cat sleeps in the
garden, and brings millions of fleas in as a result. I don't want to kill
off the birds, the bees, the other good insects, make my cat sick, contaminate 
the ground water, or apply toxics to my veggies.

All the chemicals I've seen for outdoor flea control have not met these
conditions.

Anyone have any tips? Are there such beasties as flea parasites?

..Celeste Stokely
Program Mgr for Unix Systems Administration Consulting, Expert Support Inc.
EMAIL:     celeste@stokely.mtview.ca.us     
VOICE:     415-967-6898       FAX: 415-493-3208
USMAIL:    Expert Support, Inc./ 211 Thompson Sq. / Mountain View CA 94043
From: Ecology Center Fund <ecologycntr@igc.org>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Date: 08 Apr 92 08:50 PDT
Subject: Re: glyphosate and composting
Nf-ID: #R:1992Apr7.181602.3629@iscsvax.uni:-476134884:cdp:1453300024:000:609
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!ecologycntr    Apr  8 08:50:00 1992


Thanks for the info, Kay, and let me retroactively edit my diatribe to say
that _I_ didn't know of any info on breakdown products, not that there _was_
no info.

Other questions:  what effect do differing edaphic conditions (soil pH, parent
material, soil moisture, etc.) have on rhizobial metabolism of glyphosate?
Has there been recertification testing done on Roundup since the original
testing done by the infamous Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories (whose chief of
staff admitted to falsifying results of thousands of tests?).  And the big one:
Why spray when you'll have to pull the weed anyway?
;)
Chris
From: aphrk@Msu.oscs.montana.edu
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: RE: Dandelions
Date: 16 Apr 92 19:52:55 GMT
Reply-To: aphrk@Msu.oscs.montana.edu
Organization: Montana State University

I have been determined not to spray our lawn these past three years. 
We bought the place three years ago and the previous people weeded and
feeded and watered like crazy...and had a "perfect" lawn.  We have found
the following to help keep these guys from taking over:
    - cut your lawn high (I forget how high) this DOES help to keep from
watering and shades the weeds.
    - fertilize with environmentally safe stuff that also makes the grass
grow longer roots - which I think makes them stronger.
    - get out there and dig those babies as soon as the ground thaws.  If
you can put a little stress on them earlier in the season they sooner or
later give up.  
    - make it a hobby...digging dandelions.  I consider it a "meditation"
of sorts to unwind after a day in front of the computer.
    - this also makes you more aware of what critters are on the upswing
in your lawn.  Some years we have a lot of slugs, or grasshoppers.. so
this gives me the chance to put out beer traps or nosema (fungus to kill
grasshoppers).  
    - put dirt and grass seed back in the hole that the dandelion left.
I've discovered that if I don't do this other weeds like crabgrass sneak
in.
   All in all, it has been a constant activity, but I really feel better
about it than spraying with chemicals that will certainly get into our
well water.  

Robyn Klein, Dandelion Digger Specialist

P.S.  I think big screwdrivers work better than dandelion tools.
From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Clay pots and herbs, should I be concerned?
Date: 14 Apr 92 21:17:07 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

dgg@llcn2.jhuapl.edu (Dave Gawron) writes:
> Yesterday I purchased a bunch of herb plants from a local nursery.  I also
> bought an equal number of clay pots in which to place the herbs.  On the way
> home it dawned on me that it might not be such a good idea to ingest plants
> which were grown in clay pots.  I seem to remember that clay can contain
> nasty stuff like lead and other heavy metals.  I know there are problems with
> some glazes containing lead, however my pots are not glazed.  So, my question
> is this: is there any danger of the herbs picking up harmful things from the
> clay?

Lead salts are more soluble in acidic solutions (like orange juice) then 
they are at the circumneutral pH of potting soil.  Unless you're watering
a glazed pot with dilute HCl ;^) it probably isn't worth worrying about.
I've eaten LOTS of things grown in unglazed pots over the years, and my
blood and bone lead concentrations are below normal for a midwesterner.
(I'm part of a long-term occupational health and safety study).

On the other hand, considering what plastic pots smell like, and my family
history of cancers, I'm not eager to be around new plastic pots.  They smell
of polymerizing agents, which are often carcinogenic.   I figure I have
enough carcinogens around my lab...
> 
> PS: By the way, is there anything I should know about potting soil with
>     respect to herbs?

Depends on the herbs.  What are you growing?

Kay Klier     Biology Dept    UNI
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
From: aphrk@Msu.oscs.montana.edu
Subject: RE: Lobelia ridiculousness
Reply-To: aphrk@Msu.oscs.montana.edu
Organization: Montana State University
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 19:40:13 GMT

Lobelia or Lobelia inflata, being the most common species of medicinal
plant interest is a very strong healing herb.  It does have overdose
potential, but has been used safely for hundreds of years.  It is a 
sedative, a respiratory tonic, etc. as you have mentioned.  It is used
more commonly in combination with other herbs rather than alone.  Jethro
Kloss in the book "Back to Eden" liked to suggest this herb to "cleanse
one's insides" i.e., vomit, purge, etc.  This is not a terribly good
idea, of course.  There ARE better alternatives, i.e., practice a balanced
diet, exercise, sleep....the old standbys.  

I am not sure if Lobelia is GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) by the FDA
folks.  I'll look into it.  I wouldn't doubt that they would not like 
this plant.  I am sure I have seen the seed of this particular species in
Richter's Seed Catalog (Ontario).  There are many wild North American 
species as well.

Robyn Klein
Herbalist here in the Rockies.
From: maxfield@athena.cs.uga.edu (Joan C. Maxfield)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: fish water
Date: 15 Apr 92 01:27:08 GMT
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens


	I have 2 fish tanks and ahve to regularly change a portion of
the water.  I was wondering if I could use this water to feed my
plants.  I have no problem watering the philodenron or the cacti with
it but what about veggie plants, ie tomatos and beans etc.  Has anyone
else tried this?  It seems such a waste to flush 10 gallons of water
that might be good for fertilizer.  Any ideas?

Joan
-- 
J. C. Maxfield				maxfield@athena.cs.uga.edu
DISCLAIMER:  I don't speak for the University, but they often speak for me!
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
From: judi@laplace.biology.yale.edu (Judith S. Janette)
Subject: Re: growing carrots (was -peat moss & carrots)
Organization: Yale University, Department of Computer Science, New Haven, CT
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 23:49:30 GMT

> 
> 
> 	I have had good luck with planting radishes with the carrot seeds.
> The radishes break the soil and are harvested long before the carrots  
would
> compete with them.  And here in Denver the soil is a heavy clay.
> 
> --

I saw this done on the Victory Garden. They even went so far as to plant  
beets in with carrots and radishes in wide rows. And everything looked so  
nice and grew so well, it made me SICK!!! Why can't they show just a FEW  
weeds on these shows so that we know that these gardens are grown right  
here on Earth by genuine humans?! 

-Judi Janette
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
From: adamson@grok65.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM (Ann Adamson)
Subject: Re: Habanero, Chili
Keywords: Habanero, Chili
Organization: Your Organization Here
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 13:06:44 GMT

In article <1992Apr9.152145.21073@news.nd.edu>, cgallagh@goya.helios.nd.edu (christopher gallagher) writes:
|> Thank you for all the replies.  It seems that everyone who replied has a plant has grown thier plant from seed.  Some got them from a chili that they bought at their local supermarket.  I tried to grow a plant from the seeds od a dried habanero and it did|>  not work so I will assume that the chili must be fresh for the seed to grow.

Hmmm.  It worked for me...but the germination rate was quite low.
We planted about 20 habanero seeds that we took from dried chiles and
we have two seedlings.  

|> The people who have grown them say that the grow very slowly.  The people who responded said chilis of any kind will not tolerate frost.

They are growing a little slower than our other
chiles, but we have beautiful healthy-looking plants started.  Hope they
continue!

Good luck!
Ann Adamson
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
From: dweber@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Daniel Weber)
Subject: ARGH!!!!!!
Originator: dweber@nvs.ncsa.uiuc.edu
Reply-To: dweber@ncsa.uiuc.edu
Organization: National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 15:55:51 GMT


TARNATION!  This newsreader's author's mother wears army boots!  Sorry about
the double post of my question on identifying my plant.  The first post died
out from under me but somehow made it through after I'd already made a second 
attempt.  *sigh*  :-(  Today ain't my day.

				-daniel weber
				dweber@ncsa.uiuc.edu
From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: illegal plants--lobelia
Date: 7 Apr 92 22:47:46 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

>> Recently we had a discussion about listing plants
>> that were illegal.
>> 
>> Two days ago I heard that lobelia (Indian tobacco,
>> pukeweed) was illegal, or at least that it could
>> not be sold as an herb.  Does anyone know 
>> anything more about it?  Do any catalogs
> 
> 
> Is this the same lobelia that includes the blue "Crystal Palace"
> plants that grow into bushy little mounds with bright intense blue
> flowers that we have all over our yard?
> 
Your little blue lobelia is _Lobelia erinus_.  The common blue
lobelia (MUCH larger) in this part of the world is _Lobelia
siphilitica_; cardinal flower (one of my favorites) is 
_Lobelia cardinalis_.

Don't eat 'em and you'll be fine.

Kay Klier  Biology Dept  UNI
From: brown@hpspkla.spk.hp.com (Pat R. Brown)
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 19:22:53 GMT
Subject: Re: Botanic sites in Dallas/Ft. Worth area
Organization: Hewlett Packard Company, Spokane, Wa.
Newsgroups: rec.gardens

They have a wonderfun Japanise garden in Ft. Worth. They charge an 
couple of bucks to get in, but it is well worth it!!

The garden has great plants and a super Zen style rock garden!

Enjoy, 
Pat