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  1. Past hour
  2. If you do tomatoes or any water hungry container veggies, Pittmoss is the GOAT and will save you a ton of headache with watering.
  3. Today
  4. Thanks! Yeah, from what I've read it needs a lot of water but also media that drains well so the roots can dry out between waterings. I've now looked into this Pittmoss stuff, and it sounds pretty dang good. I think I'll order some and mix it with planter soil, as well.
  5. All done with the detail inside and out of the SS for the spring/summer season.
  6. I had never driven an Infiniti Q50 before, let alone ever really looked at them. I also didn’t know much about these cars. I was supposed to be assigned a medium sized SUV, but remarked I wanted the luggage area to be hidden. The rental agent told me they could not guarantee the presence of a retractable cover. (Why would they order a car without one or why would someone take one? eBay?) They didn’t have any SUVs anyway, and I got put into an Infiniti Q50. I checked my phone to verify the cost would be covered by my insurance and the credit card parameters. It came in at around $43,000. That’s if new. That said: “no worries.” However, this unit would be a much-depreciated 3+ year model with 57,000 miles. I relaxed. At any rate, I put less than 500 miles on it over a week. As one walks up to it, you can tell its heritage … and rather quickly. You can instantly see similarities to the Nissan Altima in the instrument panel’s main cluster and in the switches much the same way that a CT6 by Cadillac and a Cruze by Chevrolet share dials and such. However, the assembly and detailing are nicer in the Q50. It had leather seating, which I don’t care for in a warm weather location, that was comfortably contoured and nicely finished. The same could be said for the doors and other trim and fittings. Inside, I liked the way that the dash, center stack, and console flowed together. The scalloped tops of the dash hearken to those of the very last Impala, which had an attractive dashboard on various levels. The center stack is slightly like that of an Olds Aurora. These comments go along with the often-cited commentary that this car is traditional and old school in a lot of ways, thus not breaking any new ground. The least favorable aspect of the interior is operating the various touch screen and stalk functions. Some are redundant and confusing. However, for one, it is possible to pull up a clock that resembles old school chronometer and have it sitting at the top of the center stack. On the interior's plus side, there are perfectly contoured and angled slots to store water bottles at the base of the front doors. On the minus side, there is a remote latch release for the trunk, but not one for the fuel cap door. (The fuel cap door remains closed if the car is locked.) I figured that this Infiniti would have a V6. It was no ordinary V6, but 3.7 liters worth of V6 with twin turbochargers. Rarely does one need this much power and, in one week, I got aggressive with the throttle in one merging situation and one passing situation. It is up to the task and kicks out a little torque steer. Its hum is a rather muted purr. As would be expected in what is supposed to be a premium car, the automatic transmission is a geared unit. It has 7 speeds. The first 2 shifts can be felt while the remaining shifts are not. However, if in stop and go traffic, and alternating speed, those early shifts can be a little less smooth as the transmission seems to hunt. (It could also be how many miles were on the unit.) Why 7 speeds? How about 6 … or 8? I’m talking even numbers! With the powertrain comes the requirement for premium fuel. Also, compared to many full-size Japanese cars working with 4 cylinders and turning in commendable gas mileage, this car with its V6 is a little thirsty. Ride, handling, and noise are related, but different enough. The ride was supple and controlled, but not much more so than that of an uplevel 4-cylinder sedan. Handling was better and this Infiniti tracked accurately and nimbly. Also, the Q50 was fairly hushed, but I might have expected a little more isolation and a higher premium "feel" for the price jump from a Nissan to an Infiniti. Its exterior features that extra chrome and trim to make it uplevel within the Nissan family tree, yet the greenhouse is an almost familiar one. This car delivered on one greenhouse dimension I’m fussy about - rearward vision from the driver’s vantage point is very good. I don’t know how the order sheet was configured when this car was purchased. There was an indicator for forward alerts, but I never got to experience it in action. Also, whether on the rearview mirrors or inside of the front pillars, there was nothing to warn of side traffic and there weren’t parking assists that kicked in. Perhaps they were there, but the car was not put in a situation where they’d engage. On another rental car of a lower price point, those were always at work and perhaps a little too eager. I almost prefer the latter. I didn’t read any reviews about this car before beginning the rental or during the rental. I echo what they have to say. For its niche, it doesn’t drum up much enthusiasm. The best point is its more premium handling while the negatives are some difficulties in setting it up when first getting in and its slight thirstiness. If something about this overall package is appealing and a person connects with the Q50, then the consumer will probably go for it. I don’t know how it will hold up and how much it will cost to service over the long haul. While there are no Toyota and Nissan dealerships in Beverly Hills, California, as an example, there is a Lexus agency there while the Infiniti dealership seems to have closed. Infiniti seems to want to ride the same wave that Lexus is riding, though I’d think piggybacking onto Toyota might be a more lauded genealogy. This is very much a personal decision and you’re on your own. I was going to turn in the Q50 after a day to see if I could get something more familiar to me but decided to keep it. Exchanging cars is a hassle. Once past the learning curve and adjustments, it’s fairly easy to live with, but it’s neither a remarkable nor compelling vehicle. - - - - - PHOTOS FORTHCOMING
  7. Yesterday
  8. The two big things you need to know are How Acidic and how well it drains or not. I took a class last year on how to grow the American Chestnut. American Chestnuts like to be high on hilltops with very well-drained soils. There's a geomapping tool in Pennsylvania that uses known land and altitude data to populate the best places for Chestnut plantings, and my property is one of the best in the county. What I used was a mix of planter soil and something called Pittmoss, better than Peatmoss. Its manufactured here and is mostly recycled newspaper. It's good for containers because it holds moisture better than peat. Just put them in some 5-gallon buckets and let them go. I need to move them around a bit soon. True genetic American Chestnuts are very hard to find. If you find them online, they are most likely crossbred with something else that is blight-resistant. I got my seeds directly from the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation at one of their research centers at Penn State.
  9. They look like sticks right now, lol. Their leaves are just starting to come back. But here's what they looked like going in.
  10. My wife gets starter trees for landscaping, and we use 5-gallon plant buckets that have the holes already, but you could use a normal 5-gallon bucket and drill some holes and put it in a planter plate to hold water to help with feeding. We always just use miracle grow soil and the trees are doing really well. We have a bunch of Leyland Cypress trees to be planted once I finish the yard retaining wall and new fence.
  11. Speaking of growing trees in buckets/pots, did you over-research what type of potting soil/media to use? I think I'm going down a wormhole of too much information and overthinking. What did you end up using?
  12. Interesting. I'm using my work computer so I can't exactly download anything to edit them, but I'll probably just try from my phone next time.
  13. Heck yeah! Do you have any pictures of them, before and now? Not a picture of the seed (LOL) but a very young American Chestnut tree.
  14. @ccap41 I downloaded the image and used Win11 photo editor to rotate the image and save it locally and then uploaded it to here.
  15. I am growing two endangered American Chestnuts in buckets in my back yard. I started them from seed last summer.
  16. I'm weirdly really excited to have bought a tree. It'll be inside for a couple years, most likely. I'm going to attempt a Giant Sequoia. I saw the "promo/discount code" box upon checkout and thought I'd Google if there were any available codes. I found one and it was just supposed to be 10% off but it ended up being free, I just have to pay for shipping. I'll take that. It'll be really small, so I'll start it in a smaller pot inside and move it up as it grows. I don't exactly have a place for it yet, but I'll find somewhere in a couple years. Here's the link to the website, if anybody else is looking for a tree. Yes, they do have way more than just Sequoias. https://sequoiatrees.com/
  17. If I rotate the picture to where it is upright on my computer and the icon in the folder, it uploads like this; If I then try and "get ahead" of the 90 degree turn and rotate it 90 degrees counterclockwise, it looks like this; Now that I'm looking at these, I wonder if there is a default "landscape" format on the site.
  18. Once you change the rotation, your saving it correct? If you rotate it and then post it, the original image is still being used with it in the wrong rotation. Usually you have to save it as a new image so capture the new rotation change. I agree that it is a pain in the butt when a phone camera does this. Great Job, cleaning the lenses are never easy and you did a great job. I am currently detailing my SS, will post pictures once I am done, but getting it cleaned inside and out, so started yesterday and almost done with the inside, still have the outside waxing to do.
  19. WOW, Never heard of a 100,000 miles unlimited years warranty, that is a great deal. Agree that the $4340 will pay for itself on the first major repair. It did with my SS as I paid according to the paperwork $1993 for a GM backed 3yr/36,000-mile warranty and when in the first six months the cooling line cracked and contaminated the transmission and cooling system, the Cheverolet dealership had it for 4 months as they awaited the new corvette transmission and cooling system and the paperwork, I have shows that the charge back to GM warranty was almost $12K dollars plus the Tahoe loaner they put me into which was new and I put a ton of miles on while I had it. I hope you never have to use it and it is just peace of mind for you as I would hate to have the wife and kids get stranded anywhere. Awesome looking ride, wishing you all the best on it.
  20. I didn't realize how bad my passenger side headlight had gotten. It looked horrible so I did a little research on the "headlight restoration" kids. I ended up on this Cerakote one and it seemed to work pretty dang well. It did take some patients and elbow grease to net good results, but it seems to have worked. I did both headlights but the passenger side was so much worse, so I didn't even bother taking pictures of the driver side. Again, not sure why the site rotates them, but whenever I rotate them on my computer, they still manage to change directions upon uploading. Before: During: After: Product:
  21. Get a Screw bike for the Ultimate ride! @Drew Dowdell Here is a new bike for you.
  22. Random old post here and I haven't read through any of it yet, but my wife and I went last year when they were in STL. It was a great show. They were here for two nights, and each night was a different set list. We only went to the Friday show, not the Saturday show.
  23. Name: Range Rover Sport SVR Category: Vehicles Date Added: 2024-04-18 Submitter: ccap41 Range Rover Sport SVR
  24. I need to know the name of that warranty company so I can short their stock.
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