ccap41

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

If you do tomatoes or any water hungry container veggies, Pittmoss is the GOAT and will save you a ton of headache with watering.

I don't plan on gardening anytime soon. We need to finish other things before I'd have a permanent spot for a garden, but I would like a small garden in the future. We consume enough various peppers, onions, and zucchinis that I think it would be pretty cool to grow them myself. 

17 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

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.

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. 

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I am growing two endangered American Chestnuts in buckets in my back yard. I started them from seed last summer.

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? 

3 hours ago, David said:

@ccap41 I downloaded the image and used Win11 photo editor to rotate the image and save it locally and then uploaded it to here.

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. 

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I am growing two endangered American Chestnuts in buckets in my back yard. I started them from seed last summer.

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. 

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/

2 minutes ago, David said:

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.

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. 

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:

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. 

Name: Range Rover Sport SVR
Category: Vehicles
Date Added: 2024-04-18
Submitter: ccap41

Range Rover Sport SVR

On 4/15/2024 at 3:36 PM, David said:

Congratulations, nice looking SUV, Hope all goes well for you with this as I can understand not wanting to have her get stuck with your kid in the car.

Thank you! 

Yeah, as much as I love the vehicle, I REALLY tried to avoid Land Rover because...of their well-known UNreliability.  Well, we have a 100,000-mile (unlimited years) warranty, so we should at least have that peace of mind. I know they're not supposed to be the most reliable, but I don't really hear of people getting stranded. It's usually "just" lights going off saying something needs fixed. Hopefully that is just the case. 

10 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Beautiful vehicles! I'm not sure that you've improved things on the reliability side, but at least the miles are a lot lower and it will ride nicer than the G?

Opt for the extended warranty again.

Oh, oh I know! I REALLY tried pushing ANY other brand, because reliability was our G issue. 

It absolutely rides better than the G. Almost anything rides better than a vehicle with two solid axels though, hahaha. My wife loved her G though. She was so used to it that she really didn't notice how shtty it rode. Anytime we'd drive something else she'd say that she liked it but she still liked her G and that she still thought that drove just fine.. I had to tell her that she was just conditioned to like to because it really drove like @ss. 

Yes, 100,000 mile warranty with unlimited years. It actually seemed like a "bargain" at $4340. That's like one repair and I'm sure it'll be used plenty, unfortunately. 

As much as I tried to get her into either an Aviator or SQ7, a little thing in the back of my head said it's okay because when those broke, it would be my fault, hahaha. Now when this breaks, I'll give her the ole "I told ya so". 

1 hour ago, trinacriabob said:

Happy Tax Day

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whew

Welp, we finally got rid of my wife's G55 AMG. I've talked about it here a few times but there was something inherently wrong with it. It had left her stranded at least 5 times and us once. Luckily everything was covered under an extended warranty, so it was minimal out of picket and the loaners were covered or just given to us via a couple different Merc dealerships. Anyway, after getting stranded once since we've had our lil baby, my wife finally had enough of it. I tried convincing her a year or two ago when the market was nuts to bail on it and just make a bunch off of it. That didn't happen, hahaha.

When we got her G55 back about a month ago, we were looking for a replacement. She's been spoiled and had to have something of a luxury brand. She never said this but anything she'd look at had a luxury brand...of course.. She was stuck on the shape of the SUV and she hates how everything modern is bubbly or rounded. There's nothing "old school boxy" that's mainstream, really. I had her look at X5, GLE, Aviators, Q7 anything in that range. I ALMOST had her into an SQ7. We test drove one but there just weren't anything around us in the price and miles we were looking for. She didn't like the exterior of an X5, GLE, or GV80. @David She's a part of the "electric vehicles just aren't there yet" crew. 

Well, after a lot of looking and she was getting more and more anxious about the lack of faith in her vehicle, we came across a 2020 Range Rover Sport SVR that she fell in love with and it was fairly local. Typically, we have no issue driving up to 5hrs one way for a vehicle we find for the right price. She had zero faith in doing that with her G55 at this point. So the range and available vehicles decreased by soooo much. Normally we'd have Chicago, Indianapolis, Memphis, Kansas City, Louisville as potential places to buy from. 

2020 13,550 miles. SVR = 575hp, s/c 5.0 V8. All of the auto lane keep stuff, auto braking stuff, head-up display, heated cooled front AND rear seats, 4 zone climate control, massive sunroof (that we don't care about), active exhaust (that we LOVE - exhaust note was actually high on her priority list - her list was...confusing, to say the least). Apple CarPlay, all sorts of off-road goodies that we will never use, hahaha, air suspension, 

I was waaaaay off of another all-black vehicles but, again, that was on her list. I hate the black maintenance and just how quickly it looks dirty/bad.

I'm pretty sure I was all over the place with my little story but feel free to ask about any detail I probably skipped over, forgot, or jumped around and made confusing. 

The successor to my first "real" favorite car, F430. The first car I really remember being my favorite was a 360, not a spider/convertible though. We saw this on our way home from a dealership. I'll post about that elsewhere. 

I caught this at the front of a stoplight to our right, but the light changed as soon as I saw it and I couldn't get my phone out quick enough. I was a little disappointed I couldn't get the front pictured, but it was in motion almost as soon as I saw it. 

Sorry if the 2nd pic is still rotated. I changed it on my computer, but it still seems to rotate when uploading it. 

On 4/10/2024 at 10:19 PM, David said:

It is weird when your used to having defined headlights, but it seems to be the trend to give options for styling with day time running lights and move the headlights into the bumper area with the auto highbeam off feature. 

The location has nothing to do with auto high beam feature. My 2016 MKC has auto high beams and it doesn't have stupid-@ss headlights in the bumper. 

19 hours ago, David said:

Leasing is best with guaranteed trade in in 2 or 3 years for updated tech.

Yeah, I don't plan on keeping a vehicle for only 2-3 years. You kind of lose the fuel savings over ICE if you're continuing to spend more and more on a new vehicle. 

5 minutes ago, David said:

I have to say that Mercedes has FAILED in giving the EQS a better look, changing from dots on the 2024 front end to lines does not change the ugly nature of this dated tech EV. Nor does the going from a flat emblem to a traditional stand up version make any difference.

EV Price Shock: Mercedes EQS Loses Almost Half Its Value In A Year | Carscoops

2025 model is top, 2024 model is bottom.

Just for the record, those are not dots in the grille. Those are the "tristar" Mercedes logo of different sizes. 

it still looks like @ss. I do believe Mercedes has come out and said they'll eventually make the EQS a more conventional 3 box sedan, but I think that's when the ICE S-Class goes away. 

5 minutes ago, David said:

EV Price Shock: Mercedes EQS Loses Almost Half Its Value In A Year | Carscoops

Jeez, 50% of the most depreciated list are EVs. Doesn't seem like a great time to buy into those yet. 

1 hour ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Although I like Kia products I find myself really not wanting to own one. Not sure why. 

I agree. There's just something in me still that would make it really difficult to buy any Hyundai/Kia. I would rock a Genesis though. 

1 hour ago, David said:

Interesting that the EQS looses 50% of its value in the first year.
EV Price Shock: Mercedes EQS Loses Almost Half Its Value In A Year | Carscoops

We were recently at a Porsche dealership looking at a used Range Rover Sport SVR they had. I asked the salesman a few questions about the Taycan. He said they lose a ton of value right up front but when people do trade them in and they're listed at 70-90k used, they sell within a week. He said they're a tough sell brand new at 120-150k (or whatever they're listed at) but used they sell super quick. So, what it seems like, that's quite obvious here, they're just priced too high brand new. Porsche (and all OEM's, really) needs to find a way to knock 20k off the starting price and a lot more will sell. 

On 4/6/2024 at 5:45 PM, David said:

Have you seen with the discounts you can get the Niro EV for $260 a month on Lease with the IRA rebate. Seems if you buy your looking at Mid-$30K price.

Oh wow. A Niro?!?! What a great vehicle for mid-$30k. 

I don't know if it gets the full 7500 fed rebate, but the Mach-e starts at 40k. 

A Mach-e Premium starts at 43k -7500 = 35,500. 

Ionic 5 & 6 are in a similar boat. I'd assume the Kia versions are also the same or similar. 

There are good EVs out there for not a crazy amount of money but they're all on the smaller side. With the fed rebate, these fall in line with the likes of a Blazer that starts at 35,4k. 

23 minutes ago, David said:

Very cool to see, happy GM is not the rental fleet bitch anymore.

I've never understood why fanboys care about fleet sales versus retail sales. Also, a decrease in 1.5% isn't like they've left the fleet sale market. 

On 3/27/2024 at 11:16 AM, David said:

Considering a planet with 8 Billion and he sold almost 2 million cars, then he is covering .025% of the population compared to other auto companies. I think 2024 going into 2025 we will see other auto companies top Tesla.

Sorry to be mean but, that's such a stupid comparison. Cadillac sales covered all of 0.00184% of the population. That's such a useless statistic and there's no reason a global population comparison makes sales numbers helpful. 

How many electric vehicles did any other company sell next to Tesla?

On 3/29/2024 at 9:59 AM, David said:

You can see some Camaro in those headlights DNA. Would be a Nice Impala replacement or Malibu replacement as a 4-door sedan with haunches. 

That's because somebody typed "Camaro sedan" into an AI image generator. 🤣

10 hours ago, David said:

Yes I hate Elon, but I would not say he is selling a $h! ton of Model 3's and Y's when compared to other auto companies.

Charted: Tesla's Global Sales By Model and Year (2016–2023) (visualcapitalist.com)

From Q2 2016 to Q3 2023 official numbers globally

Model S - 254,283

Model X - 269,136

Model 3 - 2,165,187

Model Y - 2,162,119

302,000 model Y for Q3 2023

117,074 model 3 for Q3 2023

Compared to other auto companies it is not much, yes for pure EV it is allot, but then BYD has surpassed them in Q4 of 2023.

Top All-Electric Car OEMs By Sales In Q4 And 2023: Tesla Vs. BYD (insideevs.com)

Q4 2023 Tesla - 484,507 EVs globally

Q4 2023 BYD - 526,409 EVs globally

2023 (Full Year) International: Worldwide Car Sales - Car Sales Statistics (best-selling-cars.com)

Would not say Tesla sold a $h! ton of autos when they have been surpassed by the Chinese and the Koreans are creeping up on Tesla. 2024 is going to be a very interesting year for auto sales, especially EVs.

The 3 OR Y outsell all of Cadillac. Selling nearly 2 million a year is pretty much a sht ton when you can't get in one for under 50k. If your ONLY comparison to attempt to bring Tesla down is a cheap Chinese company, it's safe to say Tesla's are selling very well, better than any other electric vehicle. 

Also, just because BYD surpassed them in one quarter, doesn't mean Teslas aren't selling well. 

Again, just because you don't like Elon, doesn't mean people don't love his products. 

15 hours ago, riviera74 said:

I find it interesting that the CT6 is no longer sold here in NA.  The CT4 and the CT5 are still sold here, but Cadillac is (from a sales perspective) mostly a crossover/SUV shop.

Yeah, but they're not the only ones who are almost exclusively an SUV manufacturer. Lincoln has gone ONLY SUV. Most companies sell so many more SUVs than cars that that's where their investments lie. Most people don't want cars anymore. 

32 minutes ago, David said:

So true and why I feel Tesla has peaked in regard to big growth, they will have continued much slower growth, but the Minimalist interior is the death of any auto and especially Tesla as long as they continue to think people will look at menu's, sub-menus, etc.

I know you hate Elon and therefore hate his vehicles, but they sell a sht ton of Model 3's and Y's. Apparently, a lot of people are perfectly fine with the minimalist interiors of them. The 3 has been on sale since 2017 and the minimalist interior has not slowed them down one bit. 

29 minutes ago, David said:

I saw every CT6 built and imported here from China sold fast. I think the cost of building and exporting was not what GM wanted for profit level and did the stupid thing of walking away as reviews are all positive on the car. Sales have always been positive, I think GM due to the idiot leadership that moved Cadillac to New York and tried to make it a clone of the Germans was the wrong leader for Cadillac.

There is zero proof you have that every one "sold fast". 

Half the engine options were extremely underwhelming compared to anything this competes with.  a 2.0T and an n/a V6? C'mon Cadillac! 

56 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

I think that was the problem. It *wasn't* a very popular car. If it were, they would have produced more and sold more. 

Sorry, wasn't*