Ken....PM starts out on the surface of the plant tissue but very soon into the infection will send structures (haustoria) into the cells. That's how PM can result in the death of tissues. It's not merely a disease of the surface. Highlander, I have not tried the baking soda or milk treatments so can't speak to their effectiveness from personal experience. I can share my very positive experiences with horticultural oils, including neem, applied to the foliage. The oils do two things: kills the spores on the surface upon contact AND prevents the successful spore germination in the first place. Avoid spraying anything directly on the flowers. Read and follow the directions on the labels. I assume that you know the importance of practicing good garden hygiene in terms of your maintenance practices regarding PM. The spores overwinter in plant debris, old mulch, and even on the soil. I opt to avoid disease prone ornamental varieties in favor of resistant cultivars. That's my choice for all kinds of problem prone plants. But the vegetable garden is different. That's where I have to resort to neem oil or frequent syringes of water. I don't have and can't recommend any particular commercial fungicide though I know that there are many which are labled for PM control. But without all of the cultural controls in place, no amount of chemicals will be of much good. Hopefully, Zenman the zinnia sensei of the forum, will see this and share his expertise.

This year my tomatoes have suffered from wilt. I don't know which wilt for sure -- it's the one with dark brown patches on the lower leaves surrounded by yellow, which eventually causes the leaves to die. **** Peter, you/ve asked about wilt then said that the leaves have dark brown spots. What you're describing is a foliage infection and wilting is not a symptom of those kinds of infections. Hybrids have no disease resistance/tolerance to foliage infections and nor do most OP varieties. Matt's Wild Cherry is what's called a cerasiforme and so I can see it might not come down with those kinds of infections. If plants with foliage infections have shed the bacteria and/or fungi to the soil in a preceding year then splashback infection can occur and mulching can help but not prevent reinfection. Sterilizing the stakes isn't going to help b/c if you've had infected plants in there before the soil already has those pathogens there. And new infections can occur by windborne or rainborne means and you can't do anything about that other than to do what most others do and that's to protect the plants from when you first set them out. Many folks use Ortho Garden Disease Control which is Daconil. Daconil is synthetic but can be applied up to the day of harvest and has a lower toxicity than does Rotenone, which is approved organic by every organic certifying agency that I know of. Daconil is an anti-fungal so you need to know that the foliage infection you have is fungal in nature. If you go to the Tomato Pest and Disease Forum ,link at the top of this first page, look for Problem Solver #2 and then for links to disease sites. The two most common fungal foliage pathogens are Early Blight ( A. solani) and Septoria Leaf Spot. If the foliage infection is bacterial in nature, usually either Bacterial Speck or Bacterial Spot, then you need to consider using a copper containing product such as Kocide or similar. You can also go to Google, select IMAGES and enter the disease to find pictures. Copper containing products have some activity against fungal pathogens but they aren't as effective as Daconil. But you really need to know if you're dealing with a bacterial or fungal foliage pathogen and sometimes both can be present at the same time. Windclimber has suggested using compost tea but from all the feedback I've seen over the last decade or so they aren't known to be very effective. The basis for their use is to compete with the foliage pathogens on the leaf surface, presumably blocking the specific attachment sites where the pathogens bind by competition. If applied to the soil they have no activity in blocking those leaf sites. What Daconil does is to bind to those specific sites and is effective in preventing the fungal folaige pathogens from attaching. Turning over the soil, not just rototilling it, where you grow your tomatoes also helps by burying the pathogens that are on the surface of the soil after bing shed. Hope that helps. Carolyn

What a beautiful place you have. I have a couple of suggestions. One; don't say small bedrooms, just say bedrooms. You have the sizes listed, people can judge for themselves. Really, only one of them seems small to me. Two; your pictures are in no order. You should regroup them. Start with the front of the house and the porch. Then show the inside rooms. Put all of the bedroom pictures together and all of the kitchen together. I didn't see a picture of the bathroom, can you put a picture of it? You don't need all the pictures you have. Next do the putside areas. Cut some of them, like the pictures of the dogs. Put all the barn and horse pictures together. Put all of the backyard/deck pictures togeather. Some of your pictures are too dark and many of them look cluttered. For example clear all the small stuff off your kitchen countertops before the picture is taken. You could get an estimate for converting the smallest bedroom into a bathroom. Even if you don't plan on doing it you could have it to show a buyer. I think a lot of people would perfer a 3 bedroom 2 bath house to a 4 bedroom 1 bath house. Good luck, I hope you get another buyer soon!

I am confused by chijim's comments because all of the pictures that are on the walls now are black and whites and are framed in black. I think that does tie them together. I am not focused on anything on any flat surface at the moment. That is a bunch of stuff from different rooms, or is cat food to be honest, because that is where the sick cats eat. At my DR table. I never actually eat there. :) I have just been working on the wall color, drapes, and wall picture layout. At least that is what my focus was meant to be with this thread, and trying to see if the rug I have will work with it all. I feel like it is coming together in my head. We shall see what the end result is. ;) No worries Punamytsike. I don't mind the comments. It helps to hear other opinions. I can't wait to see what you do with your new spaces which will be so different from your last house. I know it will be fabulous. I think it is interesting that Chijim mentions crown molding. I have to say I was really against it, but DH voted for it, and my parents brought it up yesterday too, so I guess that is a battle I am going to lose. I just think it will bother me to have painted molding when all the other trim in the house is stained. Of course my dad said I should just paint all the trim, but the stained trim has grown on me and I don't really want to do that. If I had my way I would probably do some kind of stained funky trim, but I am sure that would not get many votes either. I think I have convinced DH to do this room next, and he just finished tiling my bathroom, so hopefully we shall see some progress soon. I will keep posting updates in case anyone is interested. It helps me to type out my thoughts too. I know orange/blue is not everyone's cup of tea, and I guess I have a quirky style.