To a certain extent, you'd be more likely to find out from them than from us. What options did they consider and rule out?

Hi Gracin: I remember what Kim Rupert (breeder and rosarian) commented on your putting 1/2 cow manure and 1/2 soil together. He thought that's too much manure. Your first picture of brownish leaves remind me of the time I mixed too much horse manure in the planting hole of Radio Times ... brown spots all over! It's from excess salt and high pH of the manure. So I spent hours replacing the soil with bags of Scott's Premium topsoil. Your picture of the shoot that died (plus some mildew) reminds me of what I read on calcium deficiency: "Deficiency causes shoot tip necrosis". Per the You-tube experiment on soluble fertilizers, the best root growth was with high potassium plus calcium nitrate. Check out what Wikipedia wrote about calcium deficiency: "Calcium deficiency may be due to water shortages, which slow the transportation of calcium to the plant, poor uptake of calcium through the stem,[2] or can be caused by excessive usage of potassium or nitrogen fertilizers." In your case, it looks like the calcium deficiency and mildew is caused by excess salt, and the roots' inability to absorb water for growth. Both calcium and potassium regulate osmotic pressure of the cell membrane, and when that fails, you'll get mildew & shoot tip necrosis. Gypsum (hydrated calcium sulfate) is used to de-salt saline soil, and potassium is essential for fighting disease and the overall health of the plant. Thanks, Rosefolly, for bringing up about potassium bicarbonate works better than baking soda. Another HMF member in Colorado mentioned that "Green Cure" (potassium bicarbonate) worked well for mildew in his dry climate. Both potassium and high surface pH is effective in preventing fungal germination. I learned my lesson and MULCH with horse manure, rather than mix into the hole. Cow manure has higher nitrogen, and higher salt than horse manure. Chicken manure is highest in nitrogen, and highest in salt. That's why I got mildew on Mary Magdalene when I dumped acid fertilizer with chicken manure plus chemical nitrogen NPK 10-5-4. Below is the link to nutritional deficiencies, and the role of calcium and potassium. Also a picture of my roses mulched with horse manure. Whatever in the horse manure, potassium, magnesium, iron, or traced elements deepened the blooms' color. W.S. 2000 (the red one) was a gaudy fuchsia color in cold spring, then the color deepened to red when I mulched with horse manure. SteveinAustralia in HMF informed me that he uses Sulfate of Potash (high potassium) to deepen the color of his blooms. Here is a link that might be useful: Book on osmotic pressure in plants This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Mon, Apr 8, 13 at 9:21

I have the same problem I think but have not been diagnosed. My skin is very red, oily, itchy and I break out in hives a lot. The ONLY thing that has helped me is staying away from products with chemicals. That's pretty funny what that girl's dermatologist said about s**t being natural but think about it...people want to sell products and the FDA doesn't regulate what goes into them. The more toxins and chemicals you put on your skin the worse you will get. Sorry, but not even Mary Kay or Neutrogena are chemical free! Drink LOTS of pure water, stay out of the sun (but don't use sunblock unless you are going to be out for hours, and then use a natural one), and use natural skin care products. I know they are more expensive but it's a good investment. I gave up some other things I knew I didn't need so I could buy better food and healthcare products. I absolutely LOVE Dr. Hauschka products. They are wonderful and work like a charm. They have great rosacea products. My favorite item is the Normalizing Day Oil. I couldn't believe the clerk told me to PUT oil on my face, but it actually made me less oily, red, and sensitive. They have great make-up too, and items for hypersensitive skin. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Dr. Hauschka's Roseaca line

OK, Remodelfla, soapstone is on the list to be considered! I think we'll allocate time next week to go up to San Francisco and check out M.Teixeira. We are very particular about the kind of sink we want for ergonomic reasons: offset drain, bottom no deeper than 27.5" off the floor, curved corners; and planned to have a stainless steel one made custom. I see they have carved soapstone as well, and for around the same price. I figure we use the kitchen sink so heavily, it makes sense to spend about as much on it as we do on a new PC (and that lasts for fewer years!). You are so right that we use our kitchen and kitchen appliances to death -- just last week we had 5 people trying to socialize in our non-open kitchen for 4 hours (think 4' by 7' central floorspace, with range across from sink, DW, and fridge packed side-by-side). Poor Mom even sat in the entry hall on her walker so she could converse through the doorway with those working in the kitchen! And then when one person went to the bathroom, she and her walker came in which meant that every change in cooking task meant a walker had to be moved out of the way. This remodel can't happen soon enough! cangelmd: interesting you mention burgandy with the River White. Our sectional/modular sofa pieces in the living room that will be open to the kitchen are burgandy leather. In this style: From this we have the center section (which we use as a corner rather than the more dramatic ones in the photo) plus one of the straight pieces. Each can be stand-alone (all sides are finished) or assembled next to any other. We currently do one long sofa and a love seat. It felt really comfortable (firm enough for our tastes), was easy to sweep under, easy to clean dog fur off of (our dog sheds a lot), and had a nice clean line that we both really loved. We initially only ordered 3 pieces but after we brought it home we loved them so much we ordered the other 2 pieces even though there was a chance the dye batch wouldn't match.