Thanks for the link to the cucurbit disease page, anney! I searched through it and the closest match seems to be molybdenum deficiency! The reason why I don't think there is any kind of mildew problem is because there is no substance per se on any part of the plant and because the colours don't match with any mildew. Also, the symptoms systematically start with the edges of the leaves. Mildew doesn't really work like that. To me, this looks like some kind of virus or something feeding on the plant. I have no idea why this plant would have a deficiency while the other clearly doesn't. They are in the same soil and they get the same care. Same thing with bugs eating them: they are so close that if a parasite were feeding on it, the other plant would have the same problem as well. I did find a small cluster of tiny black eggs on a squash flower this morning, but they look like those of the tiny black fruitfly-like insects that live in tomato plants most of the time (there are toms nearby). By the way, it isn't a square foot garden, just a raised bed that had to be reorganized slightly once I discovered that one of my tomatoes is going to turn into a Christmas tree. Some plants were shaded by it so I moved them. But the squash were never bothered by this (I would not dare transplanting those) and they still live in their original conditions. One thing I noticed, though, is that there are yellow ladybugs visiting this plant. I only ever find one and only once in a while, but whenever I find one, it is on one of the squashes--I crush them. Please, don't tell me I have been crushing a beneficial! Now, I have a big question. If I were to cut off two stems with leaves, would that hurt my plant in its current state? We don't have what people call extension services here, but I do have a botanical garden 15 minutes from here by bus that offers the same services. I could have a professional take a look at plant samples. So, if I were to take samples, would the benefits (getting a diagnosis and hopefully treatment) outweigh the risks (making my plant even more sick and possibly spreading whatever afflicts it to other plants)? Thanks so much for your help!

We had a big (well, for us anyway) snow and ice storm here. A few leaves on my heuchera look a bit shriveled, but otherwise most of them look pretty good. The lime green ones, like 'Electra' and 'Lime Ruffles' seem to be the worst, followed by a few of the orangey ones like 'Sweet Tea' and 'Doce Peach Melba'. The dark-leaved ones, like 'Blackout' and 'Midnight Rufhles' look like they weren't even touched. None of them look like they did in the Spring-Fall months, but overall I'm impressed with how well these plants hold up in the winter. Most of mine still have quite a bit of color. They're nice bright spots on an otherwise dreary and soggy-looking tableau.

Michelle, It is 3:35 p.m. and I am watching The Weather Channel and it sounds like Arkansas is really getting it already and conditions are supposed to worsen, so I guess the Fort Smith forecasters may "ignore" ya'll even more if you're not having the ice too. Yes, we can hope we're wrong, but "in my bones" I feel like it is going to be a bad one. I can tell by the number of birds coming to feed, and we have huge numbers today. I just refilled the feeders and put out deer corn an hour ago, and the birds are having a big old pre-storm feeding frenzy right now. Randy and I both use the Weather Underground a lot and I love their forecasts. If you've never used it, you can access it via www.wunderground.com. Randy, I agree about the internet accuracy, but I have to say that our local TV forecast (Channel 12, KXII, the local CBS affiliate) has improved a lot since Steve LaNore became their chief meterologist. Still, I take it with a grain of salt and merge together their forecast, various online sources, the NWS and my own "intuition" to arrive at my own idea about what I think "will" or "might" happen. I bet the Eskies had fun. If it snows, and they get to go out and play in it, I hope you'll take a photo of them to share with us. Ada, Uh-oh. That's not good news. Y'all be careful. I think the perennials will be OK as long as their roots weren't bone dry. If they were bone-dry, you might have some root death. After all my bragging about what a fine job our local electric co-op does keeping the power up, I saw we're now forecast to get about 1/2 inch of ice here. Well, if that happens, the trees won't even have to bring down the poles and power lines, because the ice on the power lines will bring everything down all by itself. Oh, I dread the power being out. Our house is all-electric, so if we lose power, we're gonna be cold. Moni, I'm glad you're hubby is going to be able to make it home safely before the icing gets worse and the roads are even more dangerous. We went out and did all our errands early. Now we're just waiting for the fire pagers to go off, because as soon as the temps hit 32, the accidents start popping up on the Interstate like dandelions pop up in our pastures in spring. I don't really understand the sudden ice storm trend the last 5 or 6 years. Our first few years here, we had some gorgeous snowstorms and that was so much fun for someone like me who grew up in snow-deprived Fort Worth. These last few years, though, it is all ice and no snow. I'd rather have snow. Well, if I had a choice, I'd rather have 6" of rain and nothing frozen, but that's not gonna happen! Dawn

There are many threads here about Late Blight, clean up, etc., that can be found by doing a search at the bottom of this first page but I thought that perhaps the most useful information for you would come from reading through the LB Cornell FAQ's which should answer all of your questions. If it doesn't, please just ask here in your thread. Carolyn Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell Late Blight FAQ's