You'll receive a variety of responses, that I know. Most of the PL varieties I've grown have had stronger foliage cover, which is an advantage, and that's most, but not all. My experience is that PL varieties are better able to withstand the four most common foliage diseases of Early Blight ( A. solani), Septoria Leaf Spot, both fungal, and Bacterial Speck and Bacterial Spot. I've suggested that it's possibly b'c the leaf cuticle might be thicker than that of RL leaves which would make attachement of the pathogens to the leaf surface more difficult. I have no proof for that at all, but my observation has been that when it gets near Fall I see my RL varieties going down with the foliage disease of the season but the PL ones keep going. All of them? No, but many of them. And there will be some folks who will say that they see no difference at all as to foliage disease susceptibility, but then again, it depends on any particular season since the foliage pathogens are spread by wind and rain, and some years can be foliage pathogen free as compared to other years, even with the same variety. Taste? There are some great tasting PL's and some great tasting RL,s so I don't see that as a reason to grow mainly PL's, and indeed they are far fewer than RL's in number. What has bothered me I'll admit, is so many varieties that are known to have PL variants of an original RL variety. Let's say we have the variety Stop Snowing, which is RL, and someone finds a PL variant of that one and then calls it Stop Snowing Potato Leaf or says Stop Snowing (PL). Does that mean that the PL variant is identical to the RL original? Possibly. But there's more than one genetic mechanism that can lead to a change in leaf form and some of those DNA mechanisms can lead to changes in more than one gene, possibly several genes. The PL gene is C, which is dominant to c, its allele CC = RL, homozygous dominant Cc = RL, heterozygous cc = PL, homozygous recessive. If a variety is Cc then a single spontaneous mutation can lead to cc and all is the same except for leaf form. But there's no infomation that says variety X is Cc or CC. Some have compared the following varieties: Cherokee Purple RL Cherokee purple Potato Leaf ( found by Jere Gettle) Spudakee, also Cherokee Purple PL ( found by Bill Malin) When grown in the same season there are differening reports as to whether the Gettle and Malin ones are the same as to taste and performance and whether each of them individually are different from CP itself. There are several other examples I could use. my point? Don't necessarily assume that a PL variant of an RL original is the same until you've grown both in the same season with your conditions so that you can compare them directly and see what you think. Carolyn, an no, PL varieties are not more prone to crossing as was stated in the old literature. I and quite a few others have grown a few thousand varieties each and our collective experience is that PL's don't cross more frequently than RL's

I sure hope you are referring to American bittersweet and not the invasive alien species!! "The powerfully invasive oriental bittersweet vines kill other vegetation, engulfing and killing it. The germination of a bittersweet seed in the ground at the base of a tree seems harmless enough. Yet, it won't take long for the oriental bittersweet vine to make it to the tree's crown, a la Jack's beanstalk made famous in folklore. It can be difficult to imagine a vine killing a tree, but oriental bittersweet vines have slain many a giant. Capable of reaching 4 inches in diameter, oriental bittersweet vines wrap so tightly around their victims that the trees are strangled, in a process called girdling by arborists. Even when oriental bittersweet vines aren't strangling a plant, they envelop it in so much shadow that they rob the plant of the sunlight required for proper photosynthesis. Conservation New England reports that, in the case of smaller trees, uprooting can even occur, as the trees' root systems are unable to contend with the massive weight of entrenched vines. " "Asiatic bittersweet is distinguished from American bittersweet by the fact that its fruit and flowers are located in clusters of three to seven in the axil of the leaves (between the leaf and the stem). American bittersweet's fruit and flowers are located at the branch tips only. It is very important for land managers, naturalists, and gardeners to distinguish between the native species and the invasive species in any control efforts." Here is a link that might be useful: American vs. oriental bittersweet

Exactly. We aren't talking about some man randomly body slamming a girl on the street. These girls are trained athletes following a passion for a sport. They are fully aware of where they may be touched and obviously they don't have a problem with it. If you're in a contact sport, you touch and you get touched. That's how it is. If you don't want to be touched, or if you don't feel comfortable touching someone else, then you shouldn't be in contact sports. And that's the choice people make. It's voluntary. No one is making these kids wrestle. And to deny a female the chance to participate because of her gender is just wrong and, frankly, rather insulting to her. If someone had refused to wrestle someone else due to race or religion everyone would be up in arms, but so many people are defending this guy's choice not to wrestle a girl. I don't understand that at all. Discrimination is discrimination. You shouldn't be able to pick your opponents based on your "comfort level" of touching them.

It's such a pity that so many women out there have to deal with crazy, unstable MILs. It makes me wonderDid they forget what it's like to become a married woman themselves and want to be accepted and respected by their own MILS? I just donÂt get it. How do they turn into these overbearing monsters? Let me begin by saying thank you to everyone who has posted a story here. They were very interesting to read and I am sorry to all of you who have had to deal with crazy MILs. I am however so empowered by you and think it is awesome that you have still, however difficult, not let it end your relationships and marriages. ItÂs the easiest thing to do  just throw your hands up and walk out  and sometimes you just want to do it so badly. However, it really proves a point when you decide that youÂre not going to let someone elseÂs ridiculousness ruin what you have with your partner. You really have to stand up for yourself and your own life. It would be a relief to walk out but it would be a definite pity to let people like that win! My own story is certainly not as serious as some of the ones that have been posted here, nor am I a married woman like many of you here are. However, I have had an experience with the mother of my boyfriend, with whom IÂve been together for almost two years now. WhatÂs sad is that yes, weÂre not even married yet, and sheÂs already gone and done it. Some women have been married for years and have never had to deal with anything too crazy from their MILs, and other get it before marriage is even in the picture. Oh splendid!! ;-) Anyhow, to get to the point, what happened is that I was arguing over the phone with my boyfriend this past summer and she overheard us arguing. She and I always got along fine  almost too well, really  but she definitely did butt into our business sometimes when she didnÂt really have a place. It was never anything really serious though. This time, however, her over-involvement really went too far. I was directly asking him why he hadnÂt worked in the past ten months. He was in school from January to May, so okay fine, but then clearly in the summer he had no excuse. I asked this because I was curious if there was something he wasnÂt telling me (thatÂs part of a longer story) and I just wanted to make sure I wasnÂt being fooled or something. I also asked this because his money or lack thereof would sometimes directly affect our relationship; we werenÂt always able to do everything we (and I) would have liked to because he didnÂt always have the dough! And at this point our relationship had turned long distance (I moved back home from college)! (So, it is partly my business, at least I definitely think it is!) So, his mother overheard what I was saying through her son openly reiterating it in the house and got all defensive because his reaction over the phone made it sound like I was being abrasive and putting him down (when he is, without a doubt, trying to better himself and was back in school finishing his degree). She wrote the following on a piece of paper and flagged at him, to say to me: "Tell her she hasnÂt lost ten lbs in the past ten months and that makes her hard to defend!" Long story short, I ended up finding out that she wrote this, with the intention of him to saying it to his own girlfriend. I was so shocked and hurt (and then just outright pissed!). I cried well into the next day about it. Never has anyone been so outrightly mean to me sinceÂI donÂt know...elementary school! I couldnÂt believe she would talk about me like that, and better yet, try to get him to talk to me like that (he is nothing like that at all  very sweet and loving and accepting of me the way I am  the good and the bad). It was also shocking because, like I previously mentioned, we always got along very well and if anything I had only heard her say nice things about me, especially about my physical appearance  that IÂm cute, how nice I looked in a dress, things like that. I always knew she had a bad temper and when angry let things fly out of her mouth, but I never knew she could be that bad and loose ALL sense. ItÂs one thing when you let things fly out of your mouth to your family  families can usually make amends and move on  but to your sonÂs girlfriend? Please. Even some of the stupidest people on earth know you donÂt say things like that to people, and this woman, believe it or not, is very far from stupid and scummy. SheÂs got three degrees (one of them a J.D.) and is a reverendÂs wife!!! You would never think you could hate this woman, but then watch her snapÂand you wonÂt believe how she acts. I guess thatÂs how it goes with her, sadly. It is now over five months later and I have still not received any kind of apology from her. My boyfriend has said that he has talked to her about the situation multiple times and she does intend to apologize but when the "time is right." (Supposedly she said that she does not think IÂm fat or anything like that and just said that because she knows itÂs something IÂm insecure about.) I just think that sheÂs a coward and doesnÂt know how to be an adult and do what should have been done months ago. ItÂs been so long now and I feel like sheÂs lost her chance. At this point, what is an apology even worth? I donÂt feel that it would be genuine. If she really cared, if she really regretted what she said and the damage she did, she would have cleared things up a loooong time ago. I truly believe that. I know that everyone else does not think the way I do, but I do know that if I were her I would want to make things right again asap, as embarrassing as it may be. No one likes to apologize but it is the right thing to do and I know that I couldnÂt feel right about myself again until I made those amends. She is 46 and I am 22. ShouldnÂt she know this far better than me?! The facts of the matter are: she had no place in that conversation to begin with (it was between my boyfriend and myself  she had nothing to do with anything we were talking about) and on top of that she took a low blow at me (better yet tried to advise her own SON to take the low blow at me) thinking that bringing up my weight and attacking me with that is fighting on an even playing field. Okay, IÂm not Einstein (and I donÂt have a J.D.), but since when is attacking someoneÂs physical appearance equal to asking a person why they havenÂt worked? Hm. Still trying to figure that one out! I also know that what she said wasnÂt the most AWFUL thing in the world and could have certainly be a lot worse. However, it was still intentionally mean, cheap, classless, not to mention absolutely unnecessary! I do not think that I should just let this blow over. You canÂt treat people like that just because you feel they are "attacking" someone you love and that you need to provide defense! I donÂt even know how I would react if she did try to apologize this late on, but I do know that as long as nothing at all is done IÂm definitely not going to back down. I'm definitely not going to disrespect myself after she did as well. The incentive to write this story actually came from another situation that just happened earlier this evening. My boyfriend was fighting with his parents and she, angry and impulsive, called me. (I didnÂt pick up at the time.) I found out afterwards from my bf that she was calling me so that I could hear the way he was yelling at them and then I donÂt know, maybe think twice about staying with him? Well first of all, I already know that side of him (it has been two years!) and know that when people get pissed they yell! I do it to him too! If we were hitting each other and verbally abusing each other, thatÂd be another story. Furthermore, why in the hell does she think itÂs okay to call me ESPECIALLY knowing our circumstances? If you canÂt use my number for good, then donÂt use it at all! I certainly donÂt need her calling me to start drama and try to what  have me leave him?? And even IF we were on good terms, who the hell does that?!! What place did I even have in that situation and why did she try to use it to cause problems between him and I too??? I donÂt want to think that she wants me to leave him so that she can be rid of me, because I donÂt think thatÂs true. But seriously, the woman needs to get a hold of herself and start being her actual age (46), not the sum of her age. Okay so I know that was a novel but itÂs something that I havenÂt written about since it happened, and I guess I just had a lot built up. Bless you and thank you a million if you have made it to the end! If I can get any kind of feedback or thoughts from anybody about any aspect of what I wrote, I would greatly appreciate it! This is not something that I let bother me too much, but it is something that I wish did not have to be so. Thank You! Nicole