Considering the delicate nature of some plants, it confuses me why some people would rather experiment with household sprays rather than use what has proven to be safe. Perhaps "safe" is not the right word because it suggests something can be used ad infinitum for anything and everything. Some household materials can be used in a lot of cases. Baking soda...(bicarbonate of sodad) has been shown for use in many uses round the home....mostly with a view to cleaning. Baking soda can be used to kill pests, clean a car battery, as a general cleaner around the home and as general spray for use on plants where mildew is a problem. Baking soda, left on the surface of soil, can kill mold. There's dormant oil commonly used on outdoor trees,, shrubs and roses, but can be used effectively on houseplants. A simple test of a leaf with any such treatment, might assure the user that it is safe. Then there are the more intense household sprays..the Lysols, the bleaches, the soaps, the liquid designed to penetrate into soiled clothes prior to washing and let's not forget the material that makes the soaps work better, the 20Mule Team Borax and others of their ilk. Lysol and Listerine have definite purposes....but I have yet to see someone confirm that these materials can be used to clean or treat a leaf for whatever might affect them. I trust the user has tried the simple remedies first. Water, sprayed on by hand sprayer or hose-end, or wiped on a leaf and then wiped off and what, if any, results occurred. The water spray method has been shown to work in most initial stages of pest control. Identifying the pest of course is the key to treating for those things that attack our plants....the aphids, the whiteflies, the worms.....and so on. Spraying something for a "I think" approach can lead to bad things happening. Suggesting a problem is what is affecting a plant is not the prescribed method to cure. If a person is aware of the many causes of spots, of leaves browning, of proceeding to the drop-off stage, then they wouldn't reach for the heavy cleaner to fix the problem. Taking some of the results to heart...the browning of leaves we can come up with many causes but mostly simple reasons why it happens and we try to fix by avoidance. Overwatering, underwatering, too much sun, too little light, too much or too little fertilizer, a current of cold air from an open door or window...or a combo of any and all. We might assume that since the leaf falls off, then surely it is because it needs moisture. But the truth is any of the mentioned causes can be why they drop. Leaf spots can suggest a pest or something has attacked the leaf tissue. I would imagine putting Lysol on a leaf is not doing the leaf any good....since it does have properties of intenseness in cleaning, I can think such spray could eat at the membrane of a leaf and cause it to spot. Fungus is everywhere. Its in the air and flies around waiting for a host to land on. There are many forms of fungus...the common mushroom is one. Powdery mildew and mold are two such happenings. When we find them on materials in the home, then we don't hesitate to reach for the cleaners. But a plant leaf is not the same thing as a dank basement wall. If instead of thinking how to treat the plant, why not think of what might have brought the situation to that point. Why is the plant's leaves turning brown? What might be in or on the spot...is there a pest eating inside the leaf tissue. Why not take a needle and pierce the spot and see if anything pops up or out. How far the damage has progressed might suggest how to treat it....if it needs treating. Another reliable fix is water.....with soap added. Soap has been shown to kill a bug by suffocating it, depriving it of its ability to breathe. But soap itself can cause problems by depriving the leaf of oxygen if it clogs the pores. Therefore, a weak solution is prescribed. A 2 1/2% solution has been found to be effective on most plants' problems. 40 parts water, 1 part dishSOAP, sprayed on from top to bottom, bottom to top; left on for 10 or so minutes to do its job, then rinsed off ..with warmish water, bottom to top, top to bottom. Pest problems occur because the animal has a very short cycle of life and in most cases such cycle of egg, to larvae, to adult stage occurs in as little as a few days. Any such treatment should always be with the thought that it has to be repeated often enough to break the cycle. Such repeat treatments can be safely done 3 times within a 20 day period. That is....today, 7 days from, and again in 7 days. Then a vigil is kept to make sure the problem has not re-occurred. I realize some leaves might be too delicate for many of these suggestions but one might dampen a cloth or tissue, and holding the leaf on our palm, wipe with such as a way to clean or remove dust. A weak solution of baking soda or one with vegetable oil added, might be wiped on, wiped off.

Talking about the press, love it or hate it or accept it. There is a case in SF about a person elected as Sheriff of SF county. He and his wife are embroiled in a domestic violence dispute. He is accused of beating his wife on New Years eve. He denies it. There are pics and videos of the bruises on the wife's body. The local press is all over this story and I'm glad about that. I really want to know the whole story. The lawyers for both sides are going on TV and spinning their stories. The press is said to be the fourth estate, after the legislative, judicial, and executive brances. On a personal level, I'd hate to be a focus of the press, but on the other hand I want to know what's going on.

Seeing all these freeze damage pictures sends my mind back to our Hurricane Wilma aftermath. My trees, most of which were 8-15 years old at that time......80% blown over, some uprooted entirely. I have video of my yard and I can't even bear to look at it. I had to hat rack all the canopies and pull the tree into the best up-right postions that I could with the car, propping them up with the heavy branches that we cut as braces. Worked non-stop for the better part of three weeks (while we had no power) cutting and hauling what seemed like mountians of debris and cut branches to the roadway for pickup. I shudder to think about ever having to do it again. The good thing about tropical fruit trees, however, is that they are resilient. I think I had Post Traunmatic Stress disorder after that storm 5 years ago. Anyway, the good news is no one froze to death and trees can be replaced if necessary in the worst case. But it is still very saddening.

My vet; or rather Harry's vet, was treating a horse out on a farm last summer. It had a strange litany of sympt0ms; it bit and attacked Dr. S. It was rabid, and for about the third time in his career he had to have the complete rabies series again. Sam's vet, Dr. O., has never gone below the "safe" levels in his antigens. Apparently all vets are given a series of rabies shots during vet school and then are tested yearly. If their "antigen numbers" are above a certain level, they don't have to have booster shots unless they're exposed by a fresh, rabid animal bite. Dr. S said he has to get boosters nearly every year, while Dr. O has never fallen below the "safe" numbers. I was one of those weird kids that was always dragging home wayward animals...stray c@ts and dogs, rabbits, squirrels, turtles, frogs, ducks...anything I could get my hands on. Grandma was always warning me, but it didn't slow me down. I know I had angels watching over me: I was never exposed to anything worse than a flea or a tick (and they can be bad enough for some people.) She did, absolutely, draw the line at skunks. I was to never, ever try to touch one or pick it up, and after about age 8 the urge left me. Thankfully, I've gotten much more cautious in my old age. I've had to trap a couple stray/feral cats here, but I'm super careful when moving the traps and taking them to the shelter. I use a broom handle to pick up the trap; set the trap in a large cardboard box, and then set that in the cargo area of my car. When I get home I burn the box. I no longer run up to loose dogs, either.