Hi grny28, I am going to refer to The Ortho Problem Solver, seventh edition on this, because I am no expert on Petunias (zinnias are my "thing"). The book's coverage on Petunia problems starts on page 262 and continues onto page 264. It has articles on Gray Mold (everywhere in the US), Smog Damage (limited to relatively small coastal areas), Caterpillars, Cutworm Damage, and the last article on Crown and Root Rot (everywhere in the US) seems the most likely culprit. Crown and Root Rot is caused by Phytophthora (I don't think you can say that without spitting a little), a fungus that lives in the soil. It initially attacks the roots or stem at or just below the soil level. The dark dry decay of the lower stem tissue and roots reduces the flow of water to the leaves and flowers, causing the petunia to wilt and die. Crown and Root Rot is common in heavy poorly drained wet soils. The fungus (Phytophthora) is spread by contaminated soil, transplants, and tools. The solution is to remove and destroy infected plants and all the soil within 6 inches of their roots. How do you destroy soil? Well, I guess you could throw it into an incinerator, but I would just put it a plastic bag and send it to the landfill with the rest of the garbage. To prevent a recurrence of Crown and Root Rot, you should improve your soil drainage and drench it with a fungicide containing Captan. That's what the Ortho book says. Repeat the drench monthly during the growing season and let the soil dry out between waterings. I try to avoid problems of this sort with my zinnias by adding a lot of sand to my garden soil to create a sandy loam, and I add Perlite to my indoor growing medium to increase its drainage. "They were planted in larger containers along with other plants that are fine, What are the chances of a disease from so many different nurseries?" Many plants aren't susceptible to Phytophthora, and the problem is in your soil or growing medium, and not at the different nurseries. ZM (not associated with any product or vendor mentioned or linked)

Thanks Resin, I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed. While I'm here, could I get an option or 2? Knowing that this is a Water Oak and nearing the end of its life cycle, what precautions should I take? I have it professionally trimmed every other year. Crown cleaned & dead limbs removed. I would do it every year but it's very expensive, $800 and up because of the tight space. I have it fertilized with the deep injection thing every few years, try to keep the caterpillars at bay as best we can. I'm really more afraid of it falling on a neighbor's house than anything else, one in particular complains about it constantly although I keep it trimmed about 10 feet above what the city requires. I'm guessing it's about 60 years old, have read that it lives 60 to 80 years. The arborist I use is the best respected in the city and he says just watch it and see. He says for liability reasons he can't guarantee the health of it. (SO why is he an arborist if he can't tell me that?) Anyway, thanks for any advice.

I've really been enjoying everyone's stories in this thread. You can see a lot of love here! Clementine, if you tell your mom to butt out, no matter how politely you say it, it will hurt her deeply. She advises you because she loves you and wants to give to you, and she needs to feel needed. I had sort of the same problem with my mother. So I sat down and thought about how she would love to feel that she had done something nice for me. Then I did a little mental inventory of her skills, and she had no shortage of those. I wanted to sew new living room drapes, pleated. This was an area where I really would love her help. So when she was over, I took her to the fabric store with me and we picked out something pretty. Then she helped me measure and cut, I sewed, and together we hung them. It turned out to be a really nice mother-daughter time for us both. I got help with something I needed help with, and she got to feel needed and appreciated, which she was. I learned to think of things to ask her opinions and help with, and she learned to relax. Everybody won. If you think about it, maybe can you find a way to put your mom to work helping you sew, or can, or something?

tlbean, my MGs always come up in 2-3 days as well. I also start them indoors, I've found they slow down a little bit once they get 3-4 true leaves, I figure they're working on their root system perhaps? Congrats on all of your MG seedlings! If you grow anything else don't be discouraged when they don't sprout instantly like MGs! I always get spoiled with them and get impatient when other seeds take several weeks to germinate!