Schoolhouse, why would you skim off the sod? It's the best dirt on the lot! Just dig it in and let it decay. The old English gardeners used to pile sod up and let it decay for six months, then use it for premium potting soil. If spacewaya skims the sod off, he/she has nothing left but silly putty! Aulani, the gypsum treatment only works well on soils that are saline (salty). It's questionable everywhere else. Especially since we don't know where spacewaya lives, or what the soil conditions are. Spacewaya, why don't you Google "gypsum clay"? There is a lot of information out there. If your soil is already rich in Calcium, you could really screw it up with gypsum. Spacewaya, about your plant problems: you're not telling us anything about your garden. What is your soil mix? How much sun and water are your plants getting? Have you adjusted your pH? Is it really hot or cold where you live? We've got a complete information vacuum! By the looks of things, I would guess that your mix is heavy with bark, and you've got severe Nitrogen starvation, and probably need a good shot of dolomite lime. It might be too late to save this year's crop, but you can learn a lot by experimenting, and then apply what you've learned next year. I've been gardening since the dawn of time, and I have always used sand to lighten clay soil. I've done it successfully in New Jersey, Oregon, California, and Washington state. If you want to learn about it, Google "soil triangle". The only time sand doesn't work is if you have a very unusual kind of clay, of if your soil is nearly pure clay, the kind that you can't dent with a pickax. If you want to try it, buy a 2-cubic-foot bag of coarse sand, spread it over a 2 foot by 2 foot area, and mix it in really well, like with a tiller. If you like the result, you're ready to tackle the whole garden area. I usually cover the entire area with at least 1 inch of sand, and then till. It takes some experimenting to find the right amount. That's why I recommend trying the small area first. Don't be discouraged by all the stories about turning your soil into concrete. Just try it in a small area. You'll find out for yourself if it's going to work. People have been using sand to amend clay for thousands of years, and all of a sudden it's bad. Landscapers use it, artificial soil mixes have it, sandy loam is full of sand, and it's the best gardening soil on Earth, but sand is evil, right? Give me a break.

Another way to disinfect your pruners after working with a gall-infected rose is to dip or wipe the cutting surfaces with a 1:4 chlorine bleach solution (i.e. 1 part chlorine bleach to 4 parts water). Whatever treatment you choose (frankly, while I don't know this to be true I wouldn't be surprised to learn that dousing the cutting surfaces with rubbing alcohol also will work if you do it the right way), after you've pruned away the stems you know to be infected with crown gall you definitely should treat the pruners before they are used to prune any other plant (or any other plant in the rose family at the least). Crown gall is usually caused by a bacterium (once known as Agrobacterium tumefasciens). You don't want to spread those bacteria from one rose to another via your pruning shears.

WOW--like I say I wasn't even thinking of HVX when I noticed this strange division on my MA. I had one hvx plant 4 years ago, so I thot I knew what it looked like plus that time the HVX enveloped the whole plant and not just one division. This case just affects one division plus it is very striking looking. Now I know why that one H grower saved his Leopard Frog H or whatever he called it. I truly appreciate everyone's input--all your replies are valuable and enlightening, and now I am in the "pondering stage". My first call was to order the "kit" so I will test for the disease before I make any other moves with it. I asked the phone person about just part of a plant being infected, and she said they are growing some H in the lab in which some divisions are infected and some are non-infected to see what eventually happens to a whole plant. I will keep you informed of my next decision. I keep asking myself how I could ever grow H anymore without all the help I get from this forum. :0) Mary PS this is the back of a leaf.

I wouldn't worry about those cotyledon leaves (first leaves to emerge), because they'll fall off anyway. The purplish tint to the undersides of the true leaves is most likely from growing under cool conditions. It will go away also. The leaf roll is something to monitor closely though, because a disease may be present. Are they being hardened off slowly? EG Here is a link that might be useful: EG's new garden blog