Thanks for the complements on the trellis! That was our first one that we made so it took us longer than it should! I had done sketches BUT that is where I learned that the size of the pipe's connections inpact the length of the pieces of pipe! I don't recall now how much $$ we invested in the trellis but I will try to find my sketches tomorrow and I should be able to figure out the number of lengths of pipes and connections. We laid the trellis out on an old cement patio... then we had to learn to soldier! Neither my grandson nor I knew anything about it. Got a welding instructor to teach us. It was AFTER making this trellis that we learned that we didn't have to clean the pipe!! THAT knowledge would have saved us a great deal of time! I would say that someone who knew a little about soldering with a plan could make this trellis in a couple of week ends at most. The most time consuming part would be measuring and cutting the pipe. Soldering goes fast! After my grandson finished soldering it, I sprayed it with a strong solution of fertilizer (I think) to get some instant patina. (I will double check on the fertilizer.) Will let you know when I get an estimate of the materials! Gayle PS I told my grandson he could make some to sell but once football season started....that was the end of his trellis interest. He and I have had some good times doing them. Think we did 2 tellis and 2 obliques.

Thanks so much for the info. After reading, as you suspected, it seems unlikely that CMV is the culprit since the first several aphid treatments were simply blasting off with water and no other plants exhibit the ailment. While it certainly doesn't look as bad as the worst pic, it does very much resemble the others but the condition does seem to be improving if very slowly. Hmmm. I'll take more detailed pics to measure advancement or retreat of the condition, consider potting up and or rooting a cutting from another plant. Do you know, should it be a virus, could it be contained to the symptomatic parts? You'd think it would be mentioned as a treatment if pruning would be helpful but it is odd that only the top of the plant is affected ... I've never seen anything like it before. Thanks for the help!

Might as well bump this again. Most of it has been said, but I'll add that with tents you generally get what you pay for. I wouldn't buy a new tent that costs less than ~$150. And if the place you're shopping for tents has more than a few tents for under $100, I probably wouldn't recommend getting your tent there. That's not to say that WalMart, Target, and the like don't have some serviceable tents, but they sell more bad tents than decent tents. And many of the nicer tents sold by more outdoor-oriented stores have lifetime warranties in case you ever snap a pole or have the shock cords go limp. The above may sound harsh, but a tent is THE piece of gear that can make the difference between a horrible camping experience and a fun one. All it takes is cutting a trip short once, or having to hang sleeping bags out to dry, and the cost difference between a nice tent and a cheap one seems trivial. I can tell you that sitting in a nice Kelty tent during a pretty severe thunderstorm knowing we would stay dry sure beats my old cheap tent where you hoped you wouldn't get too wet. All that said, a tent with a full rain fly is a must. The fly should come almost to the ground on all sides. If there's an open side at the door, the fly needs to have a pretty good awning/overhang so rain doesn't easily drip/blow onto the tent itself. Most good tents have taped/sealed seams from the factory but I usually use SeamGrip on floor corner stitching to keep the holes made by the threads from getting enlarged by stress/age. A footprint and/or tarp under the tent can help keep water out from under then tent floor. These MUST be smaller than the perimeter of the tent floor so any water shedding off the tent/fly walls doesn't run onto the tarp/footprint and then between it and the tent floor. Depending on the temperatures you camp in, you might look for tents that have vents in the rain fly. There are even some tents that have zippers in the tent that provide access to the rain fly vents from inside. If it's raining out and the tent gets steamy (or cold), you can open or close the vents without having to go out in the mud/rain. So I'd recommend getting a new tent: no tarps to try to hang and make sure they don't collect water, no Easy-Ups to lug around, just a good tent/fly/footprint combo that does the job right all by themselves.

I finally finished my two rebar trees. I have to say.... I'm pretty darn proud of them! Don Juan winding around from the front and Henri Martin winding around from the back on both. Henri Martin is just a band, but he seems happy and is already leafing out and growing. This was a project that gave great satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. If working with metal is new to you... I highly recommend it! It's a great project for beginners. Very rewarding. :)