Ugg...that Davis book and his lack of knowledge about horticulture/crop production. He may have a handle on health, but he's missing a lot when it comes to crop development. First, Dr. Davis is a medical doctor with no background in horticulture. Second, the "mutant" wheat he goes on about is 1- not created by Monsanto (it is BASF and some educational institutions) 2- it's Clearfield wheat which is naturally resistant to certain herbicides early in it's growth by this forced chemical mutation hybrid 3- Clearfield varieties are planted on about 1m acres...out of the 62m acres of wheat planted. Third, the mutant genes came from a French wheat variety called 'Fidel' which was naturally resistant to a specific class of herbicides, but was not a commercially viable variety in the US. The crossing process used was used to speed up crossing these traits, not because it wouldn't be able to be done naturally. Texas A&M actually did most of the heavy work on this cross in conjunction with BASF. Also, this didn't happen til the late 1980s and it didn't hit the market til the mid/late-1990s. Fourth, his notions about wheat protein diversity are off base. His claim that modern wheat varieties only contain 10-15% protein compared to older varieties is just bunk. Variation from 7-25% are quite common in older varieties and are all over the place. His claim that wheat was "left alone" for 200+ years up until the 1940s by breeders is simply bunk. Fifth, Monsanto isn't the beginning, nor end of the world, but it seems to be the only corporation some people are aware of in the world. Wheat is a complex crop cultivated over many thousands of years for different purposes. From a genetic point of view there are diploid (2 sets of chromosomes), tetraploid (4 sets of chromosomes), and hexaploid (6 sets of chromosomes) varieties out in the wild before science even had the means to determine chromosome content...much less mess with them. The genetic diversity is wide in scope I can't speak on the medical stuff he claims...such as linking wheat consumption to autism and schizophrenia, though there's a lot of people upset about those claims, too.

Thank you, Henry, for that Phytopathology Abstract on compost tea. Here's an excerpt from Henry's link: "Application of chemical products on the plant or in the soil kills a range of the beneficial micro-organisms thereby disturbing ecosystem. Compost tea helps to restore and increase the populations of those beneficial micro-organisms." That's so true. This is what I learned from my experiments: 1) Maintain Nature's balance helps with fungal diseases. Here in my garden, roses buried deep with added soil on top & fertilized with alkaline manure are clean. See articles on soil bacteria suppressing fungi growth. 2) When I mess up nature's balance with acidic mulch like cocoa mulch, acidic alfalfa meal, too much gypsum (17% sulfur), or muriate of potash (salt index 116.2), molasses & vinegar added to pH 8 tap water ... then my roses go downhill. 3) Decayed wet mulch foster fungal growth. The exception is fresh recycled wood chips (with mold-retardant) or treated wood with fungicide. 4) Keep surface dry and alkaline to prevent fungal germination. Sharifa Asma in a pot came down with mildew, thanks my bringing down the pH with molasses/vinegar, gypsum (calcium sullate), and potassium (sulfate of potash). Those sulfate-compounds caused rust to the metal scoop. Sulfate compounds zap soil bacteria if applied on top. 5) Salt in chemical fertilizer drives down potassium. Last year I put Lilly Miller NPK 10--5-4 with chemical nitrogen (salt index over 80), plus sulfur. I induced mildew on Mary Magdalene rose. This year, no fertilizer on Mary M., except for corn meal, she's clean. 6) Both potassium and calcium levels go down with lower pH, per U. Extension sites ... leaves got thinner and wilt in the heat with lowering pH. More diseases when I lowered the soil surface of my pH 7.7 clay. 7) My most healthy and many blooms is Stephen Big Purple rose, fertilized with soluble MiraceGro Bloom Booster (with trace elements), at 1/4 dose to make it NPK 2.5 - 13 - 2.5, rather than 10-52-10. No mulch nor granular dumped on top to mess up microbes balance. My alkaline clay is tested lowest in P, but the best result is soluble phosphorus with trace elements. Phosphorus mobility is a 1, stays put where applied. Too much phosphorus burns roots, and stunt plant. I did that to Deep Purple rose by dumping Jobes Organics NPK 2-7-4 (with bone meal). I no longer apply granular fertilizer on the surface, be it gypsum (salt index of 8, with 17% sulfur) ... too much burns root, and kill beneficial soil bacteria, essential for nitrogen-fixation. Granular fertilizers gunk up on top, kill soil bacteria, plus change the soil chemistry, and make it more hospitable for pathogenic fungi germinaton, releasing spores to leaves. Too much phosphorus, be it chemical or bone meal, can stunt plant. See pics. at below Purdue University extension: 1) lack of phosphorus, reduced branching 2) too much phosphorus and zero potassium: very stunt plant. The below link is worth seeing: Here is a link that might be useful: Effect of too little or too much phosphorus This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 12:17

Sammy, Florida has a huge blackspot problem because of the warmth and humidity. My friend Harold says it's impossible not to spray in their region. They have problems with blackspot and a particular nematode which will kill every single one of their roses unless they are grafted onto Fortiana root stock. What blackspot doesn't afflict is the dry, arid and hot zones of California and Arizona. I still say that one shouldn't water the leaves if one can help it. Sammy, do you experience wilt leaves if you stop watering the leaves and just water the roots? Have you ever tried this? or have you always kept on watering the leaves. You might try an experiment--2 same-type roses. One with the watered leaves and one without. You see I did a similar experiment to assess Vitamin B1 root nourisher versus my Gardenville Sea Tea. I had identical transplanted lavender plants in the same soil. One I gave Vitamin B1 nourisher and the other I gave sea tea. The Vitamin B1 did very absolutely nothing; the Sea Tea created a boom in growth, vitality and number of leaves. The only way is to do controlled experiments in one's own garden. I have 2 identical Lincolns, same soil. Next spring I will do 2 different kinds of foliar feeds to see which one is the most protective against the blackspot. I think what Maureen is saying is that keeping leaves dry is pointless if one has bunches of rain anyway. But! what both articles say is that if you keep the leaves dry as much as you can possibly control-- that indeed will keep the blackspot from spreading. Dew, Maureen does not count! Dew only lasts briefly, about one hour and as soon as the sun rises it dries! Dew will not cause blackspot because it dries so quickly. Blackspot takes several hours of wetness before it starts to spread. Both articles really stress that it is important to keep moisture away from the leaves as much as possible. There are certain things you can't control. If it's gonna keep raining for days, you will get the blackspot. The article gives specifics on the hours in between that blackspot will take to spread. Whether it be a span of greater than 7 hours of dryness (blackspot won't spread). However! if you have a resistant variety of rose, the slower the spread of the blackspot. If you combine watering the leaves then a few hours later it rains, you are actually increasing the time of wetness, making it opportune for the blackspot to have its ideal conditions.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/apr/06/brazil.food A handful of the world's largest food companies and commodity traders, including McDonald's in the UK, are driving illegal and rapid destruction of the Amazon rainforest, according to a six-year investigation of the Brazilian soya bean industry. The report, published today, follows a 7,000km chain that starts with the clearing of virgin forest by farmers and leads directly to Chicken McNuggets being sold in British and European fast food restaurants. It also alleges that much of the soya animal feed arriving in the UK from Brazil is a product of "forest crime" and that McDonald's and British supermarkets have turned a blind eye to the destruction of the forest. According to Greenpeace, public and indigenous land is being seized by farmers using bulldozers and even slave labour. Last year more than 25,000 sq kilometres (10,000 sq miles) of Amazon forest were felled, largely for soya farming. http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/cattle-pastures-in-deforested-amazon-now-the-size-of-iceland.html The largest rainforest in the world is being chopped down almost entirely for a single purpose: beef. That's right, one of the biggest, most beautifully diverse ecosystems on the planet is being traded in—for hamburgers. According to a report from Mongabay, a full 80 percent of the land cleared by Amazon deforestation from 1996-2006 has been used to create cattle pastures. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/may/31/cattle-trade-brazil-greenpeace-amazon-deforestation A report today from Greenpeace details a three-year investigation into these cattle farms and the global trade in their products, many of which end up on sale in Britain and Europe. Meat from the cattle is canned, packaged and processed into convenience foods. Hides become leather for shoes and trainers. Fat stripped from the carcasses is rendered and used to make toothpaste, face creams and soap. Gelatin squeezed from bones, intestines and ligaments thickens yoghurt and makes chewy sweets. Greenpeace says it has lifted the lid on this trade to expose the "laundering" of cattle raised on illegally deforested land. Food for thought How much of the Amazon rainforest has been lost and how quickly? Since the 1970s, when satellite mapping of the region became available, around a fifth of the rainforest has been destroyed, an area the size of California. Greenpeace US estimates that, between 2007 and 2008, another 3m acres (1.2m hectares) of the Brazilian Amazon have been destroyed. The reason why I have never EVER eaten ANY McDonalds product. Question: WOULD ANY HUMAN BEING DO THIS, DESTROYING THE PLANET HIS/HER CHILDREN AND GRAND CHILDREN WILL INHERIT? KNOWING THAT BY DESTROYING THE LAST LUNG OF PLANET EARTH WILL CREATE SUCH DESTRUCTION? Ephesians 6:12 - For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBIA0lqfcN4&ebc=ANyPxKr2tTabALOgWatjVt_STm6f7ydG3TTj98MLB5452Hb760vlWNqgPQWnHUOJfqXvWIxXBrF6821ffItAemwD3KidX8AnLw