It is important to remove diseased material from the vicinity of a planting. This means removing dead material that harbors spores of fungal disease and dying material that contains eggs of insects. Dying portions of a plant should be cut off and removed. The ground should be cleaned of dead leaves or flower parts. Pruned parts should be removed. Deadheading flowers involves removing the structure left after blooming before seedpods form. A rhododendron or azalea flower is composed of several florets connected to the stem by a base that is easy to break. When deadheading just grab the flower near this base area and twist the flower sideways and break it off in this spongy area. Try not to break any of the buds that are around the base of the flower. In general all dead or dying plant material may harbor disease and should be destroyed by incinerating or placing in a trash receptacle. Wilted flower petals can harbor fungi such as petal blight. Dead stems can harbor larva of borers. Dead leaves can harbor spores of harmful fungi. On healthy plants, deadheading is desirable but not necessary. [Photos by Steve Henning] Is deadheading necessary? If the blooms were healthy, and if the plant blooms well every year, and if you don't mind the look of the plant with the wilted blooms, then there is no reason to remove them. However, if the blooms were infected with petal blight, or if the plant doesn't have a good bud set or only has a good bud set every other year, or you don't like the look of the plant with the spent flowers on it, then remove them. On some varieties deadheading makes a difference, on some it doesn't matter at all. On most varieties, it will only make a small difference if any. Most gardeners would like to deadhead but few actually do. If you are getting petal blight, then deadheading is very important. All spent flowers should be destroyed. The best way is to toss them in the trash. Petal blight is a disease that hits some rhododendrons and azaleas that bloom later in the spring. It causes the flower to turn mushy before it naturally wilts. If you look closely it forms unsightly brown spots on the flowers.

This is typically what I post for neem application directions: Neem Oil Insecticide 1 pint very hot water 1 pint rubbing alcohol or ethanol 1 tsp pure, cold-pressed neem oil 1/2 tsp Castile Peppermint Soap, Murphy’s Oil Soap, or insecticidal soap In a 1 qt spritzer, mix the neem with the soap & hot water. Shake vigorously. Add the alcohol & shake again. Shake regularly/vigorously to keep the mixture emulsified as you spritz the plant, making sure as you spritz you’re covering all the vegetative surfaces, especially the underside of leaves and leaf/branch crotches. Use all the mix same day or discard. Use only pure, cold-pressed neem oil, such as that packaged by Dyna-Gro. Methods of oil extraction other than cold pressing limit the effectiveness of the active ingredient in neem oil – azadiractin. Al

I love pumice. Use at least 25-40% percent with 25% granite gravel to soil in my cactus mixes. Plant are fat and happy because it drains immediately. Don't know its exact moisture retaining qualities. so your experiments, ewwmayo, will be watched with interest. I think it's porous but not totally permeable. My mix stays moist for about 2-3 days. My succulents do tend to dry out in mix with pumice. So a matter of getting the right water timing. Sand is the worst and has rotted roots off my plants because of its compacting and water retention powers. My Morgans' is recovering. Bought it last year, it rotted from the bottom, couldn't find the right watering schedule for it. Dryed the 2 stems and repotted, placed in a sunnier open location and basically left it alone, water once every one or two weeks. I err on the side of less water since it is in a ceramic container. After reading the discussion above, I suppose the rust spots on the smaller one is water damage and or fungus, but, that one is growing okay, too. Now, that I think of it, it sat out there in the pouring rain this year. Oops. I barely watered it in winter if at all, so may have been a well needed drench. Fortunately, both stems have rooted and are firmly attached to substrate and look and feel pretty good. Yay!

Also agree with oldrosarian that it's botrytis & caused by weather conditions. Occurs on many types of plants, not just roses. Usually the brown sunken spot beneath the rose bud is the first sign. I just snip the bud stem off where the next leaves emerge - in your first photo, right below your pinky finger on the hand holding the bud - and immediately trash it in a plastic or paper bag. Dip the flower snips in 80% isopropyl/rubbing alcohol between cuts. Any buds or blooms so affected get the same treatment. Most often, as in your pics, only some of the buds & or blooms are problematic & those are removed, while those not showing any indications are left to bloom. If the condition's gone undetected & spread farther into the canes, those are pruned off below the brown at a clean node or leaf junction, again with pruners dipped in rubbing alcohol between cuts. A dab of Elmer's all purpose glue in the squeeze bottle for larger cuts on canes provides a temporary bandaid to keep it clean while it heals. Remove & trash any buds, blooms, petals, stems, leaves that have fallen to the ground beneath/around the plant. That's all I've ever done to treat it when it pops up. This is one of the few times I break my rule of not working on roses when they're wet, as getting those buds or flowers & stems off pronto is important to stop any spreading. If left too long, the spores will mature on stricken parts & emit a visible "dust" as they disperse. Ludwig's has a good explanation page with clickable photos: http://www.ludwigsroses.co.za/rose-care/botrytis/ Regular sized rose pruners are a bit clumsy for removing buds, so garden snips work well. Having misplaced a number of those out in the garden over the years, found inexpensive sewing snips at my local Kroger's grocery that I love. The handles are padded "soft squeeze" & open form so very easy to use. But their best feature is the way the one handle forms a hook so I can hang them from a pocket or belt loop & along the edge of a small garden pail. (That pail holds alcohol in jars sized for snips & pruners along with a miscellany of small tools & aids.) Haven't lost a pair of these snips yet, but stash a few back-ups as they're so handy. This site incorrectly states the total length over 8", but they're really less than 5" with the blades less than 2". Great for snipping out the older blown flowers in a cluster of blooms, too. http://tinyurl.com/jff86me