Hi Jim: Mas mentioned that she's applying silica ... known to strengthen cell-wall. I checked on potassium and disease-prevention, and found this in Wikipedia, "In agriculture, some cultivars are more efficient at K uptake due to genetic variations, and often these plants have increased disease resistance.[1] The mechanisms include a decreased cell permeability and decreased susceptibility to tissue penetration. Silica, which is accumulated in greater quantities when adequate potassium is present, is incorporated into cell walls, strengthening the epidermal layer which functions as a physical barrier to pathogens. Potassium has also been implicated to have a role in the proper thickening of cell walls." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_deficiency_(plants) **** From Straw: I notice that my disease-resistant roses: Basyes Blueberry, Excellenz von Schubert, Knock-outs, Kordes Flower Carpet, Annie L. McDowell, Marie Pavie, Bolero, Christopher Marlowe, Frederic Mistral, Old Port, Lilian Austin, and Nahema have THICKER LEAVES than flimsy Gruss an Teplitz' leaves. The disease-resistant own-roots are more efficient in getting potassium from the soil, than Dr. Huey's parent, Gruss an Teplitz. I notice that when I bring down the pH of my alkaline tap water through a bit of vinegar, ... the leaves of Sweet Promise rose became thinner, and more wilting in hot sun. So I checked on that, and a few University Extension mentioned that as the pH drops, levels of calcium and potassium are less available. There's the misconception that the pH has to be slightly acidic for roses to bloom best ... that's NOT true. The best tons-of-blooms in HMF are from sandy alkaline gardens, such as of Kitty Belendez in CA, she uses a soluble fertilizer mix, including kelp meal. Seaweed has alkaline clay soil, and she gets tons of blooms with soluble fertilizer. Alkaline soil pH doesn't matter, since plants can do acid-phosphatase (secreting acids to utilize phosphorus in soil). Dr. Huey root-stock is good in acid-phosphatase for blooming, but lousy in getting potassium from the soil. Here's an excerpt from eHow: "Potassium levels increase with higher pH levels, so acidic soils, which have lower pH levels, tend to have less potassium content than alkaline soils. According to professor Linda Chalker-Scott, potassium levels are particularly low in sandy acidic soils. Amending Your Soil: If your soil has low pH and potassium levels, you should apply lime to increase soil pH. For potassium-deficient soils that are not acidic, fertilizers such as potassium sulfate (sulfate of potash) may be more appropriate." *** From Straw: below is Annie L. McDowell, zero diseases for the past 2 years, that rose has VERY THICK leaves. I put gypsum in the planting hole & use soluble sulfate of potash. Picture taken June 19, after 3-days of rain & humid weather:

What I'm now wondering is whether home-grafted tomatoes that use a rootstock that's tolerant of blights would be worthwhile. So, of course, you'd have to know which ones are! **** The word blight is totally non-specific as you know. ( wink) Almost everyone in this thread is talking about foliage diseases as far as I can tell and with two exceptions that I know of, both commercial varieties and with minimal EB tolerance, there are no tolerant varieties out there in terms of known varieties that everyone agrees on as to Foliage disease tolerance.Ja, I said everyone or at least several to many folks having the same experience which is difficult to determine. I think it's good to remember that the fungal spores and the bacteria that can cause foliage diseases are egalitarians at heart and will land on the foliage of ANY variety without respect to race, religion or political affiliation. LOL And no two seasona are the same in terms of the presence of those foliage pathogens in air, rain or dust. A person may grow a variety for one season and note that it's either tolerant or not to this or that foliage disease, but that's just one season. If the same variety is grown for many seasons and other varieties are coming down with this and that, then that's much more meaningful, as pennyrile noted above with his Indian Stripe selection. Anney, I can't see doing any grafting to help prevent foliage diseases. maybe some systemic diseases depending on what the problem is every year in a certain area with systemic diseases, and depending on the specific root stock seeds that are purchased, which aren't cheap, mind you, b'c it just wouldn't help b'c the foliage is still out there and susceptible to the bad guy spores and bacteria that drop in for a visit from time to time from season to season or in any one season. About the only observation I have made is that PL varieties, for me, are more tolerant of both fungal and bacterial foliage diseases. Near the end of the season my RL's may be struggling but the PL's almost always do much better. And with the non-stop rain and cool weather where I grow my tomatoes here in the NE it's looking like I may not get much fruit production at all. Here it is almost August and no blossoms, no fruit set yet. They couldn't go out earlier b'c we had two frost in June/ And then there's the Late Blight issue to be faced as well here in the NE. Quadruple Sigh. Carolyn

That's an adorable image, faron : ) Our cats don't go outside, but our neighbor's wonderful, dear, sweet cat does. He loves us and we have a place set up for him on our porch with a blanket-lined box if our ... neighbor decides to leave him out all night when it's cold. If we pull into our driveway, he runs out to say hi to us and get petted. If we're going to our car and he sees us, he hops in when we open the door and asks us where 'we're' going. He's a complete love. Re not getting killed? I'm really not sure how they survive except by luck. Coyotes are few and far between here, and not a lot of swooping room for raptors. I don't think he kills birds because he's just not the stalking type. The recent research showed that I think up to 80% of cats are stalkers -- this guy is one of the other 20%. Our other neighbors left their unneutered male cat when they moved to FL, just abandoned him about 7 years ago now. He's turned into a fright, a feral who sprays our patio door and literally throws himself against the glass to attack our cats whenever he sees them on the other side. Only trauma could have caused this kind of change in him. We had to get curtains because of him (I vastly prefer open glass, since we don't have a privacy issue there), but still our cats will just duck under them at times. He's survived a fairly long time for an outdoor cat, so you know he's learned to prey on birds (or mice or something) and fight to protect himself : ( I *dread* the idea that our dear neighbor cat might encounter him one day. That's my biggest fear, more likely than coyotes or raptors.

I just don't think you realize why people are concerned about your over-sharing. It's not because it's too real or because people don't care. It's because the internet isn't a safe space. The people who read here aren't just the ones you talk to. There are thousands of "invisible" people who just read and absorb everything here. You tell us her name, with a very unique spelling, and where you live, and her boyfriend's name, and your other kids names. You post about her personal medical condition which could lead to discrimination or problems later in her life if people searched her name and found these threads. I know she said it's ok but she's young, isn't she, and she might not fully understand how important medical privacy is. Posting on a forum is not the same as providing pictures for medical research. People are not always kind and trustworthy. A couple of years ago, I did an experiment with someone here (with their permission) and I was able to use just the small details they post here to find their full names, home address and phone number. If I were a bad person, I could use that information to know when they were on vacation or any number of other things. Some people don't mind sharing their personal information and that's fine, if they understand the risks. The problem is a lot of people are too trusting and that can lead to tragedy.