rhizo, thank you for answering. i somehow lost track of this thread, and just found it now. i do use rubbing alcohol mixes from 1/4 to 1/2 on just about everything, including crotons. both indoors and when they are outside. even sometimes give a quick wipe with pure rubbing alcohol if i see scale traces (honeydew): crotons and ivy and citrus are fine with that. and even indoor avocado. cleaned it up quick. i also use it to wipe leaves on amaryllis for greenhouse thrips (am in the middle of that infestation at the moment ;) , in hopes that it will damage the eggs embedded within leaves? (if they are there) - seems ok. sorry to digress, but the only plant that did not like it - was hydrangea (i was controlling powdery mildew with 1/3 solution?) - the leaves dried up and dropped off over sev weeks, not right away, but still... not very good. seems when i ask about stuff in sep threads i don't get many answers. so here it comes....just one more question if you see it: have you ever tried soil drench using alcohol solution? for thrips larvae specifically, but also may be for gnat larvae? i normally use neem oil for that, but it's not totally effective, just slows down things a bit. i search thru the web like a maniac - if it's out there, i'll find it. unfortunately specific info is very difficult to get. i will experiment with hort oil again on just a few ivy branches: diluting it by half to start. they do plague mine on hot balcony and indoors too. and i apologize again for digressing!

I just love your story about your daughter bringing you "smells". What a delightful image. Have you tried Ricthers? They carry a nice selection of scented geraniums. Here is a link that might be useful: Richters herbs & scented geraniums

It doesn't even have to be frost. Several of mine in pots have cold-kissed (haha) leaves, from temps getting down to the low 40's. In 11 years of growing hostas I've never had so many different hostas affected by our unusual cold weather. I don't understand the "crumbly" part though. Photos would really help. -Babka

Carolyn: Thanks for responding. I'd love it if you could figure out what's going on. I plan to see if my county extension can help, too, but I can't get to a phone during their hours for a few more days yet. I don't have a measurement for the humidity, unfortunately. I can say that in my house, a drink with ice develops condensation, my hair does not get staticy easily, and when the outside temp is around 20 or lower, my double-hung windows have condensation in a one-inch strip just above the joint between upper and lower windows. Until this week, I had the grow light sitting on a milk crate, so the light was hitting the plants from straight-on, sunset style. I finally got my ceiling beams located and some hardware installed and the light has been pointing down for about 4 days. It was when I moved things around in order to hang the light that I saw the white patches and how bad the aphids were in some spots. I've been spraying with soapy water so much now, the humidity may have increased! (Only one tomato had a lot of aphids, but I'm spraying that guy and all the non-tomato plants twice a day now) Thanks a lot for any help you can give, zeke