Thank you, rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7. Let me respond point by point: . "P., baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, not calcium bicarbonate (whatever that is). Sodium bicarbonate really does work." I meant sodium; I don't know how calcium got into my head! . "I worry a little about your prescription for the vinegar. It's very important that the dosage be accurate or leaf tissue can be burned. I also think that a warning about the very real effect that 2 or 3 T. of vinegar/gal. of water can do to the soil pH if carelessly watered in on a routine basis is important." My precscription for the vinegar is clear (as opposed to blackeyedgurl's "diluted"), and has been tested (by me) on catnip. (Note: "Vinegar" means the 5% vinegar that's what one gets at a store.) It's always the case that one may want to try even more-dilute mixtures first, especially on fragile or valuable plants. And concerning your "carelessly watered in": To be clear, I wasn't talking about "watering in", just spraying the foliage (although some say that lightly spraying the surface of the soil can help with fungus gnats). Of course, when one sprays the foliage, there's always the issue of how much ends up in the soil. Optimally, none would - and I work to achieve that as much as possible - but lotsa times, that's unavoidable to some extent. Note that this vinegar solution is so dilute that application such as the above shouldn't change the pH of any soil-based medium, absent extreme over-administration. . "I always cringe a little when someone recommends pure soap or real soap, but don't explain what that means. I suggest that anyone discussing a 'pure soap' be prepared to give examples, brand names. I assume that you mean a plant based liquid soap, free from fragrances and dyes?" So do I - especially since I killed two camellias by using dish-washing liquid that must've had some extra ingredients (duh! talk about careless! I should've tried it on a small part of the plants first.)). Since then, I've used Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile liquid, without any problem. I'm confident that other Castile soaps - either liquid or solid - would be just fine - as would Ivory, no doubt. . "My favorite home remedy for PM is 1 T. baking soda, 1 tsp. horticultural oil, 1 tsp. insecticidal soap, and 1 gallon of water." I've not used oil, since it seems that (and sounds like) it would introduce unnecessary problems. Relatedly, several sources I found said that Baking Soda is ineffective without horticultural oil!

Thank you, thank you -- all of you. I am going to try to post some pics I took today. I am hoping they will be more revealing. Sorry that last one is so blurry. Berndoodles, thanks for the pics of leaf hopper damage. I think I certainly have that, don't you (referring to the pic with the lovely bugs)? I also found some webbing, so I think maybe I have spider mites. Oh, joy! And I also think I have powdery mildew. I would love anyone's advice. I sure wish I had a flatbed scanner. My daughter has one, but she is out of town. And I wouldn't mind if we had a Bug Man out here in Colorado. However, I took samples to my local nursery and the very nice rose lady there confirmed that I have several separate problems. She thought that the drooping rosebuds were caused by thrips and told me to go home and cut all of those drooping buds off and dispose of them. She thought I had powdery mildew, too, and also spider mites. She advised that I use Bayer All-in-One spray, so I bought that, but after reading the instructions, I decided to try Neem Oil because the instructions said not to use when bees are active, and they are very active on Ballerina, at least during the day, but maybe I could use it at night. I sprayed yesterday very thoroughly with Neem oil and will repeat in 7 days. However, since my roses are so badly infected, and with multiple buggies or whatever, maybe I will have to go toxic. Another problem with me using a toxic spray is I have large pots of herbs close to Ballerina, in fact right beside it. I think I could cover the pots with black trash bags or something. But I also have black raspberries whose vines are kind of intermingled with one of my New Dawn climbers. I'm not sure if I can cover all of them enough. Maybe if I used a hand sprayer rather than a hose-end sprayer it would be easier. So what do you think? Thanks again. Marlene

"I have noticed little clumps of webs. Not spun from leaf to leaf but more like set up as little houses on the under sides of the leaves. I have noticed that one of the plants the leaves feel very dry, not dead, just dry, and have yellowish patches on them. Is this spider mites? There are some little holes on the leaves as well." Sounds like classic spider mite sign. If you can see the webbing, you have a large amount of spider mites, and they are moving to the next plant! Take the plant AWAY from any other plant, and treat those plants as if they are infected even if you didn't see any visible sign. This is the organic way- Clip off the branches with the webbing, toss in a sealed bag into your trash. Wash each remaining leaf and stem by hand with a bit of soap and lots of water. I'd pour slightly soapy water into the pot, too, for good measure. Keep quarantined from other plants, and I'd spray leaves with soapy water every other day for a week, then every few days for another week. Or you can use neem oil instead, but it has a rather offensive odor inside. Good luck!

I heard good things about Spectracide Immunox. You can get a concentrate on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Spectracide-51000-Multi-Purpose-Fungicide-Concentrate/dp/B0035H0RA8 They have 3 in one Spectracide in Lowe's - but I do not know about other 2 components. You need only myclobutanil - the active ingredient for PM. The label on the concentrate from Amazon says - 1 oz per gallon - for outside plants. I would use half of this amount and try on 1 plant first. If it doesn't show bad effects in a week - I will spray the whole collection 3 times - 10 days apart. Use a drop of dishwasher soap in a spray bottle - Dawn or Ivory - warm water - and if possible - distilled water - not to stain the plants - if your tap water is on a hard side. Fung-Away is also a preventative - it is potassium bicarbonate, it is similar to baking soda - but with potassium instead of sodium. So if you have a bad case - preventatives do not work. Next time you see a poor sick critter - do not bring it home.