I never even mentioned beachplant until you asked me to show you a comment. My search for Brugmansia cuttings earlier this summer, however, was negatively impacted by your actions because my trade request with beachplant was later denied. That was almost 2 months ago .... If I was trying to "join the wolf pack", I could and would have done so long before now. I suggest you go back and reread my original post without trying to "read between the lines" and find some ill will that wasn't there ..... it was simply a question!!! You didn't go off on signet_gw when they said "I think it is highly unlikely that a 7 year old post will be answered". Maybe I used too many words and it confused you! It seems to me you catch more flies with honey. If you quit answering posts with "I would send an email but you wouldn't get it so ....." and actually make a trade suggestion, you would probably get more replies. People value their time, especially in the summer when they have gardens to weed, water, fertilize, and treat for all kinds of nasty things. Why would they want to spend time on the computer responding to your inquiry for plants they aren't offering anymore to see what you may or may not be offering in exchange. Here's a helpful suggestion: If you are looking for specific plants, why don't you try STARTING YOUR OWN DAMN POST!!! I'm sure a lot of people skip over trade posts that were started over a year ago .... I know I often do! And another thing, Get the stick out of your @$$ and stop looking for drama where none exists. It is exactly because of the above posts that I immediately dismiss any trade requests I see from you ..... because I don't want to deal with your DRAMA!!!! And as always, good luck in your future trading endeavors!!

Black raspberries will produce along the length of the main stem that has not been topped to promote laterals, but this is not as productive as a multi-lateral cane. You can select to keep the naturally-occuring laterals that are headed in the fence axis direction, prune off the rest. When laterals are very young they can be coaxed to go in the preferred direction. I keep my black-cap canes in a narrow plane by doing the above, as I only have 4-foot spacing between caneberry rows.

Hello, janellw. Can you post pictures of the black leaves on the shrub and a close up of the leaves (front and back)? Then post another picture of the brown spots on the stems? Root rot can produce brown spots on the stems although more obvious symptoms would include continuous wilting regardless of how much water you provide. Excessive watering and-or soil that drains poorly can help develop this problem. There are other types of fungal infections -in addition to root rot- that could cause black-ish leaves such as anthracnose. It could also be a case of powdery mildew where the leaves do not turn exactly black but maybe dark gray or purple-ish sometimes. The pictures may help us see what you see. When you have fungal issues, the best thing you can do is make the environment difficult for the fungi to continue spreading. Sometimes Mother Nature does that when high summer temperatures and low humidity arrive. Other times, you need to control soil moisture better. The best way to proceed is to use the finger method so you know when it is ok to water. On a daily basis, insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 4" every morning. If the soil feels dry or almost dry then add 1 gallon of water. If the soil feels moist, do not water. If the soil feels wet, determine why and take appropriate steps to prevent that if necessary. Do this every morning for two weeks. Every time that you water, make a note on a wall calendar. After two weeks, revisit the information on the wall calendar and determine how often you had to water. Say, every 2 days? every 3 days? Etc. Then set your sprinkler to give the hydrangea 1 gallon of water on that same frequency. If the temperatures change 10-15 degrees and stay there, recheck for two more weeks using the finger method. Good sanitation techniques can also help. These are things like never watering the leaves but watering the soil only. Water the plants early in the morning. Discard in the trash all plant debris under the hydrangeas. Because this is an ongoing multi-year problem, replace the mulch with new mulch (3-4") and -in the fall- throw the dried out blooms and leaves in the trash. Allow some separation between shrubs to improve air flow. In large plants, open up areas (by pruning) so sun and air get deeper into the shrub. See the link below for additional information on hydrangea diseases. If you cannot post pictures, feel free to take leaf samples to a plant nursery or Agric Extension Service for analysis (place the leaves in a sealed transparent bag). Does that help you? Luis Here is a link that might be useful: Hydrangea Diseases

Let me know what you think after you see the photos. **** I will. Here's the situation. I got a call from Dennis tonight, yes, the Dennis who just posted, and it turns out we've known each other since about 1990 when we were both posting at AOL at the time. How was I to know what his user name was? LOL He said he was having problems posting pictures at GW right now, I guess it'a site problem, not really his, and would send some to me, which he did. Dennis, I'll get to them tomorrow b'c as I said on the phone I don't want to be online if T-storms head this way, which they are b;c I just checked 3 weather sites. After my house being hit by lightning last June 24th I'm very wary of those storms. So I'll get back to you here in your thread tomorrow. And yes, what I thought was a facebook thingie WAS an e-mail from you, so all's well and I've got to figure out how to get off facebook after someone talked me into it; it's just not my thing. LOL But please, anyone else who wants to chime in, please do b'c the more folks who try to solve a problem the better it is. I did ask Dennis how big his plants are and we talked possible damping off, but they're about 5 ft tall and other than the discoloration of the lower stem on several of the plants, all purchased, are looking great so post-emergent damping off is not probable. Carolyn