It has been established now that users of rotenone have developed Parkinson's Disease at a two hundred and fifty percent greater rate than the general population. I would be pissed if I bought vegetables that may be contaminated with this stuff. Rotenone is destructive to the liver as well as the nervous system in humans, and less than an ounce of it can kill a kid. Speaking of the N word, it's completely naive getting yourself in a situation where you feel you got to use this stuff, I'm with Kimmsr on this one, the purist approach follows a deeper philosophy and understanding of how nature really works. Better planning simply makes the whole job just that more pleasant with the organic approach. The purist approach has worked in our garden extremely well for over five years now, it is simply less work and more effective in every way. Part of the purist approach for me is low nitrogen, high nitrogen even when completely organic causes a lot of infestations becuase it temporarily weakens the plant. I bet everyone who is an advocate of organic pesticides is a high nitrogen advocate. I scarcely bother with nitrogen anymore, focusing on micronutrients and carbon. I've been very surprised how many fewer problems I've had since almost completely backing off on nitrogen fertilization. The university says it's the only major shortage of my soil. Bah humbug, I grow just about everything under the sun, fruit, vegetables, vines, bushes, trees... you name it and I live in Dallas, very tough weather. No infestations, no diseases, it's been a great learning experience defying conventional wisdom but totally fun. When I laid off the high nitrogen, I noticed, no more attacks. The purist approach for me never had anything to do with politics or an existential gaia angst, I'm a right winger, it just clicked in my head one day that organic gardening should be cheaper, easier, and superior in every way. I stopped trying to mimic conventional gardening by substituting an organic product for a synthetic one, I got out of this line of thinking. Proper irrigation helps enormously as well in preventing disease and attacks. Nothing has lead me to change this thinking as the results have whispered in my ear for quite some time, now.

I can't figure out how to post pictures but the picture of citrus canker on leaves of a citrus tree on wikipedia is what the leaves that I removed from my tree looked like. One of the leaves was also dripping this clear sticky liquid. The liquid came from one of the infected leaves and splashed onto three of the other leafs. I am leaving these leaves on the tree to see if they develop the same lesion type things that were on the leaf that dripped on them. (I have gone over this tree with a magnifying glass and have not seen any bugs so I am sure that the clear sticky stuff is from whatever disease my tree has.) The good thing is that the treeÂs health is not spiraling down as fast as it was before I removed the damaged leaves and the dying branches so hopefully it will perk up and start growing. If it is citrus canker then I guess it wont matter if it starts getting better because it will be taken away from me anyway. :( hopefulauthor- Thanks for the advice. I moved my tangerine tree to a different room away from all of my plants. I am hoping that it isn't to little to late since the tree has been dripping stuff that could infect my other trees. Sarah

The link I posted yesterday about this lab in Chester county was in the Philadephia Inquirrer now they know very little about this disease But they did notice it's on the decline in New Jersey and Pennsylvania here's the article not a word about robins.Sarah Posted on Mon, Aug. 01, 2005 A new lab is dedicated to disease on the decline Pa. scientists take a closer look at West Nile virus. By Dawn Fallik Inquirer Staff Writer At Pennsylvania's new West Nile virus lab, they unpacked the microscopes first. The team of environmental biologists, entomologists, and summer interns moved into the new digs in Harrisburg in June, just as the virus season began to hit. Almost two months later, there are still a few unpacked boxes waiting in the conference room, but there's no time to dig through them. The mosquitoes have started arriving. They come in coolers packed with dry ice - thousands of mosquitoes in jars - red caps for adults, green for larvae. They come from the counties, where officials hope to get a head's up on any impending outbreaks. So far, so good. "There's only been one human case, in York County," and five positive mosquito pools, said Andy Kyle, the head of vector management for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. It's only been six years since West Nile virus first appeared in New York City, and scientists have not figured out what to expect from the disease. In New Jersey, there were 34 human cases in 2003, but last year only one. As of last week, eight mosquito pools tested positive, including one in Atlantic and one in Burlington County, but no human cases. In Pennsylvania, there were 237 human cases two years ago, the highest in the five years since the virus hit Pennsylvania. Last year there were 15. So why have a West Nile virus program when so few people are being infected with the disease? Because who knows when and if it will return, said Kyle. "We don't know if what we're doing as far as mosquito control is the reason it hasn't come back," he said. The $7 million Pennsylvania budget goes to the counties for larvacide, equipment and personnel, Kyle said. In New Jersey, the counties have their own budgets, which total about $12 million, including the state's $1.5 million. Starting in June, the counties start sending in vials of mosquitoes, barcoded with date, collector and site information. (STP, which stands for sewage treatment plant, for example.) In Pennsylvania, each county sends about 80 bottles with one to 10,000 mosquitoes a month. The lab scans in the vials, much like bread at the grocery store. Then each is dumped onto a "cold table," literally a frozen slab, and separated by tweezer by species. "You've got to keep the mosquitoes frozen because otherwise the virus starts to disintegrate," said Mike Hutchinson, lab manager. There are more than 50 different kinds of mosquito in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but only certain kinds carry West Nile. So only those host bugs - particularly the Culex species - get sent to the state Department of Health in Lionville, Chester County, for testing. The DEP handles the overflow. So far, more than 5,000 samples have been shipped to the health department and tested this summer alone. Last summer, more than 21,000 pools were tested in Pennsylvania. Officials say the season has just begun, and they're reluctant to say what August and September will bring. "It's really too early to say there's anything like a pattern," said Bob Kent, head of mosquito control coordination for the Department of Environmental Protection in New Jersey. "Is it down because of the weather? Is there resistance developing? Is it because of mosquito control or that people are more aware of it? "I think it's all of those things, but it remains to be seen." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post a question for Dawn Fallik at http://go.philly.com/askdawn. She can be contacted directly at dfallik@phillynews.com or 215-854-2795. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.philly.com

Laura, congret, that would make me happy too, with a Mom like you I wouldn’t expect any less, tell Hubby and kids job well done, don’t let up. Love to have some footage!!! Would be nice for my big screen set up, don’t you think, Laura. My tree’s get a few hours of outdoors and when it gets in the high 50,s or higher the bee,s are in the shop, not a lot, maybe 3 or 4. Just open the garage door. There so much bloom now, it smells like working in a perfume factory.