I don't understand peoples reluctance to use what is at their disposal. Remember the advertising slogan of that chemical company.... "BETTER THINGS, FOR BETTER LIVING...THRU CHEMISTRY" Many, what you call, chemicals, are organic in nature... i.e. they are made from living things, such as plants or animals and do not constitute harmful aspects of everyday living. You have a weed....you either live with it, or kill it. There's two methods...one, you get down on all fours and pull it out..and make sure you get all of it...roots and all, otherwise, all you have done is made the weed stronger to come back better than it did before. Some weeds, such as dandelion have roots that are a foot long. So the need to get something down there to get it all is paramount. Digging is often too tiring and the gardener most times just gives up...preferring to wait until it shows up again and pull off the flower. Others, knowing it wont die of its own accord, wish to end its life once and for all...by spraying something that the weed cant fight....systemically takes a poison down to its roots and letting the grass push it out. You can look on store shelves for the type of herbicide that is organic. Or by hand spraying the individual weed with one that is chemical in nature. Its your choice. As for the ants, given the size of the ant hill I suspect they are dining on dying organic matter in your lawn. Whether there is a fungus in there I yield to spraying a fungicide and see what happens. yellow patches can be a sign the soil is in a bad way. Not enough moisture is gaining down deep enough to encourage strong root growth. To that, a layering of topsoil/compost over the area and re-seeding can improve the quality of the grass. Following a regimen of over layering soil every spring, every fall, then overseeding at the same times, can result in good turf grass. To find out how much soil to buy: Measure the area you wish to work, LENGTH TIMES WIDTH....IN FEET multiplied by the depth of soil IN INCHES...multiplied by 3, divide by 1000 results in the number of cubic yards of soil to buy. A schedule of fertilizing every spring through fall will result in strong roots and good growth and can result in filling in the bare spots that might crop up. Now about the ants: This is a formulae that works and is not harmful to pets if you follow directions. You buy at your drug store some boric acid powder. It comes in a package, costs about $5.00 or so..for about 4 ounces..give or take. Into two cups of boiling water, you add one cup of granulated sugar, stirring to dissolve. Then you add 2 tablespoons of boric acid, stir. You then use a container, such as one that holds margarine to which you poke holes into at the side at the bottom to let the ant enter. Poke holes north, east, west, south. Then, at the drug store you buy some cotton balls--they come in a package or bag. You dip a cotton ball into the boric acid solution and place into the small container. Put as many of the cotton balls into how many the container allows, put the cover on to keep out bees and such, then place it on the ant hill or where you see them travel. Do as many containers as you wish...any solution left over can be refrigerated....mark it so it isn't used for other purposes. What this does; the sugar is the come on--the boric acid the poison that is taken back to queenie. She dies, the colony dies and you get about fixing your lawn. Its simple....and it works. Replace the contents about every 3 days or so.

In the photo, the jade doesn't look bad at all - but sometimes it is difficult to judge. Were the leaves on the bottom? - could they be just old leaves that are falling off? - but even old leaves don't look that dark and soft. Dents on the leaves could have been physical damage to begin with, or the leaves are water-logged and slowly rotting. Do they feel too soft and sort of slimy? Was the plant in lower light and suddenly put into much stronger sunlight? - the reason I am asking is that there seems to be lots of space between the leaves and that suggests low light. All brand new growth (on very top of branches) looks much more compact. If there was such sudden change in sunlight exposure, it is possible that some leaves got sunburned and fell off. What kind of pot are they potted in - is it just a saucer or pot with drainage? What kind of 'soil' are they potted in? Is it water retentive? The stems, if healthy, should be strong enough to support themselves without sticks. How often do you water?

Dave, it is evidently "said" that epsom salt promotes nitrogen uptake by plants. I had never heard that, and I'm not inclined to believe it, but it's part of the reason that epsom salt is considered sort of a gardening magic dust. Yes, a plant in a pot for a year might get rootbound, but I still have no idea how big the pot is compared to the plant. If it hadn't ever been fed, I'm kind of surprised it produced such an abundance of fruit. Edit: Now that I start Googling, it seems that a number of gardening "experts" actually SAY that epsom salt provides nitrogen. Holy cow! It does not. There is an awful lot of misunderstanding everywhere!

Last fall, I treated some hosta with 10% bleach solution. I won't do that again unless it's "bleach or die". I was hoping that it would help with that root rot fungus that I've been gifted with. I used it prophylactically on four plants that were seemingly not infected and one that was slightly infected. I soaked the plants for an hour as instructed and repotted them in fresh soil and in clean, sanitized pots. I moved them to the front yard, away from the other hosta. Three of the "not infected" hosta came back this year much smaller than before. The slightly infected hosta developed a full blown case of root rot as did one of the others. I can't tell it helped much and it certainly harmed those that survived. The cure rate was not any better than the plants that were not treated. I'm not aware of any new infections, although the disease is returning on plants that were seemingly recovered. All that to say that it didn't seem to help and did seem to hurt. If you have a case of southern blight, I suggest you educate yourself on the fungus and take a measured approach as it will keep coming back. Bill Meyer has written a very detailed article on the hosta library site. He's suffered with the problem and beat it. His explanation of the life cycle of the organism, the steps to remove it from your garden and the chemicals that work is detailed, but doesn't take forever to read. http://hostalibrary.org/diseases/Blight.html bk