We had a long discussion about it two or three years ago. MichaelG suggested that it should and could be alternaria blight. Comparing my roses to the very few photos of alternaria available I had serious doubt that it could be anything else but botrytis. I also sent photos to NCStte univeristy that provides consultation and does lab tests for Extension Services. They came back with Botrytis. I also sent them samples but by the time they got it the samples were contaminated with something that is present on dying tissues. They ruled out alternaria - the guy who answered my emails and dent the report on the samples is an expert on alternaris, so I guess, if he rules that out, I should accept this as a fact. So still don't know the scientific answer but those roses of mine sure looked botrytis ridden to me. I also found a paper from Brazil that stated that if humidity's is over 90% for many hours, botrytis spores could survive up to 112F. Here, relatively close to the coast we have o0ver 90^% humidity and dew from early evening till mid morning.That amounts to more than 10 hours, rather more. This again leads me to believe that was botrytis I had. Baldo also said the Botrytis is a year-around problem in Hawaii.

Sorry I initially read this as Bing Desktop, which I routinely hide in Windows Update so it does not enter into the equation. Pls disregard!

A story about Angie's List. I got a freebie trial for a year when they were new to this area. So I was heading out of town, afternoon before got an oil change (quickie place, not dealer). They bunged up the transmission (forget details now but would have stopped me from making that trip). Reimbursed my money and were trying to get me to head to their 'transmission guy'. No way! A girl customer who overheard that fiasco gave me her ex BFs card, said if he couldn't help me he had friends who could. He did body work but sent me to his friend. Sweetest, kindest mechanic I've ever met. Got there at closing time on Friday evening. Still, he stayed, fixed it, and wasn't going to charge me. (I gave him money anyway.) I also gave him highest rec on Angie's List. I bumped into him a few months later. He's very laid back so didn't complain, but the poor guy had since been flooded with snail mail solicitations from AL to join and IIRC he said their fees for business owners were astronomical. He was appreciative of the review, but he was small & just starting out then so had to watch every penny. But we were both kind of surprised they'd solicit business owners that way, seems that would create bias to some extent? I didn't renew when my freebie subscription ran out, but to this day they've not stopped soliciting heavily, even after multiple requests from me to unsubscribe from their list. Aside from having "paid" members in the business community, it's pretty annoying the way they hound people incessantly, a total turn off imho.

Bebet, I got your email in reply to my public post here on the forum, but I choose to have very little private interaction with forum members. What I wish to say, I will say publicly. One thing I will say publicly is you need to stop apologizing for existing. In a three sentence email, you managed to say "sorry" four times. Nothing you said "offended" me - I was just trying to boost you into taking some action to help yourself. As with all public forums, you can take the advice or not. Especially on this forum, no one is trying to bully you. I still stand by what I said, though. This forum and its members can encourage you, but only you can change your life. I personally think living with someone who won't allow you to drive, controls all the money, complains over $10 spent on feminine hygiene - that's abusive. That was my point in the first thread. I stand by it. I would never allow anyone to treat me that way.