Several insects will get the same oozing of pectin response in peaches and they don't all respond to the same spray regimen. You do need to know if it's from OFM or PC on one hand or stink bugs or tarnished plant bug on the other as the latter couple are more difficult to control with standard spray options. My attitude about peaches is as long as they are giving you vigorous shoot growth as your picture suggests is happening, they are useful as they still produce as good a fruit as ever. Nothing wrong with having backups, and peach trees take very little time to replace, but no need to cut a productive tree down because its trunk is suffering from canker. Peaches benefit from having a lot of grass and weed free soil during the first half of the growing season- they don't compete well with weeds are other trees. I like at least a 5' diameter mulched ring for them.

You are right to differentiate here widespreadpanic, and I need to correct as follows: You probably deal with two kinds of fungal infections and the one of the clones would fit in the "damping off category" and the one your "bucket plants" have got, have characteristics of what is commonly called fungal wilt. That's the thing with fungi, they can be present in multiple forms and on top of that they can, actually are often carried by- and introduced by bugs. The key and the actual cause of an outbreak always are the favorable conditions. In other words, with cloning it is key to work clean and with growing plants it is about avoiding moisture. I also believe these organic plugs aren't the best thing to use in the future, as they stock too much humidity. Again, I recommend the use of preventive Trichoderma harzianum inoculation for both - unfortunately you can't treat plants with it - well you can, but it will not cure them. I am a fan of so called Heirloom varieties as well and I have tested and grown a lot (mainly hot chilies and quite some tomato varieties as well). But I come to believe that growing those is a good thing and not such a smart thing at the same time. Why? Simply because even though they have their qualities, among them supposed greater resistance against this and that, - it doesn't mean that all of it is general and valid anywhere. What you actually do is taking them away from their origin and expect them to grow to something special. This outcome might be the case or it might not be... Don't forget, most so called Heirloom varieties were often a local specialty and selected over generations for their qualities ON SITE and in a specific macro climate. They weren't actually supposed to be widely spread (commercialized) and adopt to any climate or condition, like they are now. Some people who pretend they would be more adaptable than others, are simply falling for a speculative assumption I guess. Still, nothing wrong with Heirloom tomatoes at all, - but you may have to try a bunch of those, to hopefully find a variety that looooves you and your "garden" back ;-) Hybrids are falsely underestimated, but this is because what people mostly understand by Hybrids, - are commercial crossings of already degenerated varieties. Those are bread to fix a few "genetical mistakes due to over-breading" to vitalize them again... But you can have wonderful Hybrids from Heirlooms or let's say LOCAL ancient varieties with some random others. I've got a Hybrid which is a cross between a tiny semi-domesticated (wild) tomato and Oaxacan Jewel, - and it's indeed very robust, early even in poor conditions and tasting very special ... ;-)

"There is no such forum. there is a Tomato Forum ,there is a Pest and Disease forum ." Ahhh. But dickiefickle, as homend and booster say, there is a forum specifically for Tomato Pests & Diseases: Unfortunately it is not very well visited since many people post their problems in the main forum. Betsy

Thanks again, mightyanvil and sierraeast. I'm pretty sure DH doesn't have a laser. I heard from the structural engineer, who will get back to me in a day or two. Here are some pix of the construction, just in case it's of interest. Is it true that tempered windows break more easily (although they hold together) than plain double- or triple-paned windows? If so, I guess we might want to keep the windows 18 inches above the floor so any rocks the wind throws at us won't damage easily-broken tempered windows. So what we're thinking of doing is making these windows the same height and either 6 1/2 or 7 feet long vertically to unify the look and give us a better look at the mountains, valley, and lake (lake is seen out the side window). Any suggestions appreciated. Thank you again.