Does anyone have an answer for this? I notice this every year, too, and would love to know what causes it. The flies seem to be on all different plants and grasses, so I doubt it is the plant. I've always guessed that it is some fly predator larvae. My garden is completely organic, too. Bellatrix

Well, here's an update in case anyone is interested...We contacted our insurance company a few days ago, and they do not cover bury pits, landslides, etc. They suggested we contact the county which we did yesterday morning, and (amazingly) 2 engineers from the water dept. were at our front door yesterday evening. They seemed surprised at the way the drainage system is set up to dump water directly into our back yard. I pulled our plot and on that side of the yard, 20' in from the side property line, and 20' in from the back property line is a county drainage easment. Everyone in Rockdale co. is now paying $40.68 per year (there's a huge up-roar here about this new charge) for the county to maintain stormwater run-off issues. Well SURPRISE, SURPRISE, they aren't going to do squat, and are passing us off to the Environmental Heath Department on Tuesday. I've found another small hole which is probably connected to the big one but is about 20' away, and right next to our deck. The big hole is bigger that what we first thought. We think there's an underground stream or river about 20-25' down. We dropped a light into it last week and it ended up hitting water and blew the bulb. Yes, we told the engineers about this yesterday, and they think the water table is very high here, but it's just easier for them to pass the buck. Esh, or anyone else out there, I'm very interested to know what went on with your bury pit and/or water run-off issues. I am a very un-happy camper right now and will let ya'll know before I appear on the six o'clock news.

Batya, sorry I didn't respond sooner, I don't check out the herb forum too often, mainly go to vegetables and fruit and orchard forums. Um, no, you can use these systemic insecticides any time of the year, doesn't matter. Here in the US, they are sold as a soil drench, very easy to use -- just dig a small hole near the trunk of the tree, pour the stuff in, let it soak into the soil, fill in the hole, and then water it in well. Rain won't be a problem, in fact, the manufacturers recommend a good soaking afterwards to help move the compound into the plant. These scale insects probably won't bother anything except other bay laurel, since most species of scale are pretty host-specific. Some scales do have a bit wider host range, but odds are, if your bay tree is heavily infested already, if these bugs were going to bother the carob, they would already be doing so. Hm, carob, bay laurel, I'm so envious! I bet you have olives and palms there, too. I have an olive and some palms and some citrus and a bay tree -- all in pots, all come indoors for six months of the year. Dennis SE Michigan

Ravencajun, Last night I did another scan, It was very slow. I use Charter's High speed internet Security Suiet. It comes with my internet service. This trojan is not listed in their definitions. To be honest I have run into it previously and thought if they didn't do anything with it, it must not be serious. It was the email that allerted me to a possible connection. I also get some notices that say something that is acting as a server wants access. I always click deny! The following is the report after last night's scan. I really apperciate your concern and helpfulness! _________________________________________ Scanning Report 25 August 2009 20:30:53 - 21:55:14 Computer name: D2JGNZB1 Scanning type: Scan target Target: C:\ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Result No malware found -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riskware found Downloader.Win32.Agent.q (Riskware) C:\14B5.tmp -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Statistics Scanned: Files: 132306 Not scanned: 21 Result: Viruses: 0 Spyware: 0 Suspicious items: 0 Riskware: 1 Actions: Disinfected: 0 Renamed: 0 Deleted: 0 Quarantined: 0 Failed: 0 Boot Sectors: Scanned: 2 Infected: 0 Suspicious items: 0 Disinfected: 0 Files not scanned: Cannot open file (click here for more info) C:\PAGEFILE.SYS Cannot open file (click here for more info) C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\AVP427.TMP Cannot open file (click here for more info) C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\AVP428.TMP Cannot open file (click here for more info) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\DEFAULT Cannot open file (click here for more info) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SAM.LOG Cannot open file (click here for more info) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\DEFAULT.LOG Cannot open file (click here for more info) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SAM Cannot open file (click here for more info) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SECURITY Cannot open file (click here for more info) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SECURITY.LOG Cannot open file (click here for more info) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE Cannot open file (click here for more info) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE.LOG Cannot open file (click here for more info) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM Cannot open file (click here for more info) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM.LOG Scanning of C:\WINDOWS\Installer\149cc.msp\stream 574 was aborted [F-Secure AVP] Scanning of C:\Program Files\Charter High-Speed Security Suite\FSAUA\content\70Software_PSC800\34\program\inst\fsma_7.80-127260.windows.fip\fsma\x86-windows\ILAUNCHR.EXE was aborted [F-Secure AVP] Scanning of C:\i386\DRIVER.CAB was aborted [F-Secure AVP] Cannot open a file in archive C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\JUDITH HOESCHEN\LOCAL SETTINGS\APPLICATION DATA\IDENTITIES\(4E3254D7-522A-412A-9296-3F4767B3A2CB)\MICROSOFT\OUTLOOK EXPRESS\ANGUSHIRE MEDOWS.DBX Cannot open a file in archive C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\JUDITH HOESCHEN\LOCAL SETTINGS\APPLICATION DATA\IDENTITIES\(4E3254D7-522A-412A-9296-3F4767B3A2CB)\MICROSOFT\OUTLOOK EXPRESS\COMPUTER HELPS AND TIPS.DBX Cannot open a file in archive C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\JUDITH HOESCHEN\LOCAL SETTINGS\APPLICATION DATA\IDENTITIES\(4E3254D7-522A-412A-9296-3F4767B3A2CB)\MICROSOFT\OUTLOOK EXPRESS\INBOX.DBX Cannot open a file in archive C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\JUDITH HOESCHEN\LOCAL SETTINGS\APPLICATION DATA\IDENTITIES\(4E3254D7-522A-412A-9296-3F4767B3A2CB)\MICROSOFT\OUTLOOK EXPRESS\HAYJUDO50.DBX Cannot open a file in archive C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\JUDITH HOESCHEN\LOCAL SETTINGS\APPLICATION DATA\IDENTITIES\(2C545ACC-8A17-4851-B0AB-238D63125F07)\MICROSOFT\OUTLOOK EXPRESS\INBOX.DBX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options Definitions version: Viruses: 2009-08-25_08 Spyware: 2009-08-25_08 Scanning Engines: F-Secure AVP: 7.00.171, 2009-08-25 F-Secure Hydra: 4.00.9271, 2009-08-25 Scanning options: Scan all files Scan inside archives Actions: Viruses: Ask after scan Spyware: Ask after scan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Error information "Cannot open file" error occurred: The "Cannot open file" error message means that the scanner was unable to open a file and that this file was not scanned. You can normally ignore this error message as there are many reasons for this message that do not imply a security threat, including: The file was a system file. System files are protected by the operation system by design. You can ignore this message in this case. You do not have permission to read the file. To scan the file, log in with a user account with sufficient permissions (for example the computer's administrator account) and rescan. The file was in use by an application when the scan was performed. To scan this file, close all applications and rescan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1998-2008 Product support : Send virus sample to F-Secure