There is so much info on the internet and none of it seems to be right or perfect. They say GT is not contagious, and I know it's not, but my experience has been weird. My first encounter with GT was my daughter at 9 months old. It got worse over time and took me months to realize it was GT. Then 6 months later I STARTED SEEING GT ON MY OWN TONGUE for the first time in my life at 32 years old. That freaked me out. For both of us it has been coming and going for 2 years since then. I even saw a patch on my four year old's tongue once around the time that my GT started and then it never came back. They say its not usually painful, but I feel it starting and it hurts when it spreads. My daughter gets them worse on the side of her tongue when teething and I think mine is worse with carbs and sugar. That makes me think its an immune response, but why am I just getting this now after my daughter. Ugh. I may try the ECHINACEA. GT is sooo annoying and it is a big deal even if its not "serious" because of quality of life.

I used to use potassium bicarbonate sprays for mildew back in the day when I still sprayed. Mostly I got rid of my most highly mildew-prone roses and decided to tolerate mild mildew on the remainder. However I would consider using it if I needed to. It seems pretty safe to me. The truth is, I can't be bothered spraying except at pruning time. Rosefolly

why not try? Better than paying for all the hard lab work. If some clean roses can be propagated from desert grown plants I think its great. Right now I have a beautiful sport from a virused medallion I got from a big box store. I would love to clean this rose of its RMV because it's unique in the world. Just like medallion but ruffly and pink to pinkpeach. RMV is something the rose world could do without. If it was cheap to get rid of, don't you think everyone would do it. I say give this desert idea a chance.

rcnaylor, I remember a lot of days like your photo when we lived in Plainview from 1974-1980. But then, it was the farmers and the plowing in the spring for the crops they planted. I grew up in Pampa and while the wind blew, we didn't have as much dust as Plainview and Lubbock because it was mostly wheat farming, cattle, and oil wells. Very little spring plowing. What I also remember from the Plainview days was that the farmers burned off their stubble in the fall and the town was covered with a layer of smoke then. We had whole house evaporative a/c and I hated to turn it on when on those dusty and smoky days. I remember driving to Lubbock once when the dirt was blowing so bad I could barely see 10 feet in front of me. Really scary. My mom, who has never really paid attention to water conservation, was here for the last few days, and I showed her all my native plants, mulching, and how I seldom water. She collected seeds and marked plants she wants me to pot up for her. Today, when she got off the plane in Amarillo, she went straight to a few nurseries and bought some native plants so she can start changing her landscape. I think the more we practice what we preach, the more it will influence others. And I totally agree that we need to do something about greenhouse gasses, and not just industry. We need to make some energy concessions easier and cheaper for ordinary people. It is great to say we need to quit driving, or quit driving as much. But how many people live within walking distance to work, shopping, or a bus stop? Sometimes I feel so powerless sometimes because I drive to town nearly every day, I keep the temperature cool enough to keep from sweating in the house, and I wash my clothes after wearing one time, at least in summer. I'd like to have solar panels, solar water heater, and a hybrid car, but I just can't afford them.