I saw the thread you referred to & didn't comment. First, when you're talking about a micro-nutrient deficiency, you're talking about elements that are generally not mobile. Sulfur, chloride, copper, zinc, manganese, iron and molybdenum are marginally mobile in plants, but only under certain circumstances. Most of the mobility in the elements listed is usually associated with the breakdown of amino acids and proteins in older parts of the plant, only under nitrogen deficient conditions. IOW, they're only mobile when the plant is robbing nutrients from old tissues before they are shed, and translocating them to other tissues via the phloem stream. Since these elements are essentially immobile during periods of adequate N supply, a foliar application (spray) really doesn't do much good. It can alleviate the deficiency temporarily by supplying Mn to the leaves it contacts, but unless it rinses off the foliage and enters the plant through the root pathway, it won't be present in the nutrient stream to ensure the normal development of new growth. This is the reason that, no matter what advertising claims are made, Ca spray supplements are so ineffective at eliminating BER. Ca is considered immobile in the plant, so if Ca is not in the nutrient stream as new cells/tissues are forming, the tissue will form abnormally, with weak cell walls and other issues - BER. In the same vein as what you were mentioning, I don't like to advise people to use this element or that element to 'cure' an 'apparent' deficiency. Many 'deficiencies' aren't deficiencies at all, only symptoms of cultural inadequacies; or, they are deceptive, varying widely in symptoms, and even then, many of the symptoms overlap. One of the first things experts will agree on is that diagnosing many nutritional deficiencies is little more than a crap shoot w/o the benefit of tissue analysis, so there is a good chance the diagnosis will be wrong. Second, adding individual elements can easily affect the uptake of another or create a toxicity. E.g., if someone had applies an Fe supplement to try to 'green up the leaves', he might have unwittingly have caused a Mn deficiency. Fe and Mn are known as classic antagonists, and a deficiency/excess of one can affect the uptake of the other. Adding Mn only can affect the uptake of Fe, P, N, and other elements as well. It just makes much better sense to me to use a fertilizer that supplies the elements most apt to be deficient in container media, or to use a fertilizer like FP, that ensures all the essential elements plants take up via their roots are available in a favorable ratio. Ideally, when one element is getting to the point it is in short supply, they all will be - at the same time. Using fast soils that allow you to water so you're flushing excesses out before you fertilize again, helps to keep the ratios in balance, so there should never be a need to supplement individual elements. Plants DO take what they need and leave the rest, but it is decidedly in our favors to keep 'the rest' at a minimal level. If the person is actually using FP on a regular basis, it's unlikely there is a Mn deficiency unrelated to pH. Like Fe deficiencies that occur when using soluble fertilizers (they all contain Fe), the Fe is in the soil, but unavailable. Mn is affected by pH in the same way as Fe. My advice would have been to flush the soil thoroughly and fertilize; or, if the grower really was using the fertilizer regularly and at adequate solution strength, to add enough vinegar to bring the irrigation water pH down to 5.8-6.0. Al

George, I read about the resistance of the varieties you mention, but didnÂt imagine that would change so much per location. I have to have those seeds next year to try. Si, el cambio es muy grande, after the 6inches/14.8mm of rain yesterday, I had to wear my wooden shoes to go to see the vegetables LOL! ItÂs sooo strange to walk with them but they help in the mud, and you write so perfect Spanish. How come? Raisemybeds, we covered the tomatoes with that lightweight fabric, although not pretty, till now (cross my fingers) the tomatoes and pepper seem to like that protection. IÂve been earlier shaking the stems and was wondering if the pumpkin pollination would be so simple not so, as per what I read. Bill, yesterday I didnÂt turn the compost pile that I left to mature, since I saw there were some pumpkin seedlings showing up, and I thought, well, you never know maybe they grow nice. This morning guess what, they were gone, disappeared. IÂd eat Butternut Squash every day, casually found a grocer that sells it. Back in Argentina my mother had a piece ready for my arrival from the office nearly everyday Now IÂve got some Butternut seeds popping up in a propagator. Violet, I know thereÂs lots of info. However, last year while I was "researching" what happened that time to the tomatoes raised by me from seed, my husband convinced me to check a bit less ugly bugÂs pictures and diseased plants on the internet, and just try again, strengthening precautions. Pumpkin is not so popular here for eating, but for Halloween, therefore availability of seeds for consume (ie. to grow without chemicals) is just starting. I didnÂt plant resistant varieties, because I simply could not find any offered for sale. Thank you all for such warm welcome! Carol.

Dear Anne Cecilia, My condolences to you and others who were friendly with Donna. This is a sad loss of a dear person. It is my belief that our spirits are eternal, our essence lives forever. Yet, we miss the physical presence of our friends and loved ones. I do read the Exchange and saw that Donna had informed us of an illness in late October. It was kind of her husband to let the forum know. My sympathies to those who knew her, Joanne

I'm not married; I don't participate this forum. I just feel compelled to point out that very few SMs on the SF forum write openly about how much they hate their SKs. There are often voices of frustration, stress or anxiety and occasionally of dislike... But when you read the rest of what most posters have to say, they're usually trying to work it out, want to not be frustrated, or are trying to like their SC more. Even the most troubling post of late (the woman who has the 11yo SS who she thinks is a bad role model) is someone looking to make things better, she's just having a LOT of trouble with it and needs to do some growing up herself. After a quick look the marriage forum, I see plenty of posts about trouble that people are trying to work through. At present these posts include porn, potential infidelity, disrespect, sexual dysfunction, potential separation, and, my favourite, wanting to use his mother as a marriage counselor. But this shouldn't make anyone want to run away from marriage, because these are stories of people trying (for the most part) to deal with their troubles and make their lives better for everyone involved. You likely wouldn't want a single person saying that marriage is bad because they saw that many people on this board face obstacles. So, please try to remember that stepfamilies have unique challenges with unique solutions and that it's important that there is a space for people (mostly SMs, but some SDs and SKs) to talk about them without criticism from outsiders.