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.

It isn't just small suppliers. I had 20 yds of 5 way topsoil delivered for a seeded lawn from a major supplier in Woodinville once. While spreading it out I picked out a lot of broken glass. Some as large as a dinner plate. I then raked it out, seeded it, and then lightly watered it. Glass showed up all over! Customer was NOT happy! I filled up two five gal. buckets and brought it back to the supplier and asked that they deliver another ten yards without glass for free so I could cover up what was already spread out. They refused. Things deteriorated into a yelling match and I was physically thrown out into the parking lot by a couple of truck drivers the dispatcher called in. I had to buy additional topsoil from another company on my own dime to complete the lawn and you can be sure it wasn't Pacific Topsoils. I promised them as I left that I would bad mouth them as long as I lived. Mike

Fire ants make mounds and not holes. The mounds start out small and become larger as the colony population increases. These mounds look rather innocent until you disturb them, and ALL of the ants boil out of the mound all at once. Again, there is never a discernible hole. I never worry about ants in my yard and garden, other than fire ants. Fire ants can be a problem for humans, pets, bird nests, beneficial insect eggs and larvae, and such.

Well for starters they are beetles. The magnification is way too low for a decent identification, but I'll hazard a guess: Given their size, I'm guessing they are fungal feeding deadwood specialists, such as Cisidae (there isn't a common name to my knowledge). These are not wood borers per se, but feed on fungi growing on deadwood or untreated wood. How to get rid of them ... well, I wouldn't want to unless they are attacking the structure of your premises. You might want to keep them out though (just so they aren't a nuisance and that you don't have to keep cleaning up dead ones that die trying to get back out). First step might be to get finer mesh on your windows ... but then I don't know what grade mesh you have right now.