Just finished The daughters of Juarez by Teresa Rodriguez - true crime story of serial murder in Mexico - reccommended by a book buddy of mine and most interesting, I'm now almost finished another of a series of books written Jane Austen style (if you like Jane A., try one of the books written by Elizabeth Aston). The one I'm almost done is called "The Darcy Connection". I've enjoyed Aston's books and would say give them a try for anyone else who loves Austen. Then also in the process of reading pile are: Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt by Amanda Stuart (an interesting read thus far), King, Kaiser, Tsar by Catrine Clay (another bio but a good rendering of the triangle between these powerful cousins)and finally just began "All the way Home" by David Giffels - I don't know what attracted me to this book, maybe the love of rebuilding falling down old houses and all the trials and problems solved with great industry and little expense. I formally only read one book at a time but now I find I have several on the go at all times just so I have a choice of what I'm in the mood for reading. DH who is a somewhat more picky reader finished "A spy at the heart of the third reich" by Lucas Delattre last night and said it was interesting but rather long winded in parts. Like most of you, I have a pile of reading to wade through and yet more books on request at the local library......so many books so little time - the story of my life. Budster.

It's probably a combination of a soil inappropriately water-retentive, over-watering, and (if you fertilized) a high level of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil solution. If the roots looked good, stick a wick in the drain hole and don't water until a wood dowel (sharpened in a pencil sharpener) or bamboo skewer stuck deep in the pot comes out clean/dry. After you water, tilt the pot at 45* with the wick down and let the wick drip until it stops - you can do that today w/o watering. Put the plant outdoors when temps are above 55*. Given the condition of the existing foliage, you might as well put it directly into full sun, wait for the new leaves to emerge and cut back the old leaves as they go over. Figure A is your pot. Note figures B and E as representations of what tipping the pot after watering and a wick can do for you. You could also put some ballast in the bottom of the pot to help reduce the amount of water held as perched water. See figure D. Al

Looks bad to me. Certainly not normal healing. If the black mold area spreads completely around the stem, then anything above that point is going to eventually die. You could try and graft a twig (or twigs) above and below to bypass the area, or you could try and graft some good green bark to replace the infected parts. But neither will be easy to do, and will probably fail.

@chervil2 No ,thankfully i'm not facing a surgery but, unfortunately enough, i also have an autonomous nervous system disorder since ages that i'm trying to balance, plus an HPV infection, recently rouse up from my past. I just need to know which of my medication is absolutely necessary to exclude ,regarding blood thickening and blood sugar levels. @rusty_blackhaw i'm already eating healthy , not plant-based only though .i'll try.Why did you refer to contaminants?