Additional information about BCRV with pictures. "A survey of several isolates collected from blackberry and rose across the United States revealed minimal diversity between isolates, although the New World population of the virus is very different from the only European isolate sequenced (87). The virus is widespread in the eastern part of the United States, especially among wild roses where the vast majority of the samples tested were infected with the virus. Given that there are several reports of thrips and bees transmitting ilarviruses as a function of moving pollen from infected to healthy plants (11,105), the wild rose population may be a significant reservoir of the virus. As seed is another means of transmission of ilarviruses, several hundred seeds from rose, blackberry, and herbaceous plants were tested, and the virus was found to be transmitted at high rates (87). The virus was found to be the second most widespread virus in BYVD-affected plants and has been identified in Arkansas, Florida, North and South Carolina, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Oregon (I. E. Tzanetakis, S.W. Scott, B. Poudel, unpublished). Title: "Viruses and Virus Diseases of Rubus" Authors: "Robert R. Martin (1), Stuart MacFarlane (2), Sead Sabanadzovic(3), Diego Quito(4), Bindu Poudel(5), and Ioannis E. Tzanetakis(5)" Authors affiliation: (1) USDA-ARS Norticultural Crops Research Laboratory, Corvallis, OR. (2) The James Hutton Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee, Scotland. (3) Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State. (4) Centro de Investgaciones Biotecnologicas del Ecuador, Guayaquil. (5) Department of Plant Pathology, Division of Agriculture, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Published in: Plant Disease, volumn 97, pages 168-182, ( 2013). Here is a link that might be useful: link to full paper with above quote

First of all I am not the on who is spreading scare stories here. and rules every thing to be tossed. Neither do I. But then I don't accept the "do whatever you want, everything's fine" attitude either and I, for one, will take issue with it every time. Second: I said foaming occurs in pressure cooker(when cooking meats ..). But then immediately I added that this should not happen in Canner. So since this post isn't about cooking meats and there is no concerns with foaming it isn't relevant to the issue. Why post it? How does that help? When someone is trying to learn pressure canning and already worried the last thing they need is someone dragging their focus off on an unrelated tangent. Third: I was talking about the principles of weight system and manufacturing tolerances in general. I did not talk about the specifics as how EXACTLY they are machined. It is up to the manufacturer. And there could be variations from one to the next. Vent pipe diameters aren't relevant unless they are plugged...""" is absolutely incorrect. The combination of the hole diameter and the amount of weight determines the amount of pressure held inside the cooker/canner. So if the hole diameter also has a tolerance as well. And any deviation from the nominal can make a difference. Yes that's all well and good info for the mechanical engineer that designs the equipment and oversees its manufacturer. It has no relevance to the person using the canner at home. Milling to tolerances isn't our problem. We aren't going to dig out our calipers and mic the ID and OD of the steam vent and adjust it accordingly. So the info is of no practical use to us and only confuses the issues under discussion. Dave

Please use new rose list. Thank You Ron S

Hi Sharon: Gypsum has double-the-salt at 8, versus lime (calcium carbonate) at 4. Gypsum is slightly acidic, best used to break up rock-hard clay. I throw gypsum around Romanticas (French rose) with dark-green leaves ... they HATE that stuff: become wilted. Both Romantica Liv Tyler and Austin Evelyn broke out in rust when I put gypsum. Gypsum (calcium sulfate) is acidic, the release of calcium is fast, thus driving down potassium. The ratio of nutrients in fertilizer is important, manure has that balanced ratio. Horse manure, even alkaline, kept my roses clean for 3 years ... until the stable switched to wet & acidic straw, and stopped liming. I won't use more than 1 teaspoon of sulfate of potash per gallon ... I learn the hardway, that stuff is VERY HIGH in potassium NPK 0-0-50. Too much potassium without EQUAL ratio of nitrogen, will stunt plants. If you use 1 teaspoon of sulfate of potash, I would also 4 teaspoon of blood meal, NPK 12-0-0 it has iron that stimulate growth. In the past I received 3" band, with zero leaves such as Duchess de Rohan & Mirandy roses. Nothing can make them sprout, not even alfalfa tea, high-nitrogen chemical ... until I put a bit of blood meal. For 3 years I used horse manure as mulch ... it worked well in suppressing weeds, if it's the black-well-composted stuff. The fresher the manure is, the more chance of containing oat seeds. When we have humid weather .. mushroom grow in ALL the mulches (including cypress and $$$ dark ones that smell good), but much less in the red-dyed-recycled wood chips. Even Purdue University article on artillery fungus (similar to black spots), stated that recycled wood-chips is best. Walmart sells them dyed brown, or red. Recycled wood-chips often were treated with fungicide to stop them from rotting. If you use alkaline horse manure, or recycled wood-chips ... there's no need for dusting with corn meal. Dusting with corn meal is effective only if DONE before the humidity starts. Once black spots develop on leaves, the best approach is to ensure balanced-nutrients for new & clean leaves. Dry & alkaline horse manure is the best weapon. I would still use horse manure, but my beds are over-flowed to the max. See below link for the ratio of nutrients in horse manure: perfect for roses, with 0.5 nitrogen, 0.3 phosphorus, 0.6 potassium, 0.3 calcium, and 0.12 magnesium. The advantage of using extra potassium (sulfate of potash), extra nitrogen (blood meal), and extra calcium (lime pellet, or ground limestone) is faster and better root-growth, if done IN THE SAME RATIOS as horse manure. I grew band-size roses in soil amended with compost & manure .... versus MiracleGro NPK 18-24-16 ... versus this approach: 1 part nitrogen, a bit more than 1 part potassium, 1/2 phosphorus, and 1/2 calcium. The last approach yielded thick & strong roots at 2-gallon size, after a few months. Here is a link that might be useful: Composition of manures This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Mon, Jul 21, 14 at 14:30