It's not unusual to find people operating at well beyond their limitations (your neighbor). Scheesch! Did he/she consider the implications of all the sodium chloride left behind after the bleach reaction, or the upward spike in pH the homebrewed gnaticide caused? I feel really bad for you - and wish you'd have come here for advice about the gnats, which are actually more a symptom of an underlying problem than a problem in and of themselves. Al

wow intolerant to beet sugar, and by the sounds of it, rather drastically intolerant. (is it anything like gluten intolerance? If so perhaps there are support groups our there that can help you figure out what is safe and what is not, as well as working to get companies to share the information on labels.) I'm intolerant of High Fructose Corn Syrup but it is only a mild intolerance. I don't think I'm likely to go to the hospital from consuming it, worst case is being doubled over with a horrible belly ach for a half an hour if I stupidly drink a can of soda on an empty stomach (or a big glass of Cool Aid or any other beverage high in that particular sweetener. As for the whole debate about cane v beet, I don't bake/cook/whatever enough to have much of an opinion about it. However, I did once try growing sweet sorghum. Didn't grow enough to try milling it or making it into syrup though and don't have the equipment to do so either. I understand processing sorghum (and probably cane too) is a pretty heavy task that can last several days even on a small scale.

Rotting Palms  Phytophthora Cinnamomi  Dieback First I would stop using chemical fertilisers. I have found that they deplete the soils over the years. Use only organic fertilisers like, cow, chicken, sheep, fish and kelp. These fertilisers build up the humus in the soil. I lost two royal palms and was very worried about losing the rest of my palms. The fungal disease is called Phytophthora cinnamomi (dieback). I used Nutri-Life 4/20 microbes. www.nutri-tech.com.au. This will build up the soil microbes and I have not had a problem since. You will need a large clean bucket or garbage bin with a lid an aerator kit (and heater). See www.greenharvest.com.au they are $39.00. An aquarium aerator and heater will also do the job. See brewing photos. Brew Nutri-Life 4/20 to instructions. http://smallfootprints.com.au/blogs/eco-blog/archive/2008/11/12/organic-gardening-improving-soil-fertility-with-beneficial-bacteria-and-fungi.aspx Let me know how you go. Jo Pritchard  Karratha WA jopatch@westnet.com.au

thanks for the responses...looks like I'll have to shift Leander to somewhere more suitable. Should I try the same thing with the other two, or cut my losses, as they are quite large plants with thick bases, and thus probably have correspondingly large root systems (I tried shifting a rose that had been in the ground only 18 mths, and the roots went on forever, and even now it seems there must have been some root stock left behind, cos I keep getting shoots coming up)