Sonya, Crispy leaves, and I assume by 'crispy' you mean that they are both brown and crunchy, are dead leaves. Just telling us that you have dead leaves doesn't give us enough info to allow us to offer any sort of diagnosis. We need to know what they looked like before they turned crispy. Even then, it can be hard to diagnose anything based on a verbal description. With both the okra and the tomato plants, what did the leaves look like before you noticed they were crispy? Had they been a vibrant, healthy green and then turned yellow or yellowish-green? If they turned yellow or yellowish-green, was it a solid color or a mottled color? Were their any brown, black or purple spots or splotches? Were there brown to brownish-black bull's eye type concentric rings with varying colors? Any wilting? Any spotting or discoloration on the fruit? Have you checked the backs of the leaves for spider mites? I can think of lots of possible reasons for the tomato foliage turning crispy--some deadly and some not with treatment, but cannot think of many options with the okra other than spider mites, nematodes if you have sandy soil, or cotton root rot. I'm going to link the TAMU Tomato Problem Solver Website. You might try looking at the leaf diseases there and see if anything resembles what you're seeing on your plants. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: TAMU Tomato Problem Solver

Not an expert but I think the bud browning is because it's just too hot. You might want to give it some shade in the hottest part of the day. Often the first buds on mine look like that when they start trying to bloom in late July when it's so hot here. The stems with the buds look like gonners, but you can see there's new growth. Maybe trim back to where you see new shoots coming out from the sides of the stems (Right where a leaf would join you could see a little shoot poking out) and then let the plant recover. Since you are in a hot place the plant will still need plenty of water like your other potted plants.

Lydia, Take heart! There is a solution to every problem, and frequently more than just one solution. The method I use to control midge has been step by step outlined in past Roses Forum posts. My method works very effectively for me. What I like about it is that it is the least toxic to the environment. If you would like to know what I do, please just type in the word, 'midge,' in the space at the beginning of the Roses Forum and click Roses Forum below that. All the archived posts relevant to 'midge,' will appear. Check out the ones where my forum name, Moses, appears and go from there. Any comments or questions you may have, you can place them on your post here. Hope I have been helpful I do know how you feel, discovering this dreadful aspect of rose culture, midge control. It hit me like a freight train back years ago. I was very disheartened. Then, after the initial shock was over, I accepted the reality of the situation and proceeded to strategize a plan of control. Now I consider it another necessary aspect of growing roses. Moses

I agree w/what Tiffany said. This is a tree that does not like wet feet; and, if you're watering ".... whenever the top of the soil feels like it is drying out slightly", you're definitely over-watering. Try watering when the soil is almost dry at the bottom of the pot. You can accurately determine what the soil moisture level is like at the bottom of the pot by using a tell. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al