All my plants are trellised and I am clipping off the really bad dead leaves but ALL the leaves get this except for the pumpkin (just the old ones) and the watermelon.- though the hubbard is not quite so bad. The cucumbers are producing like no worry, the canataloupe ...well I have one about the size of a baseball, so I don't know....I have attached a shot I took tonight. There are 7 butternuts I would really like to harvest in due time... The butternuts - I just really hope to keep them going as they are not THAT far from being harvestable I think. They are definitely tan but you can see the spores on the leaves despite the fact that I have been treating once a week with NEEM and the past two weeks I have used baking soda as well. I did order some potassium bicarbonate-I hear it is better. It seems new growth keeps the plant alive........

Well there are several issues here. First it is soil temp that germinates pepper seeds, not moisture. And they will usually germinate within 3-5 days given the proper soil temp. As long a pepper seeds have minimal moisture - well wrung out soil mix - they will germinate if given 80+ degree soil temps. So are you using a heat mat? If not that is your primary problem. And once they do germinate then the water amount given can and should be cut back substantially as they prefer to dry out between waterings. If I keep the soil damp (not wet), I get that grey fungus stuff or mold. Then that is a sure sign that the soil is too wet. "Damp" means very different things to different people so what is damp to you may mean wet to others. Any soil-less seed starting mix will contain peat, that isn't the problem. Soil-less mix means it contains no dirt, no ground soil. Do you wet it well with warm water and then wring it out well in your fist before filling the container and planting? If I put on a fan for circulation, it dries out too fast. Then either the fan is too close to the plants or on too high a speed or, most likely, only the surface of the soil is drying out and that is normal and is NOT a sign that the seed or plant needs water. A small fan set on low to just lightly stir the air around the plants normally causes no drying. I germinate hundreds if not thousands of seeds each year and I can swear to you that any seed will prefer and even germinate in too-dry conditions better than it will in too-wet conditions. It just takes longer. And any seedling will tolerate and even thrive in too-dry conditions MUCH better than it will in too-wet conditions. So my best guess is that if you can convince yourself to dry out your whole methodology a great deal more than you are now and provide the proper amount of bottom heat and air circulation you'll have much better success and no damp off. Just keep reminding yourself that 95% of the time germination issues are grower method caused problems, not the seed or the plants fault. It is a lesson we have all had to learn the hard way. :) Dave

I wouldn't spray anything now. Just cut off the dead branches and see if it happens again this summer. I don't think the roots have had enough time to grow enough to properly feed the branches yet. Sequoiadendrons aren't known for their good rootballs. (I've planted hundreds) It seems that if the problem were fungal, the damage would show up in a more general fashion rather than picking on a random branch or two. I don't have that problem where I live, so I am just speculating. Mike

I am thrilled to report that my red-leafed rex is doing fabulously well now! After several months of relatively slow growth, I moved it a lot closer to the window, and here's how it looks now. Maybe a month ago, I moved it back from the prime windowsill spot so other plants can have a turn in the brighter spot, but I think it would like to be closer again, it keeps turning the leaves to face the light, so I spun it a little for the sake of a better photo :D. I thought they were lower-light plants, but this one and the silver one really seem to like being right up in the south-facing windows. I am kind of shocked at how broadly it spreads out - those are my feet at the edge of the picture, it's a big plant!! Unfortunately, I nearly killed the silver one over the same time - I had a really hard time getting the watering right, so was alternating between drought and overwatering, but it is coming back now, so in a few more months, if I'm careful, it ought to have filled out nicely. I have not had any return of the black leaf spot problems, or leaf edges dying, since early last year.