Carol, This might help too. I did this report in my Pest & Disease Management classes at school. =============================================================== DISEASE PEST REPORT (there is a picture here showing seedlings attacked by damping off, but you can use google images to find pictures) Common Name: Damping Off Scientific Name: Phythium spp. and Rhizoctonia spp. Causal Organism: Fungi Disease cycle and Timing: Several species occur throughout North America. Damping-off fungi live on organic matter in the soil and most can live indefinitely. Reproduction of the fungi is the most favorable in wet soils that are cool. Usually there are many other beneficial bacteria and other fungi, as well as many microorganisms that keep these harmful fungi under control. In the greenhouse, Rhizoctonia is not found in greenhouse soilless mixes but is often found living on bare ground or floors and in fields. Rhizoctonia is usually more dangerous to younger plants than older. Pythium spp. can favor either low or high temperatures depending on the species. Pythium is mostly a problem in the greenhouse but can attack young transplants when set out in wet soil. Symptoms and Signs: Sometimes these Damping- off Fungi can attack the seed before they germinate. When seeds fail to germinate in the given germination time-line or there are many sporadic gaps in rows it is possible that the seeds were attacked. With seedlings, the symptoms of Damping-off are fallen-over seedlings at the soil line. A lesion that looks rotted or water-soaked on the stem closest to the soil will be visible. Seedlings that are older when attacked and survive will most often be stunted. Damage: Loss of seedlings, cuttings and stunted plants. Cultural, Mechanical, Biological or other Controls: In the greenhouse it is important to keep good air circulation and maintain proper temperatures in germination chambers. Cover flats with sphagnum moss, perlite or sand and allow the surface of flats to dry between bottom watering. Use seed starting mixes that are soil free or use sterile soils mixed with finished compost that add beneficial fungi to the mix. Always use clean flats and containers or used that have been disinfected and work with clean hands and tools. In the field, sow warm season crops after soil has warmed and avoid placing transplants into cool and wet soils. Conditions in the field or home garden that are the most favorable for attack from damping-off fungus are cloudy, cool and humid weather with wet soils that are cool. Chemical Controls: Copper drenches can be applied to many vegetable crops as soon as any signs of damping-off are noticed. Apply the drench directly to the soil around plants where the problem is occurring. Treating of beds before sowing seed can be done with Methyl bromide with between 1 and 2 lbs. for every 100 square feet. Seed can be pre-treated with metalaxyl or soil in fields can be pre-treated with Ridomil 2E. References Used: Insect, Disease & Weed I.D. Guide A Rodale Organic Gardening Book University of Connecticut  Integrated Pest Management www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/veg/htms/mnrdisppr.htm Plant Disease Control  Oregon State University Extension http://plant-disease.ippc.orst.edu/articles.cfm?article_id=5

Jenn, I have gone through this too, somehow something pulls me back into the garden though but not without a major change of direction (usually). The first time was after a blight struck the majority of my antique rose collection (I had hundreds) - only about a third of them survived. I began exploring Plumeria and acquired about a hundred of them - but then remember the freeze last winter? - many casualties despite being wintered under the eaves of the house.... Then the wind knocked down three dead trees that had served as supports for ramblers and suddenly I found myself with a blank canvas for another garden. I spent many happy hours pouring over books, catalogs and internet research in planning my new venture, an edible landscape including some trees to shade my house (I chose flowering Japanese cherries , Prunus mume and blireana). Next came acquisition and installation (luckily it was bareroot season), learning to graft, prune, train and trading scionwood - but as always the problems cropped up. Squirrels raiding the fruit trees and breaking grafts, flowering cherries barely growing let alone providing any shade at all and with energy to spare I ran out of room for any more. Now I am facing a move. My next garden will be planned around ease of maintenance. I vow to be a selector and not a collector but who knows if that will stick as I realize I have serial obsessions. My friend Tony Kienitz wrote a book on gardening in which he recounts a elderly man who limited his garden work to 20 minutes a day. It sounds like a good idea with the right garden plan and leaves time for other pursuits and interests of which I have many. Ed, I thank you for your article, I especially liked your observations on the parallels of marriage and gardening; I hope you have a happy continuity. Gardening is great therapy but it (in my case anyway) is solitary and can therefore be isolating. Too much of a good thing...well you all know the end of that sentence. As with everything else, balance is key.

well, they are all gorgeous, KAY. my favorite one is that first one. Very pretty.This cooler weather is slowing them down from opening, I have this one I excpected to open last week, but its not open yet, the bud keeps getting bigger and bogger.I have never seen any buds get this big before, and it looks like it be open tomorrow for sure, but, wont bet on it.its been slow.But,I have scapes every where. Plaants have 5 tgo 7 scapes om each one,and I have never had that many scapes on one daylily before, EXCEPT for WONDER OF IT ALL and it had 7 scapes at once. Jean

The yellowness of the leaves with greener color near the veins is called chlorosis. Those leaves are chlorotic, which is a condition caused be a nutrient deficiency. Most likely it is a nitrogen deficiency. Even though beans are said to need little if any nitrogen fertilizer when grown in average type soils, they need some nitrogen and your soil may be lacking in it. Is that a lot of bark chips or similar material I see in your soil? Bark uses a lot of nitrogen as it decomposes. I suggest applying a treatment of solube fertilizer such as Miracle grow. You will know in a very few days if it has been successful. The leaves should get nice and green like Anney's. So far as insects are concerned, I agree with Anney that Mexican Bean Beetles can be very destructive. I don't see any evidence of MBB on your plants. The most remarkable solution to a MBB problem, if you should have it, is Pediobius foveolatus. There is a thread about it here somewhere. The drawback is that it is expensive. Probably not worth it unless you grow a lot of beans. Rotenone has worked for me but I avoid using it if possible because it kills bees. When I use rotenone I apply it only to plants not in flower. I would not worry about insects unless I saw real damage occuring. Jim