Oh, dear, I may have unecessarily sacrificed on of the pepper plants. We had three pepper plants in the garden, all sweet bells: one green, one yellow, and one red. They were very slow-growing, and I wasn't paying close attention to them. They started blooming the end of June, which drew my attention; then I noticed that there were black patches on some of the leaves, and even some of the flowers. I searched on "black spots" and came up with "black spot fungus," which looked like what I had. The smallest and straggliest of the plants had black patches over so much of it that I just pulled it up and tossed it. I thought I could save the other two plants. I did get the fungus on the retreat, but then I got sick myself for a few days, and the next time I checked, the one developing green pepper seemed to have the same black stain growing across it. There isn't any necrosis. Leaves that had the black spots on them, and weren't treated, would eventually wither and die. Blossoms that weren't treated would shrivel; the fruit bud, instead of developing, would dry up and fall off. The green pepper that had begun developing before it got infected has not died, nor has any part of it rotted -- though it doesn't seem to be getting bigger very fast, either. For whatever reason, applying a paste of wormcastings and water has made the black patches on stems and on the fruit fade away. New growth is coming in that has no black on it. My reasoning was that if this was "black spot fungus" the beneficial microorganisms in wormcastings would compete with it and drive it off. Maybe it isn't fungus, and the wormcastings have worked on it in some other way.

whats do you mean Jeri?? more bad news i was watering the rose's today and it looked like the roses were taking a bubble bath :( :( from all the soap mix i applied the other day is it possible the soap might get to the root system and cause serious damage to the plant? i hope not and this dame soap mix burnt enough of my leaves i took a closer look and there are a lot of burnt leaves i wish i had never sprayed them! from now on i';m just gonna do what Katie does spray with a good fungicide "2-3 times in the spring and a couple times in the fall." I live in Canada Ontario Zone 5A i get hit with black spots during spring and fall for anyone that wants to know on this website it says that this rose erotica hybrid tea is resistant to black spot ha! if it were i wouldnt be having this problem AND it says zone 7 to 10 i'm in zone 5a and these roses survived the winter no problem although they do have a few black/brown spots on the stems http://d a ve s ga r de n .com/guides/pf/go/63842/#b

Hi MissMax, so sorry that happened, what a bummer :( But your plant should bounce back well. I agree with Mike, re-cut the broken branch on the main plant, let the latex stop flowing and then seal it with caulk or DAP to prevent moisture from getting in there. I would also fluff out the roots of the main plant and repot in a bigger pot. This will help stabilize the plant a bit more as well as give the roots some much needed room to grow. As for the broken fork, you need to recut the bottom part to get an even cut and I don't know how much you'll have left after you cut it, you may need to make 2 cuttings out of it. Cut them, let them callus for 2 weeks and then pot those up. One of the best ways to callus I've learned from this forum is to put hardwood mulch in a container & put the cuttings in there just above the mulch while keeping the container fairly warm. The humidity usually helps keep the cutting from shrinking back too much. Good luck & please keep us updated on your progress!

Mycorrhizal fungi do not control other fungi, they form a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship with certain plants depending on the species of fungi. If your soil is good and healthy the plants that will develop that relationship with no outside help. If you soil is not good and healthy adding something someone sells you labeled "mycorrhizal fungi" will do nothing since the fungi will have nothing to live on (organic matter). http://www.blm.gov/nstc/soil/fungi/index.html kimmq is kimmsr