These comments are directed towards the the question: "Also, how do you clean a virused plant using cuttings? My experience of virus, admittedly not any which affect roses, has been that they are generally systemic," ------------------------- It is common to read in the general rose virus reviews something along the lines of the following: "Cuttings from an infected plant will be infected - no matter what portion of the plant they were taken from. The disease is systemic: The entire plant is infected, whether visible signs of the disease are present, or not." see as one example: http://www.goldcoastrose.org/ A Cornell 1998 rose virus research paper (not in the cited abstract: http://www.actahort.org/books/234/234_53.htm The statement is in the "must be paid for" full paper.) stated: "Virus distribution in apple, plum, and cherry trees is irregular" (they then give 1963, 1973, 1984, and 1986 references.) it is likely that virus distribution in rose is also irregular. This explanation appears to be reasonable since virus inoculated plants frquently exhibited some shoots expressing no symptons. It is possible that the virus has not been distributed throught the plant." ------------------- Since then, one French http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1094/PHYTO.2000.90.5.522 and one Polish study http://150.254.175.4/ptfit/pdf/PP38a/PP38_091-098.pdf have confired the irregular distributions. -------------------- The French reported that: "A total of 89% (59 out of 66) of Anna stems was entirely PNRSV negative when axillary shoots from these stems developed after the decapitation of the floral stem, after the development of cuttings, or grown in vitro were tested by ELISA. ELISA tests of leaves from these stems were all negative. Since IC-RT-PCR conducted in parallel on all the explants from three (out of seven) of these stems also were negative, we suspect that these stems were virus free, even if they belonged to infected plants, or that the viral titer was very low in the stems." http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1094/PHYTO.2000.90.5.522 ---------------------------- Thus, the French reported that they suspect that they were able to obtain clean plants from cuttings (as determined by the use of ELISA or PCR). They leave the door open that a more sensitive method may find a low amount of infection. ---------------------------------- This is what was reported concerning California Davis ROSE VIRUS experience: "Oddly enough, one way they eliminate virii is by clonal propagation. Simply put, if you culture enough buds (~100) some small number of them (two or three maybe) will be virus free. The drawback is space, labor and the need to index all the test plants." http://www.rosebreeders.org/forum/read.php?2,38492,38492#msg-38492 See the following thread for a discussion of the possibilities of cleaning cuttings in a hot climate. Here is a link that might be useful: garden web thread on possibilities of cleaning cuttings

Josh: Did you ever finish the cover? I can only imagine how good it must look and work. A small space heater on timers when you know the nights get cold should do the trick! Will you have a auto vent opener for the warmer days or will you just create a small opening each day to let the heat out if it should get to warm and to circulate the carbon dioxide out and let in fresh air? This will also help you avoid the ole SPIDER MITE, disease, and pest issues! Mike: Same to you. Maybe you can find a way to keep your temps stable, at least into the low 70's for the winter. You can avoid some major bug issues and extreme temp swings. Sounds like you have yours all set for the winter too. Great! Dave: I have seen your trees and Palms. Amazing is what I have to say! I hope we keep these warm temps. I would hate to see the Artic cold blasts move through though without giving my plants, the outside ones a chance to rest from all this unusual warmth. Last year it killed a few of my shrubs. Dl: What can I say but WOW. You sure are prepared this winter. I know you had a rough one last year, but not to be taken of guard this year. Nice job protecting your trees and I hope they all fare well. You have yourself a great set-up and put much thought into that. Very nice for anyone thinking about doing the same. Sheesh, I just heard that Texas has had more snow and cold than us way up here! Mine are happy now that I have them protected with a Solar Cover. I only need 1 space heater compared to 2 keeping the temps even warmer than before. I am so thrilled about this and the lack of electricity I will be using. I spent almost 275 one month keeping them warm in a greenhouse, but I hope not this year. So far so good:-) Mike

Tracey, You have poppies started in containers? If so, you may find you get better results if you harden then off and transplant them while they're small because they really don't like being transplanted. Did you work outside? I did for a while, but it was windy out there and I only stayed out there for an hour or two. Tomorrow should be nicer. Ezzirah, Inside with cocoa is the perfect place to be. It is still windy here, but warm (mid-60s). We are not getting the rain or hail here that has fallen/is falling in some parts of the state. I hope to spend most of every day this week working outside, but the wind today made it unpleasant to say this least. Dawn

Karen B, I understand about the rain concern. Try to set up the frost cloth so that rain cannot collect in the cloth between branches. One year in CA, I constructed a PVC box around my largest plumie and covered it with a tarp. We had a good rain and the rain collected in the top of the tarp creating enough stress that the box collapsed and broke the plant into many pieces. The next year I made the box higher on one end so it had a sloped roof and the water ran off instead of collecting. With the frost cloth, you may want to put some poles under the cloth and between the branches to tent the cloth in such as way to encourage the rain to run off, rather than collect. Water is heavy enough to break branches if it collects. What I do is to spray some water on the cloth after I install it to see if there are any places it collects, then put a pole under that spot to raise it up enough. Good luck. Mike