I find Nicole to be a very difficult rose bush to keep control of diseases on. I have controlled the diseases this year despite our Midwestern weather. It wanted to blackspot but I pulled the few affected leaves off, and sprayed with Pentathlon a/k/a Mancozeb repeatedly, and stopped it. My Nicole bushes seem to be peculiarly susceptible to spider mites, too. I don't like to spray Pentathlon too much, so I only pull it out when its really bad blackspot weather. I use Funginex. I spray my fruit tree with Captan and use that too. I spray Daconil only when it is cool -- it helps control botrytis as well. I do have some Immunox that I use on roses that are prone to powdery mildew -- it will help control blackspot. You are not going to be satisfied with your roses this year if they have blackspot. It is irreversible. If it is an advanced case of BS you can cut them back and take off the leaves, and basically allow them to start over as if it were spring. Keep them well-watered. The BS can get into the canes so even this may not work. But it is your best option. Don't wait until late in the year to restart them. You need to start spraying when the leaf buds start to swell and pop out leaves. Weekly spraying will control blackspot. I have never used Banner Maxx so I am cautious about advising how often to spray with it. But the locally available fungicides like funginex, daconil, immunox and captan can be sprayed weekly. And when you alternate or combine different ingredients you will have healthy plants and a happy state of mind. Your rose bushes will be growing almost as well as if you lived in rose growing heaven, i.e. California. Incidentally, never spray Daconil when it is hot. It will burn rose bushes in sunny conditions at temps in the high 70s.

My kitty has had obstruction problems as well. First doctor recommended the prescriptions diet as well as the be-all, end-all, as in "noting else will work." Cat didn't like the (crappy) food; he was back to the practice within 2 mos. Happily, there was a "relief" vet there covering for the bully who owned the place. He recommended extra fluids with his regular food (raw), SPRING water (distilled pulls needed minerals from the body; the minerals in spring water are NOT what cause the blockage) AND, prophylactic use of sub-q fluids, tapering down to prn. It had been more than 18 mos now and all has been well until my prescription for sub-q fluids rand out. Can't seem to find another vet who uses that philosophy and can't find the "relief" vet. I am getting worried. We're going to 6+ weeks since his last sub-q fluid administration (125ml/day for 8 days at beg of each month). Anybody know how to track down a "relief" vet in the central Florida area? Thx.

The plants are in Pro-mix HP mix with some added coarse perlite. As for feeding, since they were grown (from seed) they have been fed with slow release fertilizer, specifically - Lutz citrus tablets. I am absolutely clueless when it comes to all the science of gardening, but just a glance at the nutrient list says each tab contains .05% boron which is a higher level than i notice is in FP (.01%) or osmocote (.015%). They have been on these tabs for 2.5 years with none of these yellowing issues, however at the beginning of spring this year i added on or two more tabs to ea pot (the instructions call for 5 tabs for every inch of girth) and a week or two later fed each tree with a regular dose of Foliage Pro. Right afterwards they showed the yellow tips, which is why i stopped using the FP and haven't used it since. After flushing heavily, the yellowing went away or at least slowed down but only for a bit. Then it started again and hasnt really stopped, just getting progressively but slowly worse. Jury is still out on the air-root pots in my opinion. My trees have for the most part flourished in them, until this episode...

lol, jan. the only reason I mentioned the handles (really plain handles that are on the smaller side) was because of the knob placement. If you remove them and make a new hole further up, the old holes are impossible to fill and cover without some really really good finish work. and hey, JAN, cup pulls and handles do work together. (no offense) I see it a lot. Renee, if it comes right down it, you'll just have to spend the money to get the cup pulls and handles that go together. Otherwise, do all handles. Your handle placement on the doors would look just like this one^. Now, doesn't that look better than that funky low knob? Yes, of course it does. get the handles that match the cup pulls. keep it simple. this handle is still too low. but they do work w/the cup pull Heck, you can even do all three: You want to hear the one thing that will work? forget the cup pulls and forget the knobs. Get handles like I've shown (or similar) and place them like I've shown. use the same handles where you have the cup pulls. There. done. problem solved.