From NH Hosta- The Recipe For Organic Vole & Mouse Control Large Area Applications Using A Hose-End Sprayer 1 - 2 Oz Castor Oil 1 - 2 Oz Dish Detergent Add the mixture to the jar of the hose end sprayer. Then fill the jar with water. Attach to your hose and thoroughly water every location that you want to deter the pests from. If your hose-end sprayer has a dial, set it to the highest setting. Small Area Application Using A Watering Can 1 teaspoon Castor Oil 1 teaspoon Dish Detergent Add this mixture to 1 gallon of water and thoroughly water the area to be protected. How To Apply The Organic Vole Control You want to water the ground, not spray it. You should thoroughly wet the soil so that the mixture penetrates a few inches into the soil. It is hard to say how much lawn and garden area the solution will cover. You just want to make sure you get the mixture into the soil. You Do Not Have To Re-Apply After A Rain You may want to re-apply in spring if you have damage during the growing season. Some people do and some don't. Mostly vole and mole damage is just a winter issue as the pests are desperate for a food source. When To Apply The Organic Vole Control You want to apply the mixture before the ground freezes and after you have cleaned away all the leaves from your garden. This is typically after a few frost's. This Castor Oil solution is organic and will not harm wildlife or pets. It just makes those garden pests move out of your gardens! Here is a link that might be useful: Castor oil vole control

NOOOOOOO!!!!!! I HAVE TO YELL ... DO NOT GO IN THEIR AND START CUTTING ... CRIKEY.. YOU MIGHT GIRDLE IT YOURSELF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i dont believe in spending money to try to do something that mother nature has been doing for millions of years .. and that would be.. letting trees heal themselves ... i would not put any goo on a tree ... and i like for him to prove he is a doc ... frankly.. i think you are going to try to love it to death ... please dont ... sure would like to see a pic of how it looks... to see if we see this alleged difference in growth above and below ... are you sure you arent just hypersensitive right now .... and NO!!! .. your tree is extremely stressed.. it is not a child and hungry.. 'feeding' it will not help ... especially if you fert your lawn.. it will steal what it needs... just like trees have been doing for millions of years ... ken

Took a better look at it when I got home last night....got all up in there and got poked to death... those needles are brutal! :O....anywho.....there is a middle leader with two side shoots wanting to take over the position. Ken~ So I would just head the two competitors by half not back to the main leader? Heading back by half would cause the new growth to grow out instead of up correct? Not sure why I am so insecure about this...I butcher my fruit trees daily...lol Embothrium~ I will have to check on the size of the needles. From memory I think they are around an inch. I have another Deodar Cedar in my front yard that is "Perfect" (In my eyes) but is different from the one pictured above. It is not as green or beefy. Pretty sure they are different types but when you buy from grocery stores and Lowe's I guess you never know they exact type. ;) One difference in the growing conditions of the two trees is water. The below gets watered from the sprinklers and the above gets watered infrequently by hand but is heavily mulched. Front Yard Deodar. Thank you so much for your advice. I really appreciate it. Jennifer

Pic 3 of the first post and pic 1 of the second look like pest damage to me. The rest could be drought stress or fungal. Unless it's been unusually dry for you, I'm guessing early blight is the likely culprit. Prune off all dead and affected foliage, bag it and seal it and throw away. Don't let it sit around your yard, and don't compost it. Spray fungicide on all surfaces of the entire plant (stems, fruit, flower, leaves both top and bottom surfaces) and all neighboring tomato plants weekly until the end of the season, reapplying or adjusting your spraying schedule around rain. You have different options regarding fungicide depending on your philosophy. Copper is a common choice, and some copper formulations are organic. Daconil (chlorathonil) is another common choice but is not organic. Biologicals like Serenade are newer and have less evidence behind them but are very environment-friendly and safe for people and wildlife. Note that you're not going to "cure" fungal diseases. What spraying does is slow down the disease progress so that you can get a good harvest in and keep your plants going until the end of the season. As far as your cukes go, some diseases can spread between very different species, but most fungal diseases that that could be probably won't.