farmerdilla, i do have a lot of zuchs, however, there were five or six like the ones i posted ... two with actual soft, rotting ends ... if this is ber, how can i alleviate it? less watering? spraying with *something*? all the rest of my zucchinis are wonderful ... they are not *old* plants, we planted late (early june) and they were not huge when planted .... thank you for all help -- as much as i complain, we really do love zucchini -- last night i grilled shrimp kabobs with zucc and green peppers and our very small onions ... yummm .... we love our zucchinis ...

"Repotting can sometimes cause 'delayed' infection which slowly festers until the cactus is a hollow shell. Mealy bug infestation could also leave open sores leading to fungal infection." I think I noticed this issue WHILE I was repotting it, so I doubt that was what caused it, and the mealy bug infestation was more recent and didn't leave any open sores that I saw (I lost an Astrophytum to mealy induced rot last year). Seems like this was a problem that originated before I bought it. Oh well, least it seems like it wasn't my fault :( About the repotting-induced-rot thing, though. I left a number of cacti out to dry for a bit after depotting them and prior to repotting them so that any root damage could heal over, especially in cases where depotting had to be more aggressive for various reasons. Good idea, bad idea, or no difference either way? Or is that more of an issue of soil composition?

Have you tried other rooting methods before the baggie one? I have never had any trouble just rooting in the mix my plants grow in, using the smallest pot possible to prevent problems with overwatering. The little pots dry out much faster, so if you are heavy with water, it isn't likely that they will stay too wet for long enough to cause problems. I used to mist my cuttings alot to keep them from drying out- like 20 times a day - but then I got tired of misting, and all the fungus gnats from the dampness, and noticed that the cuttings did just as well without misting. The few times I have tried other methods have been when a cutting was giving me trouble or was in bad shape to begin with. Nummularioides is kind of woody, and even more extremely so if the cutting is older growth, which could cause it to rot before it gets a chance to root. But other than that, I found numm. easy to root, though it does take a longer time than others.

Good morning Katrina! Cotton root rot is a fungal infection of the soil for which there is no well-known chemical treatment. It is very persistent in the soil and pretty much wiped out the cotton crop once grown in many southern states. Millions of dollars have been spent studying it, but no real solution has been found. One researcher at Texas A&M has had some success in recent years with a combination of encapsulated (slow-release) nitrogen fertilizer in combination with certain commercial fungicides and the addition of various minerals he has found to be deficient in soil infected with cotton root rot. One reason cotton root rot is such a problem is that it is able to lie dormant in the soil for a long time, perhaps many decades. The best solutions are to try to acidify your soil, since it thrives in soils with a pH of 7.0 to 8.5. I have had some success in controlling it, but not eliminating it, by working large amounts of compost, peatmoss, greensand and other amendments into the soil. Using 1 lb. of ammonium sulfate per 100 square feet of soil twice annually helps, but there is no guarantee. Improving drainage also helps, but does not eliminate the fungas. I don't know if hot compost would help. I tried it one year with fresh cow manure, and all I got was every weed known to mankind. :) One of the main treatments for cotton root rot in areas where field crops are grown is to grow various monocots, like sorghum and corn, and till them into the soil once they are mature. This seems to help slow down, but not completely eliminate, the fungal disease. It is not a practical solution for the average landscape, though. Growing up in Texas where the main crop was once cotton, and my daddy's family were once cotton farmers, I knew all about cotton root rot long before I experienced it firsthand myself. When I lived in Fort Worth, I listened to Neil Sperry's radio gardening show from the time he began it in the late 1970s to the time I moved here. Countless times I heard him diagnose certain types of sudden plant death as cotton root rot, and most of the time the gardeners involved simply didn't want to accept his diagnosis--I assume because none of us wants to have a disease in our gardens for which there is no simple cure! When I began planting here and had cotton root rot problems, I was just sick about it. Over the years I have worked hard to improve the soil in the area where I have had the problems, but the cotton root rot still rears its ugly head every now and then. With regards to composted cotton burs, I have never heard of any problems with them being a carrier of cotton root rot. As far as I understand it, the cotton root rot attacks and destroys the roots of affected plants but does not travel up into the plant system. Infected plants die because they can no longer receive nutrition via their now-decimated roots. I think it unlikely that you could ever find any trace of cotton root rot in composted cotton burrs. Cotton is still successfully grown in the High Plains of Texas, and one of the by-products of that plant would be the composted cotton burs. I believe no one in Texas would process and sell those burs if there was any chance whatsoever that cotton root rot could be in them. One of the leading researchers in the area of Cotton Root Rot is Texas A&M University. In reading their data, I have never seen any concern expressed about cotton root rot being transferred via the burs. Cotton root rot seems to be more of a problem in parts of Texas than in Oklahoma, but that doesn't help you if you are in the part of Oklahoma where is has reared its ugly head. Hope this info helps. Dawn