I am sorry that I wanted to talk about the podcast. It's like going to a party and you say something in passing without having it be set in stone. I did not start the argument. Yet, it's like I no right to defend myself? I won't even bother to chat about this anymore. Have you not ever heard of a conversational ice breaker? I was the one who was misquoted not pt03. I was not only misquoted, but a whole new meaning was attached to what I said. I am not trying to convert the world to be exactly like me. I am only chatting. You really need to lighten up. It's like you go around looking for ways to insult people and tell them they are wrong because it makes you feel good, I guess. It is really stupid that this conversation turned into a flame war. How does the omission of "to their lifestyle" change the meaning into something else? If someone cares they can go and read what you said in the first place.

Damping off is complicated because it is a collection of diseases and not just one disease, but some of them have a definite soil connection because they are soil-borne. They still have to have the 'just right' (maybe I should say 'just wrong') combination of certain conditions to develop. When we use the term damping off, we are referring to a large group including Phytopthera root rot, Pythium root rot, Rhizoctonia root rot, black root rot, white mold (Sclerotinia spp.), Gray mold (Botrytis), Fusarium, cylindrocladium, and more. Some of these are soil-borne, hence the potting soil connection, while others are seed-borne. Some are found in native soil and are transferred to soilless mixes by folks using tools, flats, pots, six-packs, watering cans, trowels, etc. that were used outside and not sterilized before used in seed-starting. Each of the group of damping-off diseases develops in somewhat different conditions. Some are more common in colder conditions and some are more common in warmer conditions. Some only affect seeds, some only affect cuttings. Some are pre-emergent and kill seed before you see any plant part emerge from the soil. These kind can penetrate the seed coat as soon as moisture penetrates it and then kills the radicle almost immediately. Some are post-emergent and kill seedlings that seem perfectly healthy one day and then are dead the next day. Pythium root rot, for example, occurs in wet, cold, poorly-drained soils and is often a direct-result of overwatering. On the other hand, Rhizoctonia root rot occurs in warm to hot temperatures in soil that is only moderately moist so your plants might get it if they are in a room that gets too hot and not because you've overwatered. That is why the right air temps are important when starting seeds. Some of the damping off fungi types only start in very specific pH ranges. Black root rot isn't found on plants in growing mediums with a pH below 4.5 or above 5.5 because it only grows in a pH of 4.5-5.5, or it may be 5.4, I don't remember now. The sterile seed-starting mix/soil-less potting soil connection has a lot to do with pH but also with soil drainage as well. Sterile seed-starting mixes generally have a pH around 5.5 and this important because most damping off diseases start at a significantly higher pH than that. If you are watering with a higher pH water, then over time the pH of the seed-starting mix goes higher and that increases the chances of damping off since the pH climbs a little time every time you water. That's one reason peat moss is a key component of commercial seed-starting mixes...because is is at the lower end of the pH scale. You can take a lot of measures to lessen the likelihood of damping off, but the most important one is to have a well-drained soilless mix and to never ever use native soil unless you've sterilized it. I always sterilize all my flats, etc. and use a sterile seedless mix. I have used potting soil to start seeds and had no problem with it, but I start hundreds and hundreds of seeds a year and want it all to go smoothly and on-schedule, so I tend to stick with sterile mixes to lessen the chances of having problems. Proper air circulation is very important and the plants need good air circulation 24/7. Proper room temperature is key. Soaking seeds in a bleach soak (1 T. bleach/quart of water) for 15 minutes is commonly recommended to lessen the chances of losing your seedlings to a soil-borne fungi from the damping off 'family'. Planting seeds at the proper depth (no deeper than 4 times the seed's thickness) lessens the chance of damping off. However, you can do everything right and have damping off and do everything wrong and not have it because life and gardening just work that way. Chamomile tea and cinnamon are two common folk remedies for damping off, and there are several others. There also are some commercial fungicides than can be used as a soil drench, although I know very little about them since I don't use them, Some of the fungi that cause various forms of damping off can live indefinitely in soil while others have a more limited life span. Pythium spp. can survive several years, whicle black root rot can live only about 10 years and Pythium an Rhizoctonia rots can live indefitely. That's just about everything I know about damping off except this....the heavier and more dense the potting mixture the more likely it is to occur. And, even though we think of damping off as a disease primarily of young seedlings, in some parts of the country, it will attack some pretty good-sized plants. I've seen it attack toamto plants (but not mine and not here in OK or TX) that have been in the ground a month or two and which have gained substantial size. No matter what you do, sometimes damping off just happens. Dawn

iice, I've been canning since I was old enough to stand on a chair at the sink to help Grandma peel tomatoes. That's actually a problem, because like Dave, I had to unlearn a bunch of old techniques and bad habits. I did take the classes as offered by my local extension service, plus my ex and I owned a bar and grille, so I took the safety classes that were required by the health department for licensing. I've periodically done some on-line course work for "refresher" and Michigan State University has an on-line course for $10, 7 sections and it must be finished within a year. I just signed up for that, I like to stay on top of the changes. And I've given some canning classes. Anyway, I tend to rebel sometimes, and do things that are not "recommended" by the USDA, such as can rutabaga. Just because it's "not recommended" doesn't mean it isn't safe, sometimes it's a quality issue. They've decided rutabaga gets too "strong" and people won't like it, so they've recommended it not be canned and they removed the instructions. I can it anyway, and apparently other people do too, because the instructions then came back! They also suggested that only regular canning jars should be used, not the recycled spaghetti sauce jars/etc. I ignored that always, I've canned tomatoes in Miracle Whip jars for decades, and I don't get any more breakage with those than with Ball/Kerr, but I only waterbath them, I don't use them in the pressure canner where they DO break more often. So, anyway, I've managed to break most of my "bad" habits, but once in a while I just do it my way when there's not much risk involved. The guidelines are just that, guidelines, but I want all the information available so I can determine the amount of risk I'm willing to take and I want everyone else to make an informed decision too. Annie

Nature is complex. Apparently mechanical transmission is not always successful. I wonder if the mites contribute a cofactor that helps the virus overcome the immune system. The following may apply to this point: "but no consistent method of mechanical inoculation has been developed for both wheat and maize that can satisfactorily bypass the use of the wheat curl mite as a vector (Mirabile, 2001; Seifers et al., 1997; Skare et al., 2003)." http://amarillo-tamu-edu.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2010/12/A-new-eriophyid-mite-borne-membrane-enveloped-virus-like-complex-isolated-from-plants.pdf ---------------------------------------------- "We are beginning to determine what proteins are present in the mite saliva, in order to determine how the mites are suppressing the immune reactions. In collaboration with Doug Cavener and Kaori Iida, we have isolated the genes for several genes involved in honeybee immunity. Not all invaders are met with a well-defined immune response, as during disease transmission by insect vectors. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie co-evolution between the vector and disease organism is critical to understanding how the disease transmission cycle might be disrupted. Through interdisciplinary collaboration with Drs. F. Gildow (PSU) and S. Gray (Cornell), we are examining the mechanisms underlying virus/vector specificity in aphids at the accessory salivary gland, the primary site determining transmission of different species of luteoviruses. In my lab, we have identified several proteins that bind to luteovirus in a vector-specific manner and that are also recognized by antibodies that mimic the virus. We are isolating the genes encoding these proteins for studies of the evolution of these virus/vector interactions, among different aphid and viral species. This research may further understanding of mechanisms underlying the vector-specificity of mosquitoes for transmission of alphaviruses." http://ento.psu.edu/directory/dxc12