Early blight is a very common fungal infection that makes rings like a bulls eye on the leaves with dark rings, darker rings, and yellow spreading out from the infection spots. If this is what you have, it will spread quickly and has the potential to kill the plant or severely stunt production. It is however treatable, and even organically treatable. The first step is, if you only have a few infected leaves on the plant and the plant can live without those, the best thing is to remove all infected leaves. At least remove severely infected leaves because they're as good as dead anyway. Make sure to remove all fallen leaves from the garden and put them in the trash, NOT the compost. Don't handle healthy plants after handling infected plants without washing your hands thoroughly with soap. Next what works for me is to treat with a dilute vinegar spray. Mix 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar with one gallon of water and 1/2 tsp cooking oil. Spray this lightly on the leaves and on the soil around the plant. Do only a light misting and don't pour it on, too much vinegar will harm the plant but just a little will only harm the fungus. Do this twice a week for two weeks. This levels the playing field by killing all fungi present. Then begin a cornmeal and compost treatment to encourage only the beneficial fungi to grow back. You can brew a tea of cornmeal by putting one cup of regular grocery store cornmeal into an old pair of nylons, then place the nylons like a tea bag into your watering can and let this steep for at least 24 hours. Spray this on all your plants, it's only helpful and not hurtful so don't worry about doing it too often or too heavily. You can also spray with compost tea (make a "tea" in this same way with the nylons except fill them with compost instead of the cornmeal) and spray this on to boost healthy fungi populations. You can also sprinkle cornmeal on the ground around your plants for a natural fertilizer and fungal protector (but sprinkle some soil on top to hide it from the ants). The key here is to give the healthy fungi a fighting chance against the harmful ones. If you encourage a good population of helpful organisms in your garden, those organisms will kill off the harmful ones and you will have healthy plants.

Wintersowing in milk jugs, here, too. Gardening of any kind when it's below zero outdoors, snowing and blowing, is a good thing. I garden indoors, too, with a four shelf lighted rack filled with blooming African violets. In fact, I accidentally found help for my winter depression because I set up this rack in my bedroom a few years back in an effort to keep the plants safe from my toddler grandson. I have the lights on a timer and found that unlike an alarm clock, when the lights click on and bathe the room in artificial "sunshine" I am wide awake and ready to take on the world. In fact, in my new house the AV's on the rack are in the room at the end of the hall, next door to my bedroom. The doors to both rooms always stand open (I live alone now) and even though it is not direct light on my bed, if still feels like "dawn." No more hiding under the covers, hitting the snooze. I feel just as cheerful in winter as I do in high summer when the sun is up well before 6 a.m. (All that's missing is a few bird calls!) I know everyone can't fit a plant rack in their bedroom (nor would they want one) but it does work for me! :-)

Well thank you for all this information. I have a Beta, I assume with all its colors that it is a male. We rescued him from Wal-Mart in a tiny cup. Poor fellow. My husband wasn't sure if he would survive. We have had him for a year. How long do these fish live? Also our Beta is very moody. I swear he is dead laying on the bottom of the our 1 gallon plant bowl. But when I check and feed him he lifts himself up to go for the food. When I clean out the water and bowl, I always use stress coat treatment. I will try using warm water next time. My Betta is just inactive. I feed him around 4 tiny pellets almost once a day. We do have cats that like to eat the water plant leaves. But the Beta doesn't seemed stressed over it. Of course I chase the cats away from the bowl. The cats are not interested in the fish but the greenery. Please let me know if this is normal for a Beta or is he heading for heaven. Thank you, Theresa

I am so sad for you and your little N.Z tree! I know how excited you were to get it, and I know you have nurtured it since, like you do all of your trees. In regards to the burnt leaves on the new growth, my Bearss Lemon had the same problem with the new growth getting burned a month ago. I keep mine well watered, and, I have never used any sprays of any kind on it, except just spraying the leaves off in the early morning and evening with water from the hose. The sun gets hot fast some mornings, and the new growth is tender. It recovered nicely in time. Yours will also. It is mind boggling how we nurture and care for all of our trees pretty much in the same way, with watering, fertilizing, spraying etc.. but, then we have that one tree that drops leaves or just looks unhealthy for some reason. Then we play it out in our mind over and over, why did it happen, did I do something different, miss something?? I have a key lime that set fruit, and then just dropped leaves on one side of the tree! Just one side, and, I still can't figure that one out!! In your zone and area you should have enough time for it to push out new growth and recover nicely.. Hugs!!