Some areas' agricultural rules require not sending or receiving foliage. Removing the foliage does leave many problems behind. MANY are very likely to mildew, black spot and/or rust in the damp, close environment of the sealed box, anyway, even the more resistant types. Foliage is much more likely to rot in damp conditions than canes, so removing it should help improve the success of boxed plants. When I was propagating like a fiend at The Huntington Library many years ago, I would regularly strip anything I brought home and trash what was removed. I generally didn't have disease issues in that garden and found by leaving much of them in the trash before introducing them to my garden, I was more easily able to keep it that way. The new, bare plants were set under a tree where they received filtered sun and a generous mulch of horse manure. They all grew well and never seemed to mind the treatment. I'd prefer receiving rooted plants sans foliage. I don't want to bring other strains of fungi or bugs here any more than anyone else wants mine. Kim

Iron deficiency is *very* uncommon in and around Portland. Another reason for the resemblance to iron shortage is poor root function. And anything that damages roots can be the underlying cause, among them dry soil, underdeveloped roots, root rot (I doubt it here), root loss from transplanting, and more. Right now, I'll make the wild guess it's all about water. So, ellen, when you stick your finger into the soil, is it dry, moist or downright soggy? (I'll bet on dry.)

Not fruit flies. Perhaps fungus gnats. If so, growing mix is too wet. White spots on leaves sunburn? Not hardened off? Extra bright day?

The spores I 'think' I am seeing are on the second pic on the stems and leaf in the lower left when I blow the pic up. They have that dusty powder appearance. Also second pic leaf lower right 2 spots, 1 on top right margin and maybe one on leaf tip. Not definitive in any way just a maybe early stage EB. And yeah if I recall you use lots of compost as your nutrient source so it could still be wet deep and the micro-herd is going to be sluggish. The yellowing still takes several days to develop anyway following the rain. Then again sometimes yellow leaves are just yellow leaves that you remove and toss and keep an eye on. Dave