Organic gardening methods and products run the gamut between the absolutely useless to the amazingly effective. No one opinion here, or other places is enough information. Only research will give you sound advice on what works and what is a waste of time and money. Many products proffered on the "organic gardener" are sold to the uninformed as miracle products that do nothing except part you from your money, and some can do more harm than good. Here is a piece that I wrote for my blog on how I determine whether or not to try something. Howling at the moon while wearing a tutu and other miracle cures. Before I go on, know that I am fully in favor of natural ways to control diseases and insects or to keep plants healthy and I always like to find ways to substitute such methods for conventional chemicals. That said it also annoys me to see the amount of snake oil sold to the uninformed. So how do I determine if a new miracle product is worth a try? First through my experience and education I look for a reasonable explanation of why it might work. Second I look for independent scientific studies and if I can find more than one or two I look for a consensus. Third I look to other trusted people who have tried the method or product. And fourth because I am in business I look at cost benefit analysis to other methods. This may not be important to someone else, and indeed in my own yard is not a big factor. Lets take three scenarios and see how this works for me. 1. A few people have told me that applying Wilt Pruf periodically before rain will help control Black Spot on roses. My experience and education tell me that there is a reason why this could work. Black Spot is a water transmitted disease, thus if a waxy coating is on the leaf when the spore hits it the hyphae might not be able to grow through it. I checked for scientific studies and can find none for or against this claim. I talked to some people I trust and found that they do believe it is a benefit. Wilt Pruf is expensive, but for reasons not relevant to this writing it was worth a try. I have tried it and believe it does what I have been told. When I tell others of this claim I tell them that I believe it works but that my experience is not by any means scientific. By the way applying any product not for the use intended is against the law so apply Wilt Pruf to deter wilting, as I did, and if it happens to control Black spot then all is good. 2. I hear that Corn gluten is a good pre-emergence weed killer. My experience and education tell me that there is no good reason this will work, but also I know nothing of the theory so have no solid reason why it will not. I checked for research and can find one study from the University of Iowa that claims it works. (Hmm interesting, what do they grow in Iowa?) The majority of studies give no credence to this research. The consensus is that though it has some limited control on some weeds it is a poor pre-emergence weed killer. I checked with people who have actually tried it and I gathered from what I heard that the only way this product might work is if they left the unopened bag on the ground, no weeds would grow underneath it. Corn gluten is expensive and I like my wallet full more than I dislike weeds. I have no intention of trying this product unless I hear compelling scientific evidence that I am wrong. 3. I read on the Internet that howling at the moon while wearing a tutu will stop Borers infesting my Pumpkins. Through my education and experience I see no reasonable reason why this would work and can think of many reasons why it won't. I checked for scientific studies and surprisingly enough could find none. I asked people I trusted and they are now inquiring about having me committed. I don't think that tutus are very expensive so cost is not a factor. Once again there is no reason to try this method except that it might annoy my neighbor who is a perpetual pain in the but. So in conclusion do your research before spending your hard earned cash on the newest miracle product. I may have posted this already, but a search did not find it so forgive me if you have seen it already.

Please allow me to amend my previous statement: "I don't know if roses have beneficial root fungus, but if they do, fungicide application would cause gradual decline and death" to "...MIGHT cause gradual decline and death, and would certainly negatively affect the health of the plant." The fungicide would be unlikely to irradicate all of the beneficial fungus population, just reduce it. I'm sure that rose growers who spray are not replacing their roses all the time, but I do get the impression that many people are giving up on certain varieties because they are so susceptible to BS. I don't think that the possibility of fungicide interfering with the over-all health of the plant can be ruled out until it has been conclusively proven by reproducible research on rose mycorrhizal fungi that roses don't have comensal fungus. Ignorant newbie question: Can bs actually kill a rose? I don't have much experience with alot of blackspot on otherwise healthy roses. The roses in my area should be grafted on Fortuniana. In the past, I have had roses on Dr. Huey that succumbed to blackspot so badly that I didn't know if it was the rootstock failure or the BS or the combination of the two that killed the plant. I have some of the same varieties now on Fortuniana and they don't have nearly the amount of blackspot that the Dr. Huey's had. My point is that if the roots are healthy, the plant will be able to fend off disease more easily. IF (BIG "IF") the roots have comensal fungus, then applications of fungicide could actually contribute to a viscious cycle of "spray... BS better... roots worse... BS worse... spray..." -I'm sure you get my point. Again, this assumes that roses have beneficial fungus on their roots. Does anyone out there have an answer on this one? I guess I could always search the net....!

LOVE this forum :) I have 2 plants that a client gave me back in May...she chopped off cuttings from her HUGE plant. They have been doing great...but noticed the red spots that some of you have mentioned. They are all over both plants. We live in Tampa...very wet humid weather. I didn't get blooms this year, but I guess from what I'm reading, sometimes you have to wait when starting a new plant from a cutting. I just don't want my plants to dye!! The leaves used to look so healthy and now they look a bit dry, and the spots concern me. I also noticed that 1 or 2 leaves are being eaten up....so I guess I have pests too. Any advise?

From the research I've just been doing on my early blight, which is what I see on yours (not the dreaded late blight), you need to get ALL of the affected leaves off there, because the spores are easily transferred from leaf to leaf, and yes, continue spraying. Serenade is an organic spray that's often recommended, and Daconil is also very popular (I don't know if it's organic though). And when you pluck off all those leaves (very carefully, so as not to spread the spores even more), you should bag them up very carefully and tightly, or burn them. Don't compost them, because you'll just be incubating the spores into your compost, which will cause further trouble. Good luck! We're in NJ and were nailed by the same rainy weather you probably had, so it's been quite the uphill battle for us too.