This afternoon, with no warning at all the very back squash plant died of I think bacteria wilt. I don't count on any of these plants living for long. All the leaves dropped, every single one of them, it looks healthy above, that was a day ago. It's the one at the middle far left. I pulled the root, it was dark green and becoming yellowish at the root. There was no squash vine borer in the plant and the eggs have been removed for 2 days now. I think maybe my potion killed them, or maybe it was bacteria wilt. It's been 2 days and none of the rest are dying, but there some leaves that look bad, some are nice, new, healthy, and green, even the old ones look healthy. This link shows 150 different squash/pumpkin types, can anyone vouch to their resistance to squash bugs and borers. I have to say right now the patty pans, although still small, are doing fine, and the sweet dumpling had only one or two eggs on them, none at all today saying maybe they are resistant? The cucumbers didn't have any on them either. The sweet dumpling plant had lots of flowers, so it should be under the same attack as the other. I see my method of removing eggs is not working, I didn't go as far as to put the eggs in soapy water afterwards, so I don't expect to have rid them of my plants. They will just drop down under the leaves and hatch there. Oh, well. My local hardware store does not sell any of the organic bug control, no pyrethrin, no potassium salts with fatty acids, no neem oil, and no nematodes or BT. I couldn't get to the farmer's coop today, but tomorrow I will go. I'm thinking a winter crop of chrysanthemums? Can they grow in the winter? What varieties can you think of on the link below that have similar tastes to crooked neck, which I liked better. I didn't like the crooked neck I got this year, not as tasty or resilient and really was supposed to be long neck yellow squash. I'll plant a fall crop of the ones I have and put them under hoops or plastic for cold weather. Here is a link that might be useful: Squash/Pumpkin Varieties

There used to be a company in, I think, South Carolina that would go ahead of road crews & rescue plants, they then sold them via catalog & the money went to buy wildland & keep it wild. I can't remember their name it's been so long ago. I'm in the middle of a plant rescue here on the island, my brother lives in a trailer park that is being closed, all the tenants have been evicted, Jan. 31st last day there. I've been digging up crinums, hymenocallis, some iris, aloes, sanservia and other plants left in the landscaping. I just wish I had the ability to dig & move the big orange trees that will soon be bulldozed. If I see a construction site I pull over & ask if I can dig, same thing if there is a house they are tearing down. Most of the time noone cares & sometimes I get the work crew to help! Once they even dug several huge clumps of bananas & put in my truck, I looked like a mobile produce farm going home. never hesitate to ask, I hate to see plants killed, then replaced with generic boring landscaping that is unsuitable for the area. Tally HO!

If it was a light frost that just damaged some of the foliage and the temps didn't go much lower than maybe 28 to 29 F for very long then the seeds may be OK. But if it was a harder freeze then the problem is one of ice crystal formation inside the seeds which almost always makes the seeds non-viable. The only way you'll know is to process seeds as you normally do and do a test germination. That should be OK for any fruits that at least have a blush of color maybe 1/3 up from the blossom end. If the fruits are all green, bring them up and ripen them up inside if you can, by just placing them somewhere out of the sun where it's cool. No need to use paper bags and cut apple slices to hasten ripening. Seeds taken from all green fruits are not usually viable either so do let those fruits ripen which they will do if they're close to maturity. The wild everglades ones are just another red currant type, S. pimpinellifolium, so I don't think that would be a horrible loss if you lost them. And red currants, some named, some not, are very available. Carolyn

This is complicated. Maybe we should just discuss brownie recipes. In lieu of that, let's just for now try to focus on two aspects of the question, food quality and conservation. Wasn't there someone who, early in the discussion, cited a large study published in Science magazine? I can't find that post now but the study is the most important one I am aware of. The full text can't be accessed at the Science web site without subscribing. It is available elsewhere on the web. The study sampled and compared wild and farmed salmon from many regions around the world. The level of PCBs and other dangerous substances was found to be "significantly" higher in farmed salmon. The word "significant", when used in this sort of document is understood to mean statistically significant, which is not the same as the every day usage. Statistical significance means that a difference between two samples can be proven mathematically at a certain criterion. It does not mean the difference is important. If I sprinkle 2 grains of salt on my order of fries and you sprinkle 4, the difference obviously is statistically significant. But is it important? Neither one is enough salt to affect the taste at all. Significant but not important. The study found, at some locations, levels of certain toxins at 10 or so parts per billion. At those levels, differences of say, 4 parts per billion would be significant. But important? FDA standards allow hundreds of times that concentration. But that is not the end of the controversy. Some, including the authors of the study, prefer the standards of the EPA over those of the FDA. EPA standards are much stricter. This is where science and politics collide. One might think that the "Food" and Drug Administration would take precedence over the "Environmental" Protection Administration in the matter of food safety. But that would be too simple. I have to observe that, although the importance to science of a "not statistically significant" finding is equal to, often greater than, one of "statistically significant". The importance in press releases is not. Everyone wants the results of their work to be "significant". Well, that is the health issue in a nutshell, a very small nutshell. The conservation issue is more difficult. Jim Here is a link that might be useful: Global Assessment of Organic Contaminants in Farmed Salmon