Hi Jim: I love the pics. of your garden. Your garden is so clean, neat, and tidy. Mine are full of leaves and broken branches from my 26 trees.

Your sister's rose bush look really good, the buds have a good chance to bloom. I have 11 large windows downstairs, my goal is to plant roses in front of windows, so I can enjoy the view, plus prevent break-in from thieves. My neighborhood's rating went from B to C+, after 3 workers at local Kentucky Fried Chicken got shot from a night-robbery. Here's a picture of Frederic Mistral taken from my window:

Sharp thorns make a good deterrent!

Maybe my sister wants to see her rose bush bloom one more time this year so I'll let them bloom...

Great window shot Straw! :-)

Hi Jim: I look over your pics. again ... I adore your marigold bushes ... way-better looking than any mini-roses. Today I got an e-mail from Kittymoonbeam, previous poster in Organic Rose. She has many roses in CA, and a great personality. Kitty informed of the 100 degree temp. in Southern CA: "Plants around the neighborhood have died of drought and many roses are sending up Dr. Huey canes. Especially sad are pretty birches that were popular 5 years ago and most of these riverbank trees are dead in brown lawns now. The good news is that after I removed the pine bark mulch on the side roses, the foliage is now completely clean."

**** From Straw: Kitty confirmed my observation that mulching with acidic stuff like pine bark, pH 4, or alfalfa meal & pellets at pH 5 to 6, will result in more harmful fungal diseases. In contrast, mulching with VERY alkaline horse manure (high pH like baking soda), result in suppressing fungal diseases.

Below is a window-shot of Stephen Big Purple rose, picture taken yesterday, October 2. Fall blooms have more petals from cooler temp.

Another Great window shot Straw...

Wonder about used coffee grounds as I like to spread them under our roses to get the earthworms excited into loosening our soil???

Of course it doesn't matter with the Double Ko's as they do not get disease no matter what it seems...

But other roses might be a different story....

Cool day today as our high reached 59 degrees and no sun at all...
Right now its raining!

I had to move Mr Lincoln as he is getting severe Powdery Mildew and I do not want it to spread...

I applied Gritty Lime to ML container about 2 weeks ago but that application did not help...

Powdery Mildew out of control with ML & TA so ordered some Greencure to try. :-/
Some Double Knockouts getting a touch of PM also...
I moved ML away from all roses...

Temp today only reached 50 degrees so far and not much sun again...

It's October ...lol

Hi Jim: Good idea to get Greencure, or potassium bicarbonate. Many forms of potassium are used to control fungi: Potassium Sorbate is a preservative in many foods: salad dressing, yogurt, low-sugar yelly, bottle sauces, etc. Potassium Phosphite is used for the control of downy mildew on soybean crop. Here's an excerpt from below link on potassium silicate to protect plants against fungal diseases:

"Potassium Silicate is a natural fungicide; it helps build the plants defense from attacks by insects and fungus. It helps the plant growth by depositing in the epidermal cell walls, enhancing the plant's ability to keep the leaves pointed towards the light source. Potassium Silicate is impregnated in the epidermal cell layer acting as a barrier against penetration of fungal attacks from powdery mildew, black spots."

***** From Straw: In my Chicagoland garden: mildew is rampant on my peonies (turned white), but zero on roses that are watered with my alkaline tap (pH 8.5, almost as alkaline as baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate). I also put potassium sulfate (sulfate of potash) in my tap water when I water plants.

However, the 2 roses in pots (with MG potting soil, at pH 6.5), have mildew, since they only get rain water, and pH of rain water is 6 in my Chicagoland, but rain is even more acidic on the East coast. Will post pics. to show the difference between roses watered with alkaline tap plus potassium sulfate, and roses that get rain-water only.

Here is a link that might be useful: Potassium silicate to strengthen cell walls of plants

Mister Lincoln has PM so bad his canes are even white in spots!
I think I'll try hosing him off with plain water until Greencure arrives?

{{gwi:336819}}

This post was edited by jim1961 on Sat, Oct 4, 14 at 16:26

HI JIm: Wow! That is bad mildew. Today I planted Heirloom hybrid tea and Jude the Obscure from pots into the ground. I was surprised to see zero mildew in Jude, thanks to the recent 2 days of rain. Heirloom has just a tiny bit of mildew, upon taking that from the pot, I found that the pot was soaking wet from poor drainage. Jude's pot is plastic, thus drains much better.

Last week dry spell was a blessing, since I watered both Heirloom and Jude with my tap, plus sulfate of potash ... Thanks to potassium, Heirloom has 1 bloom, and 2 buds. Jude has 4 buds. But it was a poor transfer, so Jude got wilted when I planted in the ground.

The best thing I did was to order sulfate of potash from Kelp4Less early spring, 5 lbs. for $11 ... then the price doubled during the summer. I gave some to Seaweed in CA, and still have plenty left. Thanks for sulfate of potash, I have MORE blooms in my roses. It will get down to 40 degrees tonight.

I also dug up the Comte de Chambord which BS badly, right below a rain-spout. My experiment of mixing cracked corn failed: the pH was lowered too much, with cracked corn being acidic at pH 4. In contrast, I planted Carding Miil into the ground WITHOUT cracked corn, only ENCAP dry compost and TomatoTone. Carding Mill now has 8 buds, pretty good for a band bought end of July.

Below is Jude the Obscure, bought as a band July 24. Picture taken last week Sept. 26, during our dry spell.

Jude the Obscure looks like he might have some BS or is that another fungus that resembles BS? Or end of the year leaf blotches?
Our roses are getting end of the year leaf blotches & some spots too...
Otherwise Judes looking good Straw!

Hi Jim: Roses can break out in Black spots from NOT enough water or nutrients. I neglected Jude, skipped watering a few days, and it gets mostly rain-water.

There are a few 100% clean roses mulched with alfalfa hay ... which provides constant release of nutrients plus keeping the soil moist. Digging roses up help me to understand what makes a rose clean. Golden Celebration was 100% clean in its 3rd year, even in late fall. When I moved that, there was at least one foot of fluffy & moist horse manure on top, plus excellent drainage. It was clean, since it got the perfect moistness, plus constant release of nutrients from horse manure above.

I dug Eglantyne up today, a BS-fest on the hill. It's a poor spot: hilly, which is too dry during a hot spell. Plus poor drainage, which makes it too wet during heavy rain. Instead of fluffy soil, the root was encased in sticky and heavy clay and could not expand. I'm going to replace the soil completely on the BS-fest roses.

Working on the drainage, or changing the soil is the permanent solution ... but spraying is a temporary fix. When I see your Mr. Lincoln with mildew, my first thought was: salt from accumulated fertilizer in pot, which drives down potassium, necessary for disease-prevention. It's recommended to replace the soil in pots every 2 to 3 years.

Plus when calcium is supplied via gritty lime, double-potassium, and double-nitrogen is needed. My cleanest roses got just a touch of gritty lime, some potassium, and lots of alfalfa hay, with NPK 2.5-1-2 on top.

Below is a bouquet picked this weekend, Oct. 4. Upper layer: Bolero, Annie L. McDowell, Wise Portia (raspberry-color), Frederic Mistral. Lower layer: Golden Celebration, Heirloom, and Christopher Marlowe.

Mister Lincoln soil was freshly put in this year.

Drainage problems can be a pain... I think I would use raised beds instead of messing with our native soil.

Great looking bouquet Straw! Very nice! :-)

Hi Jim: What type of pot is Mr. Lincoln in? My Styrofoam pots with FLAT bottom have poor-drainage issue. Even when hubby drilled holes on the sides, they won't drain properly since the bottom of the pot is too narrow.

In contrast, my cheap plastic pots have wider bottom, plus there's an indentation at the bottom for air-flow & many holes, so I don't have to raise my pots up with bricks or wooden planks. When pots sit against the ground, that block the drainage. Even folks in CA elevated their pots with bricks, or mix 1/2 perlite with 1/2 potting soil, for aeration and better drainage.

A friend sent me variety of mints. Mints like it moist, but they suffer in my Styrofoam pot with narrow bottom. There's a pot with a big crack at the side, mints do really well added airflow & drainage. The pot where mints do best is 1/2 perlite and 1/2 potting soil.

I'm rooting roses from cuttings and realize that own roots are wimpy, and do best in FLUFFY soil ... even the MG potting soil, with mostly peat-moss is too dense. It's best to mix 1/2 perlite with potting soil for aeration and drainage in our heavy & constant rain. That's why Heirloom Roses in Oregon recommended: mixing 1/2 wood-chips with native soil for aeration, before planting own-roots.

For years I shun away from alfalfa hay since someone did a blog that alfalfa hay mat down. That's not true. There's Wise Portia with a big heap of alfalfa hay on top, in the shade. It was really wet there ... at first I thought it's the alfalfa hay matting down, then I realize that it's a poor drainage spot, plus I re-direct the rain-gutter to pour right smack on Wise Portia.

In contrast, roses in full-sun, without tons of rain dumping on them ... are doing well with alfalfa hay on top. The key is CONSTANT and BALANCED nutrients released from alfalfa hay NPK of 2.5-1-2. Below is Sweet Promise hybrid tea, total wimp after the coldest winter, was a BS-fest since spring. It's sprouting clean new leaves, being mulched for 2 months with alfalfa hay, picture taken end of September:

ML is in a plastic pot and drains very well... I drilled extra holes to make sure of that. Put fresh regular Miracle Gro potting soil/mix in this year around March...

Temps been dipping into the upper 30's past couple of nights..

Hi Jim: Our temps. are dipping in the upper 30's also. I'm planting all the mints into the ground. I started with 6 pots of rooting roses from cuttings, and only 1 made it (I gave away 2 rootings, and keep 2 for myself). Here are the result of best-root-growth in 40" of rain, zone 5a:

1) 3/4 perlite to 1/4 potting soil yielded the best root growth, and clean baby-roses, no black spots, even in October. I used Schultz potting soil, which has better drainage than MG.

2) 1/2 perlite to 1/2 potting soil ... rooting was strong, but black spots were rampant. Too wet and dense for tender young roots. This has gypsum (8% salt), plus Jobes' organic fertilizer added, plus watered with sulfate of potash (43% salt). Also had mildew from the salt of the fertilizers. The plus? That plastic pot was soaking wet, but with lots of earthworms.

2) The worst result was MG regular-potting soil, at pH 6.5, rootings got moldy within the 1st month. All 6 cuttings turned black and I had to throw them away.

3) Second worst was MG moisture control potting soil (neutral pH), that did great during hot & dry June, but when we got into heavy rain, all rootings got moldy, and rotted.

CONCLUSION: Pots or poor-drainage clay can't take that much heavy rain pounding on such a small surface. 1/2 perlite to 1/2 potting soil doesn't drain fast enough ... next year I use 3/4 perlite to 1/4 potting soil to root cuttings. The best site on rooting roses recommended 3/4 coarse sand to 1/4 peat-moss ... for pots only.

Coarse sand doesn't work with heavy clay. I dug Eglantyne up, which I put 2 big bags of coarse sand .. and that glued up with my clay into concrete, very little earthworms. I dug up another Austin rose, which I broke up my sticky clay with gypsum and cracked corn: less glue-up, more earthworms, but not as fluffy as the holes with wood chips and leaves. Below is a vertical shot of the bouquet I picked this weekend. Frederic Mistral and Annie L. McDowell roses are my big producers, 20+ blooms, I put lots of leaves in their planting holes last fall:

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Mon, Oct 6, 14 at 13:00

Fantastic roses in your bouquet Straw!

Nothing going on here today except cool and rainy weather!
Greencure should arrive tomorrow...
Wonder how I can get that thick residue p. mildew off of Mister Lincolns canes?
Wonder if the greencure will take care of that?
Guess I'll find out soon enough...lol

I've never seen or heard of Schultz potting soil! ???

This post was edited by jim1961 on Tue, Oct 7, 14 at 0:40

Hi Jim: Schultz potting soil has larger composted forest-products, thus more "friable", or loose than dense MG-potting soil (mostly peat moss). It's sold at Menards.

I once spent hours researching on the best potting soil, and came across a site where they tested many different types of potting soils sold at stores, using pepper plants. MG organic potting soil came way head of MG Moisture-Control and MG regular potting soil. I used all 3 before, and I agree: MG organic potting soil has large chunks of pine-bark mixed in, and less peat moss, thus drains faster. I got 15 blooms on Sonia Rykiel in a pot, same with FireFighter as 1st year own-root. Both grew too tall for the pot in a short time, due to excellent drainage.

The best potting soil for tender root is what my neighbor used: Ball professional potting soil, sold only to greenhouse to root annuals from seeds. It's made of composted pine fines & perlite & vermiculite & lime & gypsum, and much less peat-moss than MG.

The below link by UCdavis tested 15 potting soils and found that they are HIGH IN SALT, from the ingredients NOT listed: most likely chicken manure (cheapest), sewage sludge (high in salt), and wood ash (to impart the black color). UCdavid recommendation for potting soil: "Select mix high in bark, forest products, vermiculite, and lastly peat moss" "Thoroughly leach potting soil at least 4 to 5 times, before planting" "Fertilize with low-salt fertilizer". Out of the 15 potting soils tested by UCdavis, I used Jungle Growth, and found it to be better than MG, due to better drainage.

I agree with UCdavis on the high-salt content of potting soils .... alfalfa works wonder because it has zero salt. $8 big bale of alfalfa hay has zero salt, versus salt index of chemical nitrogen (urea, ammonium sulfate) are over 80%, and potassium chloride at 112.6%.

Ball professional potting soil (100% organic) is so low-salt, and fluffy that I find roses' root grew into the pot 100%, even when my neighbor skipped watering for a few days ... the soil would be bone-dry, but the roses are still perky & healthy.

I used Ball professional potting soil to grow Paul Neyron, the most disease-prone rose ever bred. But it was 100% clean even during fall, see picture below, of Paul Neyron in composted pine-fines potting soil ... it drains very fast, and very crumbly, great for tender roots:

Here is a link that might be useful: Rating of 15 potting soils by UCdavis

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Tue, Oct 7, 14 at 10:08

My pots this year have mildew compared to previous years of ZERO MILDEW. We have plenty of rain this year !!!

The only thing I did differently was to top the pots with Milorganite (sewage sludge), which I found to be high-in salt & iron & phosphorus ... great for fungal growth. The other thing I did was to top with EnCap dry compost (made of cow manure & leaves).

Below link listed the salt & antibiotics and toxic chemicals in sewage sludge. That's why Whole Foods Market banned produce planted on sewage sludge. Here's an excerpt from below link: "the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found in 2009 that dozens of hazardous materials have been documented in every one of the sludge samples around the country. The hazardous materials included 27 metals that were found in virtually every sample, three pharmaceuticals -- including the antimicrobial triclocarban, which FDA recently moved to regulate in soaps -- in every sample, three steroids in all samples, and all but one currently used flame retardant chemical in all samples."

Below is a Summer Samba rose in a pot last fall, with sulfate of potash & gypsum fertilizer for best root growth. It was clean & zero BS or mildew. I should had done what worked, rather than experimenting with new stuff !!

Here is a link that might be useful: Salt, antiobiotics, and chemicals in sewage sludge

I do not think we have a Menards around here to try Schultz potting soil. But I'll check and see on the Schultz and ball potting soils.

I just checked for the nearest Menards at that seems to be in another state (Ohio) 5 hours from here...lol

I called our 2 local greenhouses and both do not use ball soils anymore...They use mixtures of different products now. Would not give a reason?

Hi Jim: Ball International Nursery no longer sells their potting soil to the public ... that includes other nurseries. Ball potting soil was voted as #1 in container-gardening years ago. My neighbor works for Ball Nursery and got me a bag years ago, I asked him to buy me another bag, but he say they no longer sell that to outsiders.

MG Organic potting soil is sold at Walmart. That was excellent drainage. I get good drainage also with MG moisture control mixed with 1/2 perlite ... I took pics. of mint growing in that, vs. without perlite: Mint with 1/2 perlite mixed in grew twice bigger than the ones with 100% potting soil.

Greencure arrived and it has been applied according to directions. I have to repeat again in one week...

While everyone is getting stressed out in the other thread Mister Lincoln is trying his best to bloom...

You made me laugh, Jim. I love your sense of humor! Thank you for my 1st laugh of the day .... nothing beats a pretty rose like Mr. Lincoln and a good laugh. I got a lovely bouquet today of Carding Mill, Crimson Glory, Bolero & others.

I really like Carding Mill ... a friend saw many Austin roses at Chicago Botanical Garden. She said Carding Mill has the most blooms and the best-looking bush .... So glad that I bought it free-shipping from Heirloom. I like its myrrh scent, and constant blooming.

I should do my last pH-testing of holes, since I dug up many holes.

Glad you got a laugh Straw...lol
Hope you Carding Mill does well for you Straw!

Give it up for Mister Lincoln... hoot hoot! toot toot!
woooo!

I applied compost to the Double Knockout rose bed today...
I did the entire bed this time and just not under roses... I'll get and spread alittle wood mulch next year just enough to keep the pets from getting muddy...

Hi Jim: I love that bloom of Mr. Lincoln. We have nice weather here: sunny & dry and perfect for gardening. The past few days of taking NOW ultra-fish-oil pills were great for my sleep: vivid dreams & no need to nap during the day, thus more time for gardening.

Plants like fish too. There's Prickles (Bailey) in Rose forum who put salmon scraps on his Young Lycidas rose and got 120+ blooms for spring .. and IT WAS IN A POT !! I topped Alaska fish pellets NPK 4-6-6 on Bolero a month ago, and it's my best bloomer. That stuff is expensive so I only use for my favorite rose.

Chicken manure isn't the best fertilizer, due to the salt, but it's cheap. My feed store sells fish-meal, but in a HUGE BAG, so I'll bypass that ...

I once used Drammatic K fish/kelp fertilizer ... Even though its a 2-5-1 blend of nutrients the product did very well here...

Alaska fish pellets 4-6-6 would be a nice formula for roses...

My goal is to duplicate what happens in the forest and forget about adding any store bought fertilizers...

Here is a link that might be useful: Drammatic K fish/kelp fertilizer

This is the rose bed I completely applied Compost to yesterday...

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GRACIE...

Hi Jim: Your Gracie is a cutie, and your marigolds brighten my day !! You take very good care of your garden, it's so clean and neat.

I'm taking 3 NOW fish-oil capsules (only 14 cents each), rather than 2, and it has helped my sleep tremendously. Was up since 7:15 AM this morning, not a single second of being sleepy or drowsy !!! Looks like I don't need a nap whatsoever with fish oils & Brewer's yeast and CALM (magnesium citrate).

Magnesium citrate is faster-acting than the magnesium oxide sold at stores. That's why CALM has 2,500+ Four-and-1/2 star reviews on Amazon. I take that to prevent diabetes (it runs in my family) .. plus it helps with sleep. But nothing beat fish-oil in high quality sleep at night.

I went to my neighbor ... she showed me the plants in pots watered with 1 Tablespoon of fish emulsion (Alaska brand sold at HomeDepot), in 2 quarts of water, once a week. Her plants are amazing ... she left them outside, and they haven't declined, even with the cold weather. Her green-bell pepper plant is in a tiny pot (2 years old soil) and it has bigger fruits than the plant itself. Her ferns in pots look so perfect I thought they are plastic plants.

Fish emulsion is much lower in salt than MG-soluble fertilizer. I used MG-soluble for pots before, plants turned brown early when the cold weather hits. Below is an interesting article entitled, "How oily fish could help children sleep better: Daily dose of omega-3 stops youngsters waking during the night." It looks like fish emulsion gives plants a "good night rest" too ..... they don't expire, or get "burnt out" early before winter hits.

When my kid was young, I gave her Omega-3 in the form of flax oil ... she would fell off her bed, and STILL sleeping on the floor !! Nothing would disturb her sleep, even when I came inside her room to adjust her blankets. I'm switching her from flax oil to fish oil, after seeing what a BIG improvement in sleep with increased fish oil ... less than 50 cents a day for 3 pills.

Here is a link that might be useful: How fish oil helps children to sleep better

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Fri, Oct 10, 14 at 23:03

I never tried Fish oil capsules so I can't really comment on if they would help me sleep better or not. But my wife takes 2-3 of them per day but still has trouble sleeping.
My wife has MS and other heath problems though...

Glad to hear fish oil is working for you though! :-)

The Brewers Yeast gives me energy and that's a fact...lol

I need to figure out what fertilizer I'll be using on Mister Lincoln next year...I might use a fish fertilizer instead of MG on him...

I did not fertilize any of our marigolds this year whether they were in the ground or in pots. They all bloomed constant without fertilizer.

The MG potting soil had enough nutrients that lasted all season for marigolds...

I did experiment on a few other potted plants we have though... Dr Frankenstein...lol

Hi Jim: You are right that brewer's yeast gives energy, I also see that in my using 1 Tbs. for the past 4 months. Without that stuff, I would not be able to chopped down 2 trees, dug in 20 feet of plastic edging, plus bricking a bed.

I was so energetic that I broke my old shovel, so I bought a new one. The new shovel for $10 at Menards is so much better than my $$ old one. The new shovel is fiberglass, so much lighter, plus wet soil doesn't stick to it.

I researched on both rice bran and brewer's yeast ... tested both on roses. Rice bran was a disaster for BS, thanks to its fungal-promoters: high in manganese at 838%, plus high in phosphorus at 198% ... compared to zero values for Brewer's Yeast. Manganese is known as a rust-promoter in one University research on rust-fungus on plants. Rice bran is also high in iron, at 122% ... and high iron is known to promote fungal growth. See link below for nutrients in rice bran:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5725/2

However, rice bran is very good for human's health, thanks to its high values in vitamin-B: 217% thiamine (B1), 20% riboflavin (B2), 240% B6, 201% niacin, 29% vitamin E, 19% folate, and 87% pantothenic acid.

Brewer's yeast is also high in B-vitamins: 80% Thiamine (B1), 90% riboflavin, 50% niacin, 40% B6, 15% folate, and 6% pantothenic acid. What's special about Brewer's yeast is its high in selenium, at 90%. Selenium is both an anti-fungal, and anti-cancer agent. Brewer's yeast is also high in anti-fungal agents: 18% potassium, 10% zinc, and 50% copper. See link below:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/1323569/2

I had such lousy sleep for decades, thanks to my hay fever plus our hard-well water (high in calcium). One of the symptom of excess calcium is tension and insomnia. That's why I take magnesium citrate (CALM) to relax, plus to prevent diabetes. Your wife might like CALM, see link below. A few M.D's in pain-management recommend that for elder patients, since it relaxes muscle & helps with sleep. It has 1,500+ Four-and-1/2 stars-reviews on Amazon.

I'm very picky in my reviews of products we bought from Amazon, and CALM earned 5 stars from everyone in my family: hubby said it helped with his leg cramps ... he's a marathon runner that runs over 10 miles per day. My kid loves its taste and goes to bed fast ... no more staying up. Magnesium citrate works fast, and makes me sleepy within 15 minutes.

I spent hours of researching on best sleep, like reading over 1,000 reviews of products. One lady mentioned about how CALM (magnesium citrate) should be used with B1. She's right, all the B-vitamins help with sleep, so does magnesium. They are found in whole grains, beans, and leafy greens ... and we don't eat enough of them !!

For over a week I took only CALM and Brewer's yeast ... I went to bed fast, but the quality of my sleep was poor. Then I added 3 fish-oils for Omega-3. Amazing !!! They all work together for the best sleep ever, no need for napping during the day. If you look at the nutritional profile of salmon, it's similar to Brewer's yeast: high in B-vitamins, high in selenium ... but salmon has Omega-3, versus none in Brewer's yeast.

We eat lots of salmon, like twice a week, plus I have canned sardines often for lunch. That didn't help my sleep whatsoever !!! Then I found out that frozen salmon loses 50% of its Omega-3, plus farmed salmon have much less than the wild-caught. Wild caught fresh salmon is $$$, plus hard to find. So fish oils is much cheaper, and does the same. NOW ultra-omega fish-oil has the best reviews on Amazon, because it works, plus cheapest at 14 cents per pill.

Below link is CALM magnesium citrate .. over a thousand people swore that it helps with sleep ... so does my family, after testing that for several weeks. We calculate that to 5 cents per usage to fall asleep immediately.

Here is a link that might be useful: CALM magnesium citrate for $13

Thanks for the Calm link and other info Straw!

Now on to my Marigold experiment for repelling rose slugs/ sawflies...

About 1.5 months ago I removed Marigolds from around 2 Double Ko bushes.
Today I checked for damage on those rose bushes and found a lot of rose slugs and damage!

I also checked our other rose bushes that still have Marigolds surrounding them and they are still doing fine! Very little damage and I could find no rose slugs...

So next year I will be using Marigolds again to see what happens for sure! The exact same kind of Marigold plants...

Pics I took today:

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Pic of my sisters rose I transplanted in Sept to our yard... Its got some rose buds and just might bloom soon...

Gracie:

This post was edited by jim1961 on Sat, Oct 11, 14 at 19:24

I ordered some of that CALM stuff for my wife and I to try... Thanks!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I gave Mister Lincoln its second dose of Greencure today for its powdery mildew problem...

Looks like it may be working on the leaves but the canes still have PM plastered on them...

Next year will be a better test for Greencure to see if it prevents the spread of PM. From what I understand is the Greencure formula is suppose to actually kill PM spores...
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Took this pic yesterday... A few days ago I moved Mr Lincoln out of the backyard to the side of the house near Thomas Affleck.
(That's the Quarantined Area...lol)
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This post was edited by jim1961 on Mon, Oct 13, 14 at 15:39

Hi Jim: I haven't used the PC lately since my kid is hogging it to play Vocaloids ... she's into music. Thank you for those pics which prove that marigolds help with rose slugs ... I'll definitely plant them next year. Your sister's rose bush looks great ... looks like it's very disease-resistant.

Moving roses next to a sheltered place helps to shield against wet dew. There's my King Arthur (Samaritan) rose against the garage which shield it from morning dew, that one doesn't get wet in the morning, thus 100% clean.

I visited the tomato forum recently and people listed the varieties that they would NEVER PLANT again ... I agree, I tried at least 20 varieties of tomato, and these I will NEVER plant again, due to lousy taste, thick skin, or stingy: yellow pear, brandywine, grape tomatoe, sweet 100 (thick skin), purple prince (mushy & watery), Pineapple, Mr. Stripey, Roma (lousy taste), 4th of July is tasteless and stingy.

My favorites are also voted by many people as the best tasting: Sunsugar (sungold), chocolate cherry tomato, Black Krim, Purple Cherokee, Celebrity, Caspian Pink, and a seedless tomato which I forget the name.

If you get the CALM (magnesium Citrate), plain flavor is quite acidic ... I add 1 teaspoon of sugar, plus 1/4 cup sweet juice to enhance the taste. It tastes acidic, but the effect is ALKALIZING .... it lessen acid-production in the stomach, so people report getting a bit of gas & burping.

Best NOT to eat anything afterwards since one will get indigestion due to decreased acid production. I always snack before bedtime (bad habit) ... but with CALM after dinner, I won't eat before bedtime, since I know I'll get major indigestion if I eat more after taking any magnesium product.

I already lost 6 lbs. with Brewer's Yeast ... My next goal is to lose 7 lbs. more with fish oil & magnesium citrate (CALM). When I sleep better, then I exercise more. My hobby is donating to charity, hubby said I can write another check if I'm down to 120 lbs, that's my goal for now.

Thanks!

Awesome goals on losing weight Straw!

Thanks for the tips on taking CALM!

I usually just grow a tomato plant called "Celebrity"
(Very disease resistant plants)
Reviews are very mixed but we like em...lol

Here is a link that might be useful: Celebrity Tomato Plants

This post was edited by jim1961 on Tue, Oct 14, 14 at 17:07

We are getting pounded with 2+ inches of rain today!
The Zinnias out front are collasping so need to take them out soon!
Collasping but still blooming away...lol

Hi Jim: I love the deep red color of Mr. Lincoln ... I got to buy Firefighter for next year, really miss Red Rose. I have red Crimson Glory but not enough petals for hot weather.

Your dog Gracie is so cute .. I love all the shots of Gracie. I appreciate that tomato link you provided ... great info. source on tomato. I planted Celebrity this year .. lots of perfect fruits. I didn't taste them, since I froze them or gave them away.

Next year I WON'T PLANT stingy & bland tomatoes: "Pineapple" and "Mr. Stripey", and the very blah-tasting Purple Prince. I will plant Mortgage Lifter, it's an heirloom tomato with very little seeds. This year I planted a tomato with zero seeds & happy with the taste & but forget the name.

Meijers have the largest selection of heirloom tomato, including "sun sugar", it's a yellow tiny cherry tomato that's many times sweeter & tastier than regular cherry. I planted: sunsugar (yellow), chocolate cherry, and red sweet 100. Next year I'll plant Sweet Million instead of Sweet 100, since Sweet 100 has tougher skin.

Below is a bouquet with Crown Princess Magareta in the middle. The dark reds are William Shakespeare 2000 ... that's one rose which I wish I have a second plant. It's very compact ... more like a mini-rose as own-root.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mortgage lifter tomatoe - good-tasting heirloom

Years ago we could grow lots of different types of tomato plants without much problem... Like beefheart, beef steak, etc etc...
These days forget it! You have to grow disease resistant tomato plants or you must spray around here...

My one neighbor sprays his tomato plants with fungicide all season long! If he didn't he would lose his entire crop... Doesn't matter if there in the ground or in containers around here...

I like things easy and will only plant the no fuss plants...lol
But I should of took better care of them this year...
First off I think I planted them to deep like you mentioned...

I'll plant more shallow next year and mound soil like I have done in the past...