Hi and thank you for your answers. I sprayed the raspberries with copper only once a few days ago. The strawberries that are ill are in a different part of the garden; all my plants are in pots. I think that a few weeks ago I overwatered the raspberries. They were staying in full sun and the leaves began to dry out, so I moved them in a part shade location and didn't water them as much as before. Maybe if I use the Neem fungicide once a week it will be ok, although I don't think so. Today more leaves are wilted. Thank you again for your answers. Anna

OG, I'm so glad you're back. We'd all started questioning where you'd disappeared to. I thought maybe you'd decided you didn't like plants anymore and you were changing the decor at home to a green-free space. Well, I was thinking that might be the direction I would go in soon if the spider mites and mealy bugs don't leave my plants alone... yes (the mealy bugs have made an appearance on my tahitian gardenia this weekend) I caught about 12 of them (babies still) and smushed them in a tissue. Since then, I've been checking the leaves of my plants in that room two or three times a day. (what's that white speck?!! scrape it off and destroy... and yes, it could be dust but I'm not taking any chances) I'm really sorry to hear about your poor plants - I really hope you got home in time to bring them back. -Rose

Hi all, I brought maid of Orleans plant from Walmart last summer. In summer the plant was ok,on winter I put the plant inside,when I kept inside,it started to grow new branches, after 2 months the plant shredded all its leafs stems turned to dry,now there r like 2stems in green.what should I do to keep my plant healthy.i really appreciate ur suggestions. Thank you

Needs more water is not so simple. If you are watering too often you will also get yellow leaves. If you water too often then the soil stays soggy and this is what can happen: Soggy soil holds less oxygen and since plants and bacteria are not fish they cannot take the oxygen they need from the water. Because of the low levels of oxygen in soggy soil the aerobic bacteria die and anaerobic bacteria come to life. in addition to competing with the plant for what little oxygen is left anaerobic bacteria cause existing nitrogen to be unavailable to the plant. This is why overwatering causes leaves to turn yellow. While you could very well have a nitrogen deficiency in the soil be sure you are not watering too often which keeps the soil soggy. In the first picture, the plant to the left has beautiful green foliage. So unless you are fertilizing this plant different from the yellow one, or when you prepared the soil you did not evenly distriubute the fertilizer, then you cannot just say that a nitrogen deficiciency is the culpret. If all the plants in the garden looked like yellow then nitrogen would be a stronger consideration. I did not see any significant epinasty, so that is good. If your soil is not overly soggy then try and add a water soluble fertilzer that is high in notrogen. Unless your temps have been in the high 90's watering more often than 4 days a week is too often. When you water flood it, but don't water too often. The sloil has to have time to drain - otherwise the ehtylene levels rise and the root tips begin to die (in as little as 2 days). Then the plant cannot take up enough water in order to carry out the physiological processes it needs, and so on. First evaluate how much water you give the plants and how often you water. If you decide the soil is not too soggy then try a water soluble nitrogen fertilizer. Also, plants take in nutrients through their leaves 50 times faster than through their roots. If the roots are damaged, then there is no point to watering with a nitrogen fertilizer because the roots can'take it up anyway. Foliar spray with a combination of fish emulsion and seaweed 2 times a week to help the plant get some nutrients quickly. After ruling out improper watering then move to watering with a nitrogen fertilizer. Tom