A "Common Problems" addition?

But a lot of those common problems depends on culture (how are they being grown) and where you live. Someone in the South may tend to have more problems with X on a certain plant, while in the North they don't have the problem at all. And just because I live in the South, doesn't mean that I will have that problem.

I would hate for someone to assume that this is their problem, just because it is common, and take the wrong course of action.

This is what all of our chat is about on DG - helping an individual solve his/her specific problem.

I could give you a long list of plants that I won't grow because they are insect or disease prone here. But many others grow them and do just fine. I have also seen discussions where someone states that a certain plant is not recommended because of blank problem, and yet I grow it and have absolutely no problem with it at all. Go figure. And of course, then I pipe in with my two bits about how wonderful it is for me and highly recommend it. And it's that give and take - that discussion - where we really learn so we can make our own decisions.

Sometimes I think gardening is more of a game than it is a science.

Just my 4 cents worth (inflation)....

If we want to have a section for pest/disease issues, I think it might be better to do this by making 2 comment sections in Plant Files for each plant--one section could be the comments that are there now where you can put any sort of info you want, and the other comment section could be a place to record any sort of pest/disease problems that you know that plant is prone to based on your knowledge, personal experience, etc. If there's a specific section for plant problem comments, I think that'll remind people that they should post their experiences--right now since it's just general anything-goes comments, many people might not think to put in pest or disease issues. It'll show your name next to the comment just like it does with the other comments, so people can figure out whether the comment is coming from someone in a similar climate or not. I think something like that will be much easier than trying to make it into checkboxes for the database.

Maybe we just need a pests and diseases forum where folks could just chat about their particular plant problem, post photo's of the plant in question, and maybe others could ID the problem from the photo's.

We already have one: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/pad/all/ And there's also the Bug ID forum if you have an insect problem and caught them in the act.

Thanks ecrane! Someone mentioned the bug forum earlier but I had no idea there was one for pests and diseases!! I'm going to check it out!

Thanks again!

CJ - a comment section such as Liz suggested, would prompt people to contact the person who's problem most resembled their own, and thus a dialog would develop. I am certainly not suggesting that the conversations would stop upon reading of a similar problem.

cjt...you make a good point. it seems to me that if anyone is listing a problem/cure...all of the other problems could be listed as well... with a Caveat in bold type!!! People have to take responsability for their actions and not just push a button and make it all go away.....