Eggplant Rust – Disease of the Month

Eggplant Rust at a glance

Type of Damage	Stunted growth, leaf blight
Plant Symptoms	Bright orange blisters under leaves
Favourite Plant	Common & African eggplant
Control	Difficult (Sulphur based products)

 

Eggplant Rust
Puccinia substriata
Pearl Millet Rust

Quick Intro

This is a recently identified rust problem on eggplants. Pearl Millet Rust (Puccinia substriata var. substriata), the same fungus that infects Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum), has been recorded infecting eggplant (since 2006). Here I provide you with a complete profile on what is currently known about this disease.

Science Stuff

The family Pucciniaceae contains several pest fungi of grain crops, which belong to the Poaceae family (the grass family). The Puccinia genus contains a very large number of species and 'variants'. 'Variant' being a rust of the same species but might differ in spore morphology or ecology. I will be discussing Puccinia substriata var substriata, Puccinia substriata var penicillariae and Puccinia substriata var indica.

Hosts

Puccinia substriata var substriata infects the ‘common’ eggplant (Solanum melongena) and its horticultural rootstock, the turkey berry (Solanum torvum). This species was often confused with Aecidium tubulosum, but has now been confirmed to be the same species through inoculation experiments (Ref 1).

Puccinia substriata var penicillariae infects the ‘common’ eggplant from Brazil. Again confusion resulted in the same fungus been given two species names. Therefore, Puccinia substriata var indica is the same species as Puccinia substriata var penicillariae. No symptoms of Puccinia substriata var penicillariae infection was noticed on Solanum americanum (American nightshade), Solanum sisymbriifolium (Sticky Nightshade), Solanum tubersonum (Potato) or Solanum paniculatum (Jurubeba, a nightshade) after inoculation and therefore these species of Solanum are not considered host plants (Ref 2).

Puccinia substriata var substriata and Puccinia substriata var penicillariae infect the same host plants and have similar life cycles, they only differ by geographical dispersal. Puccinia substriata species occur in Africa, North America, Central America, USA, Mexico, Caribbean and South America (Ref 2 & 3).

Aecidium cantanese (potato deforming rust) is another similar rust species that has been recorded on the African eggplant (Solanum macrocarpon) in Benin during 2011 (Ref 4).

It has also been shown that the Puccinia grass-infecting (or Poaceae-infecting) rusts are evolutionarily distinct from the Puccinia hardwood-infecting (or Junaceae & Cyperaceae-infecting) rusts (Ref 5 & 6).

Life Cycle (Ref 2)

Rusts are ‘simple’ fungi with very complicated life cycles. They can reproduce asexually (without a compatible partner) and sexually (with the fusion of gametes). The mechanism of reproduction, their morphology and cytological structures define their growth/life stages. Typically rusts have five distinct life stages, but I am just going to discuss three.

Eggplant Rust
Topside of leaf
Puccinia substriata

Eggplant rust
Underside of leaf
Puccinia substriata

Pearl millet rusts are heteroecious, meaning they require two host species to complete their life cycle.
The initial host, AKA alternate host, is infected early in the growing season, usually during spring. This will be the eggplant (Solanaceae) host. During this stage mature teliospores from the previous seasons’ rust growth infects the eggplant leaves. These germinate and grow on the eggplant host, in what is known as the Aecial stage (asexual). Aecia are cup shaped and grow into the leaf tissue. They cause local necrosis (cell death) and stunt the host plant. As they mature they will burst open and release aeciospores.
Aecioposres disperse with the wind and fall upon the next host, AKA definitive host, such as Pearl Millet where sexual reproduction takes place. Aeciospores germinate and grow as Uredinia. The Uredinial stage remains asexual and bolsters the rust population by infecting new pearl millet hosts with Urediniospores. Towards the end of the growing season, in late summer, Uredinia mature and become Telia. Telia cause the most damage to the host plant. Necrotic lesions increase in size, connect and coalesce. At this stage the rust causes large scale necrosis and leaf blight (dropping of dead leaves). Telia also burst open to disperse teliospores. Teliospores are thick, black structures that are able to overwinter and are almost impossible to kill. Teliospores will then infect the alternate host come spring.

Pearl Millet rust life cycle
Start at 'Initial innoculation' at the top left-hand side

The rust infection is more abundant, grows more aggressively and inflicts more damage to crops at each stage its life cycle, from the alternate host towards the definitive host. Therefore effective control is applied during the correct stage of the life cycle and when both the alternate and definitive hosts are treated. All stages are similar in terms of their growth, eruption of mature structures and the release of wind dispersed spores.

Control

Rusts are hard to control and several chemical treatments exist. Sulphur containing fungicides prevent spore germination and stunts the growth of the rust. I have developed an organic treatment of eggplant rust using lavender, rosemary and sulphur. Check out my Pest Control: Eggplant Rust section for the recipe and an in-depth explanation as to why it works.

Dead eggplant rust (red arrows)

Re-infection and the amount of spores that survive to the next season is reduced by controlling the fungus early in the season when symptoms are noticed (spring). You will never be able to eradicate rusts completely from an area as other hosts plants may distribute wind blown spores into your garden from a distance and spores will always be present in the soil. This control is for seasonal use to decrease the total damage caused to your crops and food production.

Preventative Tips

ü    Avoid overwatering of plants

ü    Avoid wetting leaves

ü    Decrease crop planting density

ü    Increase air circulation between plants

ü    Rotate crops

Something Interesting: Saint Anthony’s Fire

Claviceps purpurea
Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen
Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem Texte
1887
Kurt Stuber's online library

Rusts are related to another crop pest known as the Smuts, such as Claviceps purpurea.
Claviceps purpurea is an ergot fungus that grows on rye and other cereals. The fungus infects the ears of rye and produces a black growth filled with toxic alkaloids. When you eat grains infected with ergot fungus you become intoxicated with the alkaloids and will suffer neurological symptoms. During the Middle Ages and medieval times people suffering from ergotism believed themselves to be on fire; they will strip, run down the walkways, yelling as they ran and other people would merely think them bewitched. The monks belonging to the Order of St. Anthony were very adept at treating the poisoning and soon people identified the source. Thus, the disease caused by ergot fungi became known as Saint Anthony's Fire.

References

Ref 1: Yun, H.Y. Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory, ARS, USDA. . Invasive Fungi.Eggplant-pearl millet rust - Puccinia substriata. URL: /sbmlweb/fungi/index.cfm .

Ref 2: De O. de Carvalho, A. et al (2006) Description of the life-cycle of the pearl millet rust fungus– Puccinia substriata var. penicillariae with a proposal of reducing var. indica to a synonym. Mycopathologia 161: 331-336

Ref 3: Roberts, P. D. et al(2012) Rust detected on eggplant (Solanum melongena) in Southwest Florida. Report
Ref 4: Beed F. et al (2011) First report of Aecidium cantenese (potato deforming rust) on Solanum macrocarpon (African eggplant) in Benin. New Disease Reports 23 (12).
Ref 5: Dixon, L. J. et al (2010) Phylogenetic relationship of sugarcane rust fungi. Mycol Progress 9: 459-468

Ref 6: Maier, W. et al (2007) Polyphyly and two emerging lineages in the rust genera Puccinia and Uromyces. Mycol Research 111(2): 176-185

Last Comments

It seems that the Puccinia species are increasing in their geographical spread and that their distribution is no longer restricted to Africa and the Western Hemisphere, but they have now been recorded in Europe as well (Ref 3).

Please note that any herbs or vegetable crops that are grass-species (Poaceae family) can become infected with rusts and their control will be similar to that of eggplant (sulphur-based treatments). Rust infection can occur on lemongrass and any cereal crop (maize, rye, barley, rice...).

 

Teleospores of Wheat Rust
Puccinia graminis

Have you noticed eggplant rust on your plants?

______________________________________________________________________________

Please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! 😆

_________________________________________________________________________________

Breaking News: Update on Bee Colony Failure

The first time I reported on bee colony failures was during January of 2012. Hot from the press was scientific studies on a parasitic fly of Honey Bees, Apocephalus borealis. Also known as the Zombie fly, Apocephalus borealis can cause Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and was proposed to be one of the many factors that influence colony failures.

Nature reported (17 Oct 2013) of a new study done on the causes of colony collapse. John Bryden and colleagues (6 Oct 2013) described a system of sub-lethal stresses exerted on bee colonies can cause collapse when the colony's threshold (breaking-point) is reached.

They maintain that no single factor is a direct cause of colony failure. Instead several stress factors act on bee colonies that are detrimental, but not lethal. These indirectly pile up and sooner-or-later the colony cannot maintain itself and results in collapse at unpredictable times. Examples of stress factors can be combined scenarios of habitat loss, pesticide use, pathogens and parasites. Worker bee memory, foraging capability, and mobility are effected when exposed to field concentrations of pesticides. Pathogens and parasites have also been shown to influence body temperature regulation and energy levels as well as impairing learning of infected bees. This does not result in bee deaths, but decreases the efficiency and viability of the colony as a whole.

To investigate their hypothesis they modelled sub-lethal stress (SLS) on several healthy and impaired bumble bee colonies belonging to the Bombus terrestris species. The bees were fed sucrose treated with sublethal concentrations of neonicotinoid pesticide (higher than that received in the field). All of the colonies' bee numbers expanded during initial growth stages, but later only untreated colonies kept expanding. Colony growth decreased in treated colonies, due to bees becoming behaviourally impaired and colony performance decreased. Subsequently, treated colonies became unsustainable and collapsed at random intervals.

The SLS model created from the data allowed the scientists to predict what would happen at field-level exposure to pesticides. Their SLS model showed variable outcomes (some colonies continued growing, whereas others failed) depending on the type and amount of additional stressors. They showed that non-lethal levels of pesticides alone would not cause colony collapse. This provides an explanation for why no single factor could be attributed to colony collapse in the past. Rather, multifactorial stress can cause colony failure as a result of the critical stress level being reached through the accumulation of sublethal factors.

Original Article: 

J. Bryden, Gill R. J., Mitton R. A. A., Raine1 N. E., and JansenV. A. A. (2013) Chronic sublethal stress causes bee colony failure. EcologyLetters. doi: 10.1111/ele.12188.

This is an open article and is freely available to the public.

Nature Article: Why bee colonies collapse



Previous Post: Colony Collapse Disorder - 05 Jan 2012

______________________________________________________________________________

Please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! 😆

_________________________________________________________________________________

Orchid Exhibition 2010

The amateur orchid cultivators’ guide book (1900)

Some more old photos I dug up! J This time it was at the Safari Garden Center (Lynnwood, Pretoria) with some of the orchid specimens that were competing at the 20^th World Orchid Conference in Singapore 2011.

Website

Orchids belong to the Orchidaceae family and is one of the largest families of flowering plants. Charles Darwin studied orchids, specifically their pollination mechanisms. Some of the orchids trap insects and the only way out deposits pollen onto the insect body. Others mimic receptive female insects, visually and by smell, particularly wasps – the males pollinate the flower during an attempt to mate with it … nasty orchids! Never kept orchids myself, I think they are too fussy J

I think I left my brain at home that day, because I did not take my camera with. So the photos below are from my cell phone – the best ones – and I don’t know any names, common or scientific J Enjoy.

At least I managed to nab a few postcards of the 20^th WOC in Singapore, 14-23 November 2011.

What do you think about orchids? Do you keep any orchids?

_________________________________________________________________________________

If you enjoy the content please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers or Follow Your Way widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! J
_________________________________________________________________________________

Winter Leafy Vegetables: How to Grow - Vegetable of the Month

Winter Leafy Vegetables stats/requirements at a glance

Ease of Raising:	1/5 – Daily Check-ups
Water:	3-4/5 – Every 2nd day to daily
Sun:	3/5 - Full sun, dappled shade
Training:	2/5 – Minimal; dead, diseased & damaged
Fertilise/Feeding:	4/5 – Fortnightly
Time to Harvest:	1-2/5 – Immediate (purchase) to Soon (from seed)
Frost Hardiness:	3/4 – Moderately tender (can’t cope with severe frost)
Uses	Culinary
Most Problematic Nemesis:	Dry, hot conditions & Aphids
Container Plant:	Yes

Lettuce & Spinach Botanical Print

Plaque 1: Botanical Lettuces Horticulture; Jardin potager et jardin fruitier 1870, Vintage Printable
Plaque 2:  Spinach, Flora von Deutschland Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Kurt Stuber Online Library
Plaque 3: Botanical Lettuces Horticulture; Jardin potager et jardin fruitier 1870 Vintage Printable

Quick intro

Given the success I had with the winter leafy vegetables (spinach, pak choi and lettuce); I decided it needed a posting. Leafy vegetables are hard to grow during the hot and dry South African summer, since they bolt (go to seed before producing crop) – the exception being chard. This at least puts some use to the bare vegetable plots in winter J. I am going to discuss the cut-and-come again varieties and not the head forming varieties.

Winter Leafy Vegetables

History

The ancient Egyptians knew about lettuce (4500BC) and cultivated it for its leaves and seed oil. Later it was cultivated by the Romans and Greeks. Lettuce was introduced to Britain by the Greeks. In Europe many new lettuce cultivars were developed during the 1800s.

Pak Choi’s origin lies within China and has been cultivated there since the fifth century AD. It isn’t as widely cultivated in the Western countries as it is in Southern China and South-East Asia.

Spinach is quite the ancient traveller. Originating in Iran (ancient Persia) it was brought to China (600AD) via India, it spread to Spain in the 1100s, then to Japan and Korea in the 1400s-1700s and finally made its way to Europe in the 1800s.

Science Stuff

Lettuce, Lactuca sativa, belongs to the Asteraceae family, which includes daisies. Lettuce is classified into two categories; cabbage and cos. Cabbage lettuces have rounded heads with soft/crispy leaves, whereas Cos lettuces have elongated, upright heads. Sometimes a third category is suggested for loose lettuces (leaf lettuces) that don’t readily form heads and are the cut-and-come-again/perpetual varieties.

Slammer green oak
Lactuca sativa

Pak Choi, Brassica rapa (Chinensis group: Brassica chinensis), is a member of the Brassicaceae (Cabbage & Crucifer family) and more related to the turnips than cabbages. Now the Asian greens have similar common names and this can be very confusing. Some of the other names for Pak Choi include; Bok Choi, Chinese chard, Chinese mustard, celery mustard, spoon mustard and Choy Sum. The main classifying feature of the Chinensis group is the fact that is does not make a head.

Spinach, Spinacea oleraceae, is classified within the Amaranthaceae family (formerly the Chenopodiaceae; Beet & Goosefoot family). 

Growing Winter Leafy Veg

All the leafy vegetables listed here require the same conditions to grow. I had them in the full sun (maybe I should put the pak choi in the partial shade next winter…). Anyways, you can also try growing them in full shade in summer, but I have given up on growing them in summer as they are weak, stringy things that bolt.

Sow the seeds once the heat of summer has passed, preferably temperatures below 20^oC (68oF). You can stagger your crop by planting at three week intervals, but I don’t think the SA winter is long enough for that – we only sowed once. Five of the Pak Choi (it is verrryy prolific!) and 8 of each of the others should be more than sufficient for the average family (of three-four people). The leafies can be sown directly into the garden or as start-up punnets and transplanted once the first ‘true leaves’ appear.

Loose Leaf Lettuce
Lactuca sativa

Keep them well watered, else you’ll have bitter leaves – or worse, bolting leafies! I fed them every two weeks with Starke Ayres Nutrifeed as a half-strength liquid feed.

They are generally are trouble-free as few pests are active during this time of year. I did notice however, with some warming temperature, that the aphids get to them. If these are a real problem, just zap them with my anti-aphid organic home remedy.

Other Winter Leafy Vegetable Tips

Mulching will help with water retention.

Thin out too densely planted leafies to prevent fungal disease.

Even though I had sown these in winter, the pak choi still went to seed when the day temperature goes above 15^oC (59oF).

Pak Choi Bolting
Brassica rapa 
Chinensis Group

Pak Choi Bolting
Brassica rapa 
Chinensis Group

Leafies can be grown in all the weird tiny spots of the garden or as a catch/fill-in crop between slow-growing vegetables (where they also mark out where the slower-growing vegetable has been planted).

Harvesting and Storing

The general rule is that you can harvest up to half of the plant at a given time. Harvesting regularly also stimulates the plants to produce more. Leafies are best harvested in the morning when they haven’t wilted yet and leaves cut with a knife or scissors.

You can’t really store the leafies on their own. All leafies can be left in a cup of water for 5-7 days. I also noticed that leaving them in the water for a day after harvesting takes away any bitterness. The Spinach and Pak Choi can be frozen, but then to go sloppy – so instead freeze them away as part of a ‘meal’. Such as, soups or stews, then it won’t matter too much if they are sloppy J.

Dash Spinach
Spinacia oleracea

Propagation

All leafies will go to seed when the weather warms up and the days become longer. If you can spare the space, let them set their seeds for easy collection.

Lettuces are self-fertile & self-pollinating meaning they do not need a pollinating partner. Seeds are harvested when dry and store in labelled glass jars. Seeds are viable for a whopping 6 years! The seeds are dormant after collection and can be used for next season’s plantings. Seeds need to be at 10-15^oC (50-59oF) to germinate, higher temperatures (25^oC+; 77oF) induces dormancy.

Pak Choi flowers are pollinated by insects (the bees appreciate the late-winter flowers when others are scarce). They need to be exposed to cold period in order to flower. Pak Choi may cross with other Brassica rapa spp., such as mustards and turnips – so hand pollinate and cover individual flowers for seed. Seeds mature from the bottom of the inflorescence upwards and the bottoms ones may burst before the top ones are ripe. Pick ripe pods (brown) and leave in a warm, dry place to cure. Pods burst open once ripe and seeds are separated from dried pods with a sieve. Seeds are held in 50^oC (122^oF) water for 20 minutes prior to sowing.

Pak Choi Flowers
Brassica rapa 
Chinensis Group

Pak Choi Seed Pods
Brassica rapa
Chinensis Group

Spinach plants bare either male or female flowers. Males are borne on long and spindly stalk, whereas females are tight forming clumps at the base of the leaves. Females are wind pollinated. Seeds reach maturity once the plant leaves begin to yellow. Once plants are dry, strip the long stalks of seeds by pulling it through your hands from the base. Prior to sowing, hold spinach seeds at 50^oC (122^oF) water for 25 minutes to control seed borne disease.

Spinach Male & Female Flowers
Spinacia oleraceae
Afbeeldingen der artseny-gewassen met derzelver
Nederduitsche en Latynsche beschryvingen 1800
Kurt Stuber online library

My Winter Leafy Vegetables

I have a mixed seed pack of Starke Ayres loose-leaf lettuces:

‘Dorado’: Red loose leaf cos lettuce

‘Wahoo’: Green tango/curly loose leaf lettuce

‘Slammer’: Green oak loose leaf lettuce

Types of loose leaf lettuce

The other two are also Starke Ayres seeds:

Spinach: Baby Dash

Pak Choi

Pak Choi
Brassica rapa

Dash Baby Spinach
Spinacia oleracea

Do you grow specific vegetables in the winter? Or are you able to grow cool-season vegies year-round?

______________________________________________________________________________

Please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! 😆

_________________________________________________________________________________

Pesticide Resistance: Mechanisms & Prevention

I thought I would just share how pesticide resistance occurs in insect populations J. My studies are in the agricultural sector and I am familiar with this topic, so here goes…

Pests are considered resistant to a certain chemical compound (natural or synthetic compounds) when it is no longer killed or adversely affected by the chemical. Most pesticides target biological systems in order to control pest populations – “control” meaning; to reduce pest populations to levels that do not cause great plant or economical loss.

Pesticides can affect the nervous systems of insects, killing them directly or affect reproduction, such as decreasing the amount of offspring each generation. Pesticides can also be general, affecting a wide variety of insects, or target-specific, affecting a specific insect (aphids) or an insect suborder (Sternorrhyncha: Aphids, scale bugs and whiteflies).

Pesticide resistance is due to a beneficial mutation. The mutation usually occurs in the biochemical site affected by the pesticide, which is then rendered unrecognisable by the pesticide. Resistance can also be due to an increase of detox systems in the insect cell or chemical pumps that pump the pesticide out of the insect cell. These resistance mechanisms are inherited by the offspring of resistant parents. The evolutionary process behind the survival of the beneficial mutation each successive generation is known as natural selection, the Darwinian mechanism of survival of the fittest.

Blue: Susceptible

Red: Resistant

Resistant mutations accumulate through natural replication errors within the DNA of the organisms. Resistant organisms (Parental generation) will survive and reproduce. Their offspring (F1: First generation) will survive subsequent pesticide treatments, and over several insect generations (can be as little as 1-2 years) a resistant population will develop.

Pesticide resistance can remain in insect populations after the product has been discontinued for as much as 2 years. After which the resistant mutation will decrease slowly. After a few years pesticide susceptible insects will dominate the population once more. Resistant insects have a reproductive deficit in an environment with no pesticides, they produce less offspring than susceptible insects and subsequently decrease in the population.

The prevention of pesticide resistance is to use pesticides correctly:

ü    Use pesticides according to the manufacturer’s instructions (not more and not less). This goes for both the concentration at which the pesticide is made and the frequency of use. This prevents resistance and reduces the impact on the environment.

ü    Changing the Class of pesticide (such as chlorinated hydrocarbons, cyclodienes, organophosphates, carbamates, pyrethroids, neonicotinoids) every season will prevent resistance to a single type of pesticide. Mixed, combination or multiple class pesticides will result in multiple-pesticide resistant insects.

ü    Specific pesticides (such as those just for aphids) will reduce the chance of poisoning other beneficial insects or the induction of resistant in non-target insects.

ü Make up enough pesticide for your present application. If you are left with some remaining pesticide-solution, pour it into a plastic bag, tie off and throw into the dustbin - this prevents any pesticides going into the water supply. Wash out pesticide equipment with soap (dish-washing liquid is fine); this will help break down any residual pesticides in the water.

Preferable pest management systems include the use of pest predators, crop rotations and preventing pests from attacking stressed plants (good soil, regular water = healthy and resilient plants) in the first place - AKA Integrated Pest Management: IPM. Planting pest and disease resistant cultivars also go a long way in preventing pest populations form reaching epic proportions in the garden. If a plant does not grow well in your garden or is a weak specimen it is better to remove it than face a constant battle with it harbouring pests (one of the reasons I don’t really like sacrificial companion plants).

I don’t advocate against the use of pesticides, but I don’t judge those who do use them either. In rural communities, the use pesticides on crops is the only way for them to sustain themselves and feed their families. So instead of telling everybody not to use pesticides, I supply information on safe and effective use. I prefer natural remedies to pesticides. For some environmentally safe and home-based pest control recipes, check out Pest Control.

That basically sums it up J.

Related Posts

Insectary - attracting pest predators and beneficial insects to your garden
Pest Control - Organic control recipes

Biological Control:
Mantis
Wasps
Flies
Ladybeetles

Pest Profiles
Leafhoppers

______________________________________________________________________________

Please share with fellow gardening enthusiasts via the various sharing buttons at the end of posts/pages! Else you can vote for posts through the Google reactions bar at the end of articles. To stay up to date I have provided several reader and social networking platforms with which to subscribe: Twitter, Pinterest, RSS Feed Reader or Email/Follow directly using the Blog Followers widget on the left hand side toolbar. Thank you for reading and please feel free to ask if questions arise - I appreciate comments and ideas too! 😆

_________________________________________________________________________________