It may be an excellent product and we hope to have more information on it later in the year. However the company does not recommend treatments with ELMguard at this time of year or into fall, thus homeowners should not be expect this to save their infected trees. If the city has marked a tree for Dutch elm disease the tree should be removed as soon as possible to reduce the chance of infecting nearby elm. Gardeners with a love of onions have seen a common disease developing over the past week or two. Purple blotch, a disease caused by an Alternaria fungus, has been seen causing dieback of the onion tops .
Purple blotch can also affect garlic and leeks.
The disease is expressed as dark spots on the leaves that may show a target pattern. Sometimes, if the day and night temperatures are not far apart, the ring pattern may not be as obvious. As the spots grow larger, they develop a brownish to purple color. The leaves will yellow above the spots and as the spots girdle the leaves, the leaf will die back above that point. Purple blotch is a common disease of onions in South Dakota during periods of high temperatures and very high humidity.