"It's a Chicago Fire Burning Bush. Please don't throw tomatoes, because EVERYONE has at least one fat and tall burning bush in their front yard within a 10 mile radius of my house..." It's your property and your decision, but think of it this way...If you saw many of your fellow motorists throwing out trash, would you also throw yours out? Having a Euonymus alatus in your yard is actually a little worse than throwing out litter, because litter doesn't exponentially reproduce, but, like littering on an already heavily littered highway, I guess one could make the excuse. Your state's Department of Environmental Conservation has given that plant a rating of "Very High" for its invasiveness (environmental damage) rating. I agree with Ken, your little dead voles didn't do that damage. Maybe you should club your rabbits. I can't tell if the damaged branches are coming from the main trunk or from ground level. If from the trunk, yes, I'd prune at the trunk (just outside the branch collar). If from the ground, I'd prune at or just slightly above ground level (IF I was going to keep the plant).

Aggressive... yes. I guess I am. Perhaps I should mention that prior to my current newbie attempts to turn a sterile acre of weed infested grass into a garden with interest and character, my entire experience of growing trees from saplings was with bonsai. I'm absolutely okay with a multi-trunked river birch. My neighbour across the road has a gorgeous specimen, that's about 15 years old. I'm just unsure of whether this little sapling has the potential to be a good multi-trunked tree or if it'd be better off with a single trunk. The tree itself came from Shooting Star in KY and was $12 plus shipping (I got some other trees at the same time). I'm more than happy to take some additional pictures. The tot just went down for his nap and it's nice and clouded out there, so now would probably be a good time. As for planting depth, that's how it arrived. Maybe the nursery repotted it just prior to sending it to me? Certainly the soil it was potted in was very loose. I will concede that maybe some fell off as I was putting in the hole but I didn't pull any soil off it. :) (No offense taken, just explaining what I did.)

Lithops seedlings grow fastest with consistent warmth and moisture with fairly high humidity. This works well for the first couple of months to put on a lot of growth quickly. Eventually, certainly once the first true leaves come through, you'll need to give them strong light, lower humidity, and more temperature variation, or they will just bloat up so badly they will die. Lithops seedlings are also quite happy in the sun, even very strong sun, but they must not be allowed to overheat. On a cool day or when there is a reasonable breeze, full sun is fine. On hot still days in summer you will definitely need to shade them. Lithops will colour up strongly even before the first true leaves appear, this is normal. L. aucampiae will go a dark reddish brown. Any sign of bleaching is a warning that they are overheating. A boiled Lithops will go completely white or transparent, it is then effectively dead. In the sun you will need to water quite frequently during the first summer. Don't allow the pots to completely dry through until winter is approaching. Although regular water is needed, you probably still want to protect the little Lithops from torrential rains or long continuous periods of rain. Faucaria seedlings will grow under more or less the same conditions. Definitely don't allow them to dry out completely. Most cactus seedlings, your Echinopsis for sure, will not like full sun at this size. Try some morning sun when they get a little bigger. Watch the colour carefully, dark green is good, some brownish shades like yours is OK, strong red is too much light, crimson or pink is damaged by the light. Pale green or yellow usually means they need more light but be careful since it could also indicate overwatering, too cold, or nutrient problems. Cactus seedlings will grow successfully for the first year or two with constant high humidity. I keep seedlings in a propagator for at least two or three months. In the open air they should be watered regularly and not allowed to dry out completely until cooler weather arrives in autumn.

Hi Ken, yes it's me. I think my tree had both tar spot and some insect eating the leaves. I sprayed an insecticide first then a few days later sprayed a copper spray and it seems to have worked. New leaves opening up don't have any problems at all. My crazy neighbor sold that property, including the campground, to the DEC about a yr ago. Everyone around here is so happy. lol He still lives here but he isn't causing any trouble because he doesn't own that land anymore. I don't fence my baby trees like i used to with hardware cloth but i do put saran wrap around them for the first 3yrs, to protect them somewhat from the southwest prevailing wind that comes at them hard, and it works amazingly well. When the trunks are thick enough and can handle the wind, I remove the saran wrap. Here's a pic of one of my trees with it. It's nice hearing from you, Ken, hope you're doing well.