Mr. Dubai - I live in the desert outside Los Angeles and probably have similar soil to you, and climate. Super hot (108-110 F in summers) and mostly quite dry. And YES - straw and hay - they are GREAT for mulching and can double as a mix when you make your compost from kitchen waste, if you do that kind of thing. Put it on real thick - 6 inches is not too much. And YES also to the Alkaline soil - I have it too. I believe all sandy soil comes from once being the bottom of the ocean or a body or water. I think my soil is quite salty as well. It does not have many nutrients to it at all. Everything has to be added. Upon further reading of your last post, it looks like you are doing a lot of good things already and seeing results in the texture and feel of your soil. Way to go! Micronutrients may be needed at some point. I understand they might affect flavor of the fruits. I have a MahaChinook that tastes really not that good here, and it is a top tier mango on many people's tastebuds in Florida and in the Los Angeles are. I just don't know how much you'll get of them from mulches, manures and what have you....Looks like you might have to order that stuff on line and have it shipped. Be careful if you use foliar sprays on your plants. They do burn the plant when it's put on when the temps top 100. Better to hand water fertilizer to the base of the plant at your hottest time of the year. Once is cools down a bit, these foliar sprays really do trigger growth for me! I've still got to wait another couple weeks till we start averaging temps in the lower 90's before I try foliar sprays again.....And remember - Mango trees can burn with fertilizer. I try to use a weaker strength-ed mix and use it every couple weeks. But maybe your manure additive is working good for you - just watch out for leaf burn from it - that could mean it's too strong. Oh, I just looked at your weather averages. Your summers are very similar to mine, but your winters, January to be specific, look like you average about 75 as a high and 60 as a low. Mine are more like 70 as a high and 45 as a low. And it looks like you rarely if ever get frosts, so that's great! Lucky you. One last question - do your mango leaves get some summer burn on the hottest days? Mine do.... GOOD LUCK - MyADog

Has it started to produce fresh new canes at all? If so, I think I'd just let them grow, then cut out the old flowered canes in late winter next year. Then you'll get the best of both worlds, enjoying the hips for most of the winter. I planted one last summer. It has hit its stride already and is likely to behave like a monster unleashed in my small, crowded town garden. I'm going to have to cut a lot off after it's flowered just to keep it at bay. I just liked the name so much (it consorts so nicely with the Bishop of Llandaff) that I couldn't resist planting one. I've seen it engulf entire buildings in other people's gardens, since, though!

You can do a hard prune on this.........in fact I'd recommend it :-) September is a good time for it and could even encourage a second flush of blooms. The shrub right now is too leggy and with a few dead bits and a hard prune (down to 8-10") will produce a more compact plant. It should respond well. Just make sure it receives all the water it needs. I'd water until it runs freely out of the drainage holes then wait until the top of the soil is dry to the touch. My comment about maintaining the foliage when moving an established plant or repotting a containerized one is generally for those in good and robust heath to begin with :-) At this point, there is nothing to lose with a hard prune and it could just help. A lot!!

We talked to 4 lawyers today, and they ALL said his lawsuit would be considered frivolous, and that his case would be thrown out. And none of them believe he will actually go through with suing us. One of them called the xmas guy an idiot for even considering suing. One lawyer said our case would be a "simple" matter to handle, only one day of work @ $750. I talked to him at length. Basically, he would say to dismiss the case against us since we made an agreement with the property owner, and if the son had any theoretical agreement it would only be with his parents. But I know this guy, and I have no doubt he will still sue us. We bought security cameras last night. They're expensive! Holy cow! Xmas guy was outside and walked to the property's edge and made a spectacle of himself watching dh put the backyard camera up. If he was trying to intimidate dh it did not work. Xmas guy also came over this morning and measured the tree trunks of only 5 trees, because the other trees are totally on our property. He didn't measure the tree lengths which I found surprising. He did take pictures. We just barely missed him, as we were outside 20 minutes before him measuring the lengths of the trees and taking more pics. We screen-grabbed his facebook page; he sells them for $6 a foot. 2 of the trees we cut were only 3.5ft tall! The others were around 7-8ft. What does he think he's going to get? Even if we pretend he's the property owner, then we would at least be entitled to half the value of the trees since 50% of each of the trunks was on our land. He would get less than $100 total. He'd be a schmuck for suing. One last thing, I talked to the building inspector this morning and he said xmas guy called him late last night (Sunday!) and screamed at him, and that he had to listen to xmas guy even though he was out of town visiting family. He said xmas guy doesn't have a case and not to worry. That's all I can update for now. Thank you for "listening". It means a lot. I was up all night last night worrying about being sued.