I am no expert and don't know if there is an exact time to snip back or not. For me it depended on how many seedlings I had in a cell. With no rhyme or reason I often cut back to two in each cell before potting up. After potting up I waited to see which was more vigorous then snipped the other off. Lately I have been either planting in flats or only planting one seed per cell so haven't had to snip back. Happy spring planting!!

Not sure what seeds I am looking for exactly. All I know is l love most all of them! I have all of the herbs that I use on a regular basis. I have the usual black eye susans, purple cornflowers, lilies, iris, hostas etc. I seem to lean towards wild flowers, poppies, blanket flowers and such. I have a bed with different grasses. Last year I planted dahlias, they were beautiful, but I didn't care for lifting and drying the bulbs. However this year I did plant dahlia seeds and they sprouted and I have them planted. This year I started asters, violas, pansies, bachelor button. I did collect some seed from cone flower poppies and flax and allium. Allium did not sprout, nor did the white cone flower. I also started balloon flower. I started hollyhock, with minimal results. Been babying that one. I also had one Bells if Ireland sprout. Am hoping that will take off. I tried the green wizard rudbeckia Cant remember the rest right now. My list is not in front of me. Will be attending a local plant exchange in a few weeks and will come home with a load of different plants. Last year my trunk was full as well as the floor of my car. The people I have met at this exchange were so nice and knowledgeable and generous. I came home with much more than I took. Its almost like an addiction! With that being said, I need to get my butt outside and watch my garden grow!! Diane

Hi Smdmt: My mother-in-law lives in Colorado Springs ... it's dry & alkaline. U. of Colorado Extension specified that manure has salt, should be used only once a year for dry climate. I agree, in my Chicagoland of 23" snow and 40" rain, I fertilized my roses in late fall (right before Thanksgiving), then once more before spring rain. During the summer I used alfalfa hay as mulch, it was very effective in moisture retention, plus supplying nitrogen at NPK 2.5-1-2. Since Colorado is mostly dry & alkaline soil, leaves, compost, or alfalfa hay would be most effective to retain moisture. Piling up to a heap of 4 inch. would be great for the winter. I save old plastic container, cut into a ring to put around young roses, then pile organics inside that ring. The pile is open to let rain & snow in. I don't get black spots with alfalfa hay on top (neutral pH) .... but I get black spots with alfalfa pellets and meal, which break down into sticky & wet & acidic layer, perfect for fungal growth. Here's my rating for black spots & mildew with different toppings in my garden: 1) Encap compost (cow-manure & leaves) is worst for mildew .. OK for black spots. Milorganite (with 4% iron, a sewage sludge, NPK 5-2-0) promotes fungal growth with its salt-content and iron. I get both mildew and black spots with Milorganite. 2) Bagged cow-manure is absolutely awful for blackspots. In contrast, horse manure with lime kept my roses clean for the past 3 years. 3) Wet & acidic leaves like maple leaves encourage black spots. Dry & fresh & neutral pH wood-chips is OK ... I don't see any black spots when I mixed those into my soil. 4) My best result to suppress fungal diseases is either horse manure, or alfalfa hay. Alfalfa hay holds moisture better than horse manure, plus zero salt, so alfalfa hay would be best for dry climate. Roses die through the winter not so much from the cold, but from the drying-wind. Below picture was taken yesterday Sept. 30, I mulched Sweet Promise hybrid with alfalfa hay. It's sold for $8 per large bale at the feed store. One bale can easily mulch at least 10 roses. This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Wed, Oct 1, 14 at 16:13

Get it planted in a 5-1-1 mix as describe everywhere in GardenWeb. I put mine in a 14 inch tall 7 gallon bucket and placed it on the north side of my house so it gets 2 hours of sun at rise and set. My Meiwa is from Harris citrus in Florida. leave the buds on as I am with my profusely flowering Meiwa. MYtree is growing very aggressively and as long as it is growing so well I will leave plenty of fruit on it. Kumquats grow slower than their rootstocks and will have energy to grow at full speed and still have rootstock energy to push and ripen the fruit. I will thin my fruit to about 10 max so that the plant growth does not slow any.