If the fruit on a squash is decaying at 3-4 inches long, it's probably because the flowers aren't being properly pollinated. I had the same thing with my zucchini earlier in the year. There's two easy fixes for this: 1. Be patient. Although its already August and if I were you, I'd be running out of patience about now. 2. Get a tiny paintbrush or similar instrument (q-tip, maybe a stick with a piece of cloth tied over the end). Learn the difference between male and female flowers (here's a good picture and primer: ttp://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2007/07/16/how-to-molest-your-zucchinis/ Here's a good primer on the process for pumpkins: http://www.pumpkinnook.com/howto/pollen.htm). Hand pollinate by brushing your paintbrush against the male flowers and then against the female. Given that you describe the leaves as being pale, and given the time of year, you should check for squash vine borers. I would expect they'd assault both yellow and zucchini squash, but maybe your yellow squash just got a heavier dose. My zucchini seem to have survived their bout with SVB (and their bout of surgery to remove SVB), but my acorn squash aren't doing as well and they had the same treatment. At this point, to find squash vine borers, look at the plant stem where it exists the ground, and about a hand-width above that. Is it browned, stringy and unusually tough and dried out? Is it decayed on the bottom or in spots? Is there wet sawdust-like stuff around the joins with leaf stems? Are their obvious holes in the stem or leaf stems and do you see white grubs inside the plant? If you see any of these symptoms, then you probably have squash vine borers. It's very unlikely you'll actually see the grubs. If you think you have SVB, you have some choices: 1. Write it off as a loss and don't plant squash next year, unless it's a resistant variety. 2. Do surgery on your affected plants, immediately. Find every rotted spot and cut it open along the stem. Find and remove the grub. I've heard that injecting the plant stem with Bt, using a hypodermic/diabetes needle, also helps. I did that in addition to surgery and my zucchini are doing well now. My acorn squash have mixed results. Be aware that your plant might die anyway, from the previous SVB damage, from a missed SVB, or the surgery or all three.

Sounds like you're getting sprouts from the rootstock. If you can take some photos of the sprouts and post them in your message, that would be helpful. If the sprouts are coming from the roots, this might mean the top of the tree - the scion - which is the variety that has been grafted to the rootstock may be suffering, so take some photos of the whole tree as well. And, if you can snap some pics of the orange, and include the underside if there's a navel, that is also helpful. Navels are in season now, so if you have ripe oranges with a navel, you have one of the navel varieties, most likely Parent Washington navel. You can upload your photos to Photobucket, then copy the HTML code of each photo (NOT the url, but the HTML code string), then paste that directly into your message body, and when you click "Preview", you should then see your photos embedded directly into your message. Much easier for us to answer you on the forum that way :-) Patty S.

Thanks, Mike. I am doing quite well now. I didn't have much of a garden this year because I had both my hip replacement surgeries done. Now that they are both done & over with, and I have no more pain, I plan on making up for the mediocre garden I've had the past two years with a vengence! =) Anyway, back to the dwarf lime. I brought it in thinking it would go dormant again until early Spring like it has done the past few years, when put into a somewhat controlled basement environment. I'm glad to see that it looks like you don't think it growing over this Winter (instead of being dormant) is a bad thing. Houston's point is a good one. Despite the temperature difference, it is getting light where normally in its Winter dormancy it would get almost none, therefore probably spurring the Winter growth somewhat. I am not using grow lights on it, as like I said, I was expecting it to be dormant. Should I be using some? The mix I have it in is a good fast drainable soilless mix. Mainly pine bark fine based, with some perlite, a little peat, etc.. (I can get the exact composition, if needed). The temps it's in are typical indoor temps, around 70 (+/- 2-3 degrees at times). It has lighting, but it's almost all indoor lights (I have it in a corner in my kitchen). It doesn't really get any sunlight in there. CFL bulbs I believe. I will get my fertilizer out, as I had put it away for the Winter & make sure to give it a light application on a monthly basis (or whatever you think it might need). I imagine the answer may be no to this, but better safe than sorry, so I'll ask. I have been using my typical veggie 9-3-6 with it (Foliage Pro) when I do fertilize it during normal growing months, Spring through early Fall. Is that the right NPK to use for a lime tree? If not, please let me know what ratio fertilizer you would use. It seems to have been playing well with the lime tree, as a fertilizer. She's getting pretty big, so if I see buds this year, I'll probably supplement with a 0-0-3. I will also make sure I water it like I would during a normal growing season, not barely watering it if any at all, like I have been doing in its Winter dormancy. Hope all is going well with you & thanks again for the help! :) - Steve

Felt almost like the cap of a mushroom, or other fungi I've seen in the garden, like just a big formed piece of something. I didn't touch it with my fingers, just a little stick... But I sort of expected the tiny balls to break up and come apart independently, or at least in clumps. But it was basically one solid growth. I'm kinda sad I scraped it off now. Can't seem to find anything like it online, and it was actually very pretty. Looked like caviar! Also I responded to your first reply but it disappeared somehow! Just wanted to say the leaves were brown like that when it arrived, hence the bad shape I mentioned. But I figured they'd sprout new leaves and I could cut these yucky ones off. It's taken forever for even one new leaf though! And it's not even unfurled yet. So anyway... The yucky ones will go someday. It wasnt worth sending them back, they were only a few dollars each and I'm happy to be patient and watch them turn around. : )