We had grown tallest Cosmos plants to the height of 11.5 ft. and 14 ft 3 inch. in different years. 9 Balsam plants grown to more than 10 ft tall. All in pots. One French Marigold plant covered an area of 105 sq.ft.. One Balsam plant covered an area of 50 sq. ft. We couple, Balaji Dakoju and my wife Padma Dakoju speak to the plants and request them to grow taller and wider. The plants responding to our requests. We love plants. We treat them like our children. We have great experience with plants for the last 32 years. Hundreds of plants responded. They show their happiness in their growth. All these plants for all these years we are growing in rented houses in a open yard. . Sometimes growing plants in pots, keeping them on side of footpaths without disturbing the pedestrian in front of our house due to lack of place We are happy to share about our plants with you all. Thank you. Balaji Dakoju. Mobile: +91 9880819920

It's likely that much of what we discuss relative to this plant will be applicable to others as well. I think the first thing I would do is inspect for insects, especially scale and spider mites. Once you determine whether or not the plant has a problem, and what the problem is if there is one, we can decide how to get the pests under control. Then, let's get the plant into the shower & wash all the dust off the leaves. Leaves are solar collectors that turn the sun's energy into food via the process of photosynthesis, so we want to eliminate dust on the leaves so they receive as much light as possible ..... but don't put the plant in direct sun just yet - the leaves might experience something called photo-oxidation, which is a fancy term for sun burn. Your plant is weak and can't afford to lose it's foliage just now because it would likely (literally) starve to death. Next on the list would be to get the plant to a very bright and warm spot - brightest and warmest w/o being in full sun is what you're looking for. At your convenience, lift the plant from the pot & inspect the roots. If the root and soil mass comes out of the pot intact, I'll give you some easy instructions insofar as how to treat the roots, and direct you to pot up a size as a temporary measure until you can do a full repot next summer. I'll help you flush the soil of accumulated salts, and suggest an appropriate fertilizer you can use to make sure the plant has the nutrients it need to grow and regain some vitality. Eventually (next summer), you'll prune the long stem back almost to the ground. The stub will back-bud profusely, and you'll soon be on your way to a healthy and attractive plant. Just a general comment - not a lecture to you: Plants, left to do what they do in a pot are doomed to a predictable decline that follows a common pattern, a pattern the cause of which a huge % of growers don't understand - easily more than 95%. Most of those who have been around GW for a while have an advantage, however, because how to maintain plants in good health over the long term is a commonly discussed topic across most of the forums. It takes specific efforts by the grower to ensure the plant doesn't follow the predictable pattern. It's sort of like the oil in your car. Even if you're completely unaware the oil needs changing regularly, not changing the oil is going to shorten engine life and cause premature problems. The same goes for neglecting a plant's root system and allowing it to be compromised by congestion and a soil that has collapsed. You can wax your car, use premium fuel, flush the radiator regularly ..... which would be akin to keeping the plant tidy, fertilizing regularly, and flushing the soil when you water, but if you neglect the engine or roots ..... You should find this link helpful. Al Here is a link that might be useful: Some interesting Scheff insight here, too ...

You give FF more the benefit of the doubt that I do. I placed one order and was ROYALLY PEEVED! They HACKED the one tree I wanted most. HACKED IT!!!! Another had been hacked previously. I'm still growing the second out of it, and the first I gave up on getting it back to a single leader. Makes me wonder about their true policies. I know others that got less than great quality as well. Same story, some Ok, but some WTH. It is beyond me how they get such good ratings. Another thing to be aware of, is that everything in that order budded immediately. So you have some stressful nights if the temps drop. For this reason, when I ship something in, I ways a couple weeks to see if it's going to buds quickly before I plant them. With that said, you can do as Ken suggested and plant them more upright. If it leans a bit, most trees with straighten themselves as they grow. they most likely got this way from being grown in crowded conditions. All the individual plants grow away from one anther in an attempt to capture more light. So they end up bent every which way. If you steak them, VERY loosely pull them over in the direction you want them, so that they can move around ALLOT. I typically just use the stretch and tape loop it around without tying it to the stem. Has worked nicely for me. To establish a new leader, do a similar procedure on the highest limb. Pull it up vertical with the tip being easily the highest point of the plant. Except this time the steak (use a bamboo steak) needs to be close to the original main stem, and you need to tie it tighter, but don't constrict anything. If you go to a local nursery and look at the larger b&b trees, you can see more or less exactly how they did it. Thing is, you should not HAVE to do this. No excuses. Hope this helped, Arktrees

Thank you so much. The plants definitely got smaller after the lower leaves fell so I WILL go to a smaller pot because, like you said, even the previous one was slightly big, but they seemed to do OK. I just never understood how the roots would deal with that. I mean, my plant got smaller because the lower leaves fell, but the roots certainly didn't change, right? However, it appears the consensus is that the pot should be 1/3 of the diameter of the plant (so it's about how big the leaves are, not about the roots). As for blooming again, I read that some AV-s do take a break from blooming, particularly in the summer. I also read that a good plant blooms for 9 months and rests for 3. Maybe these two of mine went through their rest period over the summer. Who knows? I'll go back to doing everything by the book and we'll see what happens. Thank you again!