Thanks for the responses, Frank and Al. I've been slow in getting back to you because for some reason I'm not getting email notification even though I asked for it, so I don't realize that posts have come in. Frank, at first when I read your post on my thread, especially where you said, "You can fuse-graft additional Ficus B. material onto your original trunks," I thought you might be talking about grafting into the top of the termination point of a trunk, so that the growth would continue upward without zigs and zags - I don't know if that is even possible, but it turns out that isn't what you are talking about, but rather starting back at the ground level with additions that have roots. That sounds like it would take a long time from when I start with a spindly green thing (the only parts of my ficus that don't have sharp bends from the nursery's pruning), get it to grow roots, place it among my current trunks, and get it to join in so well that the old and new all function as one. If I was lucky, I guess I would end up with a trunk that starts out fat and then suddenly gets thinner at the point where the current trunks are terminated. But now that I have the thought, does anyone know if I would be able to split the top of a terminated trunk and graft an unpruned little branch into it? That would be a really sweet way to solve this! Incidentally, the first of the three pics that Al posted on your thread (with 3-4 trunks that fused in a couple places - is a direct link) is one that I had seen somewhere else in my searching, and that was what originally gave me the idea to try fusing. Interestingly, it is Al who feels that fusing is not relevent in my situation. Al, your way of replying inline was very helpful - thanks. Responding to some of your comments: May I suggest that you keep it on the balcony whenever you can & when temps are above 50-55*. I agree that that would be best for the plant, but I'm not really a plant hobbyist like most on this forum, but simply want to decorate my livingroom with green - all year round, not just in the winter. Also, I've heard that Ficus B. don't like to be moved, so it might drop its leaves twice a year if I did that. So I'd rather add a second light and hope for the best - if it doesn't work out, I'll buy something different that likes shade. Allow me to point out that all that sparseness you see in the center is very recent - for 2-3 months after I got it, it had its original dense growth (about 3 times as much foliage as there is now), was not shedding leaves, and was growing. Then suddenly it started shedding leaves and many of the branches actually died - I read more and realized that I hadn't been giving it any plant food/nutrients. I rectified that, and it started growing well again, but I had lost a lot of branches, especially in the interior area. All the photos are after I cut out all the dead stuff (and accidently cut one or two good branches from confusion over what was connected to what). But yes, I know that it should have more light, and with more light it probably would have withstood my neglect of food with less loss. I'm just pleased that it is doing as well as it is - I expected more problems. Yes, select the framework of your tree now. Allow the 3 or 4 branches you train to the vertical to extend to slightly less than your preferred end height, then terminate them. Okay. I have a long way to go before I'll have anything as long as my preferred height - it's about 2 1/2 feet tall now (including top foliage but not counting the pot) and I would like it about 5 feet tall eventually. The nursery terminated the trunks at about 20 inches above the pot. So my next challenge is selecting which branches to make vertical, and how aggressive to be at bending the stiffer areas. I'm just asking for general principles from your experience, not specifics for my tree, but sometimes examples are useful, so here are two more photos (click on thumbnails for a bigger view). This time I held foreground foliage out of the way and inserted a paper towel behind the area I want to show you, because I know it's really hard for you to see what's going on in a 2D image. The first one shows my next decision point on one of the trunks - there are four branches to choose from. The biggest is the one on the bottom right, but since the trunk is already tilting that direction (because this is part of the one trunk that split into two farther down) and the branch goes even more in that direction, it will take a lot of training to get it to become vertical, and I don't know how much training is actually possible with a branch that thick 81/4 inch diameter). [By the way, notice on the branch in the right foreground, slightly out of focus, the new green branch sprouting - new growth is starting to come back in the center area now that I have cut away the dead junk - hooray!] The second photo is of that biggest branch, showing the rest of it, especially the line made from whichever is the largest branch at each point. You can see that there are two more places where pruning changed the direction - the first just a couple inches from where it left the trunk and the other one at the right side of the photo, when the branch then turns away from the camera (that last leg is longer than it looks). My questions about this process are: (1) Is it generally best to choose the largest or strongest looking branch at each point even if more training is needed to go vertical, or is something smaller that is already closer to vertical a better choice? In the second photo, you might be able to see what I'm thinking - the big branch is nice and long and strong, but if now or next spring I boldly cut it off, the little one that goes almost straight up will become the future for that trunk. The question stems from the fact that I don't know just how much directional change I can train into branches that are already strong and covered with bark, like that first joint going to the right. If I can get that big guy to bend upward in a relatively short distance, great, but otherwise, perhaps it makes more sense to resign myself to having a one-inch "jog" in the route and just utilize the small guy that goes up already. I know you would need to handle my tree yourself to be able to give a specific answer, but I'm just using this as an example to ask for your recommended rule-of-thumb: keep larger branches and try to bend them aggressively, or use whatever is already going up? (2) When training, how hard can I pull on the tough branches at one time? Of course right now I'm only using paper tape so I can't use much pressure at all, but if I used wire I could exert more strength - is that okay (as long as I don't break the branch, of course), or should I do a little at a time and tighten the wire every couple weeks or so? If you know of a good web tutorial on these kinds of things, that would be great - the only pages I found about bonsai techniques seem to assume the reader already knows how much they can bend a branch, what material to tie with, how long it would take before the branch was trained and the tie could be removed, etc. Sorry to have so many questions. I guess I'm trying to get my ficus to do something the nursery never intended: become a tree. ;-)

Sheri, Oh, it is drooling time! I can almost taste the tomatoes now. Sungold, Persimmon, and Cherokee Chocolate: if you get ripe tomatoes from only these three plants, you'll still think it is the best tomato year ever, taste-wise! Dr. Wyche's has always done better for me than Kellogg's Breakfast, but then, I have grown DWY for 5 or 6 years and KB for only 2, so Dr. Wyche's has had more opportunity to excell. Dr. Wyche's is a pretty heavy producer, and quite tasty. It also shows great disease resistance. Black Zebra is a very attractive-looking tomato, but I think Black Pineapple (which isn't really black at all, LOL) tastes much better. I have found that every striped tomato I've ever grown has looked pretty, and tasted no better than average. (sigh) Well, I take that back--the one exception is Indian Stripe. Momotaro is probably better than Carmello, but then, your taste buds and your growing conditions are different from mine, so you might find the opposite to be true. I do not think you'll be disappointed in Momotaro though. I haven't grow Alamo. We love Sweet Million and Black Plum, which is our postal carrier's favorite tomato ever since I started sharing them with her several years ago. You're right--I wasn't wild about Japanese Black Trifele, but lots of people love it, so maybe it was just me. Your Mystery Surprise is probably either a tomato that "lost its label" during the seedling growing process, or is from a new grow-out that DJ is trialing and perhaps hasn't even named yet. (I think mysteries and surprises are fun!) Yellow Platfoot Brandywine is yummy, and so is Black Pear. Brandy Boy is the best. If I could only grow one variety, this might be it. There are a few that taste better, but NONE of them can match BB's heavy production and disease resistance. And, even though there are a few that I think taste better than BB, none of them is loads and loads better, only a little better. I don't think I have grown Black Pearl, but isn't it a smallish tomato, more like Black Cherry? I think it is the Burpee hybrid that is said to taste more like a Concord grape after it has been refrigerated? If it even comes close to tasting like Black Cherry, it will be a real winner. I can tell you are ready to get the plants going. Have fun, but be careful and watch the weather. I feel sure we have another freeze or two to get through before Old Man Winter departs and lets us have Spring. I believe you will have more tomatoes this year than last. Remember that so much of last year.....the excessive rainfall, the continual cloudiness, the cooler-than-usual weather all combined to severely affect tomato production. Conditions like that are beyond our control AND exceptionally rare. This has GOT TO be a better year, right? By the way, my little container-grown Better Bush tomato has now formed a second tomato--it is just about the size of an English pea. I am so worried that a deer or possum will get my first green tomato that I carry this plant inside every single night. (It is a very pampered plant at this point. Today I picked up a lady bug and carried her over to the plant and sat her on a leaf, just so she could cruise around and hunt for any bugs that might be lurking.) I am SO looking forward to the first ripe tomato this year. No matter the size of the tomato, we always make BLT sandwiches out of the first ripe one. I am going to order the world's best bacon from the New Braunsfels Smokehouse just so we'll have it for the first BLT of 2008. (Most of the time we eat healthy and watch our fat intake and cholesterol, but BLT time is special and calls for a total disregard of the healthy eating rules!) Keep me posted on how planting goes. I hope to be out in the garden a lot the next few days if the weather cooperates. We are under all kinds of storm watches today, tonight and tomorrow, but so far everything is going either a couple of counties west of us OR a couple of counties east of us, and that's OK with me. Dawn

I'm quite sure after reading this thread that i have an answer for my early girls, which are all doing this thick leaf stem growing upwards and twisting (more like a sucker would do), with large, thick leaves that are also turning upwards and rolling/twisting. There is zero discoloration or otherwise poor health indications, i grow in the middle of 50 acres, totally organically, my own compost used, mulched with wood chips a year old from within the property. I've used zero pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. Just compost, coco coir, water and my seedlings. They aren't stunted, are growing quite fast actually but, here in Northern California in the Sierra Nevada mountains we've seen record breaking temps between 90-105 for a few weeks straight now and I'm pretty certain my plants are just tired of baking. I'm hanging shade cloth tomorrow and will post pictures as well because it's quite bizarre how hearty they are but growing like an upside down tipi (and it's only my early girls doing this, the other varieties are all fine.)

Hello, Margie. A picture of the leaves would help determine clearly what you are seeing so see if any of my suggestions can help you identify the cause of the problem... In the summer months, yellow leaves can be caused by watering issues (watering too much such that the roots cannot absorb much oxygen) so you need to get watering under control. You can use a soil moisture meter for this or you could just insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 4" to see if the soil feels dry or almost dry. If it does feel dry-ish then give the soil around the shrub 1.5 gallons of water (you can go down to 1 gallon in Spring, Fall and Winter). Also, try maintaining 3-4" of organic mulch to help with this issue as the mulch will minimize soil moisture evaporation somewhat. But, yes, leaf yellowing in the summer can also be caused by too much sun. If the plant is getting too much sun, only the leaves in direct contact with the sun will turn yellow (the ones underneath and protected from the sun will remain green). This gives the shrub an odd look. If this is what you see then you may need to temporarily protect it thru the end of summer and then decide if you want to transplant it to a more shaded location. 30% shade cloth can be used. But feel free to construct anything that will provide shade (if this is the cause of the problem of course). There are mineral deficiencies that can also cause yellowing of leaves. If the soil lacks nitrogen, the old leaves can start turning yellow. A cheap soil test kit that checks levels of NPK or a full-fledged soil test can help determine if you have this problem. The cheap soil test kits are available at plant nurseries. I feel that these gizmos are not quite exact but hey, all you care to know is if the minerals are too low or too high so in case like this, I do not worry about how precise they are and I just try to find out if N is low. Near the end of the summer for me, there is the infamous iron chlorosis; but you really can have this issue at any time in the growing season. Iron chlorosis causes the leaves to yellow out but the leaf veins remain dark green. So if the leaves are all yellow, this is not your problem. Adding acidifying compounds corrects iron chlorosis. You can use aluminum sulfate, garden Sulphur, greensand, etc. You can also use liquid chelated iron compounds. The liquids deliver faster results but the others last longer. Either way, the leaves take a while to self correct. A soil pH kit can be used to regularly monitor this problem (say, every 2 months or so) and these kits can be purchased at most plant nurseries. The red tinges may be the result of the leaves getting old or about to get a few leaf spots (a few is not a big issue). Water the soil and never the leaves. Then monitor the spots for changes and post again if you think there is a large problem with the leaves with red tinges. Luis