In the Chicago area, you can find 4-lb paper bags (bold yellow and red) of "Hi Yield Soil Sulphur" (in flake form) at garden centers like Sid's, The Growing Place, Planter's Palette, and others for $3-5/bag. It is difficult to know what process was used to produce the elemental sulfur you buy at garden centers. As +om said, there are naturally-occuring deposits of elemental sulfur. In the U.S., significant, fairly pure deposits exist in Louisiana and a couple other states. However, there's a huge amount of elemental sulfur on the market that's produced by treating the hydrogen sulfide gas (chemically "reducing" sulfide to sulfur) that is (1) found in natural gas and crude oil deposits and (2) produced as a waste stream during desulfurization of crude oil in refineries. Hydrogen sulfide is a very toxic gas, and the large quantities produced in natural gas and petroleum operations must be dealt with--it cannot simply be vented to the atmosphere, and the EPA regulates this. There are enormous piles of yellow sulfur (made from hydrogen sulfide) sitting at some of the big natural gas fields in Canada. (Elemental sulfur is often shipped in bulk in the molten form in rail tankers. You can usually tell which tanker cars carry sulfur by the yellow crust around the hatch.) Much, but not all, of the elemental sulfur produced at refineries goes on to nearby processing plants to be turned into sulfuric acid, and then into (water-soluble) mineral sulfates that can be broadcast on fields as agricultural fertilizers. In reading Espoma literture, I have gathered that when they use the term "all natural" with respect to inorganic ingredients (like elemental sulfur, or calcium sulfate), they mean it has been extracted/mined in that form from some place on the earth. But I've never called them to confirm that. The "Hi Yield Soil Sulphur" is marketed by a reseller that I suspect gets sulfur from the cheapest source (which currently is probably one of the hydrogen sulfide sources). As a chemist, and as a citizen who uses both natural gas and refined petroleum products, I consider soil sulfur produced from the treatment of toxic hydrogen sulfide waste streams (generated by the demand for these fossil fuels) to be worthy of use. +om, some "formulations" of elemental sulfur sold in bulk for agricultural use are coated with a surfactant to make the surface of the sulfur pellet/powder/etc. hydrophilic (wettable). For field use, most of the interest in elemental sulfur is as a cheaper source of soluble sulfate fertilizer, rather than as a soil acidifier. Elemental sulfur has a relatively low solubility in water, and in solid form it is hydrophobic. If the sulfur's surface can be made hydrophilic, then that improves the rate at which soil organisms (fungi and certain bacteria) can convert the sulfur to sulfate over the course of a growing season. Does the pelletized form that you buy have surfactants? Can you find out? If it does, all the better as a somewhat faster-acting, slow-release soil acidifier. (The down-side of some surfactants out in the environment is if significant quantities wash into aquatic habitats, where some can be toxic to aquatic animals. This should not be an issue for home gardeners using relatively small amounts of surfactant-coated sulfur for soil acidification. I'd keep it away from beds around ponds, though, to be safe.)

Ficus c is an extremely vigorous tree, so we can get away with practices rooting them that would be disastrous in other less vigorous plants. Still, the two most important influences on cutting success is the state of vitality and health of the parent plant, and cleanliness. In operations that propagate vegetatively, great pains are taken to see that the stock plants are in peak vitality and free of diseases. The propagation area and all things that come in contact with the plant are sterile or as close to sterile as possible. Nutrients in the propagation media/media solution actually inhibit the cuttings ability to remain hydrated. Additionally, the cutting cannot utilize nutrients until root primordia appear. At that point, it's beneficial to apply a weak fertilizer solution. Be patient. You're on people time and the tree is on tree time. They're different ..... and only one of you is capable of making allowances for that difference. ;o) .... and please don't move the cutting around so you can check for roots. You'll easily break the microscopic hair roots and set the rooting process back. Good luck. Al

Have you taken a small scraping of the trunks? If it has any green there it should come back. I have only saved one which I gave upon. When I pruned it back to the ground I found a couple leaves popping up from the soil. If nothing else is green you may cut it back to the ground and just want and see.

I would wait and see for awhile yet, it has been kinda long though. If she had three eggs on the 20th, she would have had five by the 22nd, incubation "should" have started on the 22nd but depending on the weather or any other situations it could have been delayed. Had it started on the 22nd today would be day 23 which is quite long. Did you look and see the eggs in between the photo on the 20th and the one you took on the 28th to make sure she did lay one egg per day or if there were any delays in the egg laying? Donna