My humblest apologies for my long posts. The firmness of the roots is a good thing. Be wary of disturbing the actual root mass unnecessarily--it just may cause more damage. I know someone who bare-roots her trees every time there may be a problem, and I've been doing my best to discourage this process (ahem. you know who you are ;) Ultimately and ideally, in a potted tree, you do want lots of fine roots for nutrient uptake as opposed to woody lignified roots taking up space, but if the roots are so fragile they are breaking off essentially spontaneously, then they are not viable anyway. pH does seem to be one of those topics that sets some people off for an unclear reason, but I now fall into to the camp of I-don't-really-care-about-it. pH management in *containerized* soils is different from the earth and the reason it is a PIA IMHO is b/c it is extremely dynamic. (Out of curiosity, what is your method for checking--is it pH paper or a meter?) Having said that, citrus do prefer a *slightly* acidififed soil, but they are not blueberries. Most tap water is going to be basic to some degree to keep contaminants from precipitating out, but since you've used bagged soil, there is a very high likelihood that there is a good portion of peat moss in your mix and therefore you've already got a slightly acidified soil. I'd leave that alone for now. Otherwise, you can add a light dose of slow-release fertilizer that is nitrogen-dominant, and since many sources of nitrogen are acidifying on their own that may help. Also, I've seen a brand of those slow-release granules that also has sulfur in it, and that might help over time. When you do fertilize otherwise, you can choose an acidifying formula that way too (I use Miracid for the most part). No, thorns do not *precede* growth. They *accompany* it and you should be seeing something besides just thorns if you really do have some sort of growth. Other possibilities are thorns that you missed previously since there were more leaves to cover then, actual new vegetative growth forming (doubtful if you're still seeing signs of decline like continued leaf loss), or the beginnings of massive pathologic stress-bloom. You're going to have to wait awhile before you see results--I had a tree in CHCs (stupidly) for over a year before I pulled that sucker out and rehabbed it, and it was easily 5 mos or so before I felt like I had made any progress with it whatsoever. The tree's stored energy is eseentially depleted and it has to have time to build that back up. Which is hard when it doesn't have many funtional roots and reduced leaf surface area. Something some speak of, but I don't do, is to prune it back significantly and reduce the canopy mass when you have had major root damage. The main reason I find this difficult is that often leaves will drop first from the inside of the canopy in this situation (older leaves), and then if you prune it back you're cutting off the rest of the leaves--shooting self in the foot while you're at it, lol. The tree needs maximal photosythetic area. Personally, I think citrus is hard to kill if you've got the basics down. It's easy for them to get into trouble, but I don't think they actually die that easily from stuff like this. So it's reasonable to keep trying with this tree. Branch dieback will be your guide, but even if the graft goes, the rootstock can survive--and then in a little while you have someplace where you can do your own grafting. How appropriate--lemonade out of lemons. Literally. Please keep us updated on your progress. Hopefully someone else will comment--where is tapla, bencelest, eyeckr, jackpines, citrusboy? Surely you gents can help us out here...oh wait, I know where they are--they're sick of my longwinded posts :)

In hot weather, adeniums love water and only rot when the mix does not drain fast enough. In cold weather they should be very dry. Look at photos under "adenium problems" at N.R. Sundarams web site: http://community.webshots.com/user/nrsundaram Wash all soil from the roots of your adenium. If it is completely rotted below soil line, like his photo #6, then you have the choices he wrote on the photo. But if there are some good roots: cut off all brown rotted roots with alcohol-sterilized knife down to white flesh -- no brown. Repot in dry media -- I use pure perlite for the recovery period -- do not water until third day. Keep plant in partial shade for a couple of weeks. When growth resumes, put it back in full sun and water every second day when it is hot. In a month or two, repot to a fast draining bark/perlite or similar light mix. Join the cantankerous passionate worldwide experts adenium group on yahoo.

Sorry about that. At least you live in zone 10 and have lots of time. The other stalks will be fine. Take the stalk out of the sun - if you put it in a container in the house, it will root, but it will probably drop the fruit (but you will have another plant!). If it were me, I would pick off all the fruit and put them on a plate - they may ripen on their own inside. Then put the stalk in a plastic tub with dirt in it, and in about two weeks, plant it out and see what happens - more than likely, it will root and start producing right away. Good luck!

I used to get it really really bad, but not so much anymore. I am MUCH more vigilant now. Here's my worst poison ivy story. Somehow I got it on my thigh. Itching, burning, etc. Kept getting worse and spreading. This was in the day of pantihose. On Monday I had to go to work, so I went ahead and put my pantihose on. Won't be that bad, I thought. During the day it itched and itched and itched. The light rubbing from the pantihose abraded it and it blistered. Every time I went to the bathroom that day I thought, "hmmm . . . maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Late in the day on my last trip to the bathroom, I discovered that the blisters had burst and partially dried into the pantihose. O.M.G. I had to literally pull my skin off as I pulled the pantihose down. Then it was a raw, oozing mess. I stayed home the next day and went to the doctor for a shot. And Prednisone tablets.