sandigodude, The first thing I noticed from your pictures was the extremely steep angle of your planting area - what is that, at least a 30 degree slope?!! Then, couple that with the fact that you have very infrequent rains, plus have a clay underlayer that turns to something akin to brick in SoCal's dessert conditions - I definitely think watering issues are your main problem here! I can actually picture in my mind the minimal water you're giving each week just sheeting down that slope. And don't think that running the water longer will help, either - it'll just continue to flow downhill. Also, applying mulch (on that degree of slope) will be useless, since the water that seeps below the mulch will only sheet once it hits that dry clay layer. I know this, since I too live on a hill (though mine is probably closer to only a 20 degree slope) and I have a clay soil as well! Only difference is, here in the Bay Area, we get a little more rain than you (and I was still getting the sheeting problem I mentioned using MY drip system!). You mention that you have a neighbor that can grow citrus. Are they similarly situated on a steep incline/decline? How old are their trees? I don't think clay is the issue here (you can be certain that if you have clay, they have it too!). If theirs are more established/older trees on the same/similar grade yard, I suspect they were planted correctly to begin with. How do you do this? If you look towards the end of the Sunset Western Gardening book, there's an illustration/instructions on planting on steep slopes. As a few people above have alluded, you'll want to create a horizontal/level terrace on which to plant each citrus tree (I would actually recommend digging up the ones you have in the ground now and start over). From looking at your pictures, you can either dig back into the hill or place soil on the down-slope side of the planting - just make sure it's big enough. I'd say a 4 ft. LEVEL/horizontal diameter should do. Also, don't forget to mound up the edges so as to create a basin that can hold the water, slow it down, and allow it to seep downwards into the roots (as opposed to down the slope!). If you're worried about the clay being too slow to drain water, when digging your level terrace, you can amend the clay with compost that's mounded just a bit higher than the clay underlayer, and this should help very well with any draining issues you might have. Finally, you'll want to heavily mulch (at least a 2-3 inch layer) the entire basin you've created up to about 6-12 inches from the tree's trunk to additionally help hold water (this is what I've done for my trees). Remember, the key is that citrus like periodic deep watering (and they obtain water/nutrients from the first 18 inches of soil), so you'll have to guage how much that is based on your local environment (I previously watered my new trees 2x/week at 5 gal/watering for the first year, for example) - I like Susan's dowel idea! Best of luck, and let us know how it goes! Tim

Yup. Goofy. Stupid, huh? In the early 1990's the Ford Taurus was the best selling car around. It was great! I rented the wagon once, and it was beautifully designed, very ergonomic and well proportioned. I got so many compliments on that rental! Around the same time the Lincoln Town Car was a model that had been designed after they got a lot of feedback from limo drivers about what they wanted in a car because so many livery cars and stretch limos were Town Cars. The drivers loved that Town Car. My mother had one too, and she loved hers. What did Ford do? They made a new Town Car that was everything hateful and the livery services stopped buying them. They started stretching (GM) Suburbans. And Ford changed the Taurus to a really really ugly vehicle with all the design elements based (idiotically) on the ellipse. People bought Chevys and Toyotas. Problem is, to get a better looking fridge you either have to go high end or bottom of the barrel. How stupid is that!!???!!! A nice squared off box with a nice rounded, metal handle is so much nicer! But curves were declared to be in by the style councils, and plastic costs less to manufacture and ship. So we get ugly.

I cannot believe I went on this long without taking the time to search online why this was happening! I'm so glad to see i'm not crazy and losing my touch! I also never had issues previously with liners peeling! Now, depending on how moist my recipe is (chocolate that was a syrup plus a ganache filling is the key star over here!!!) the liners peels off mid way between taking them off to being put in a tupperware. NO MORE tupperware for me neither, they are a disaster for my liners. After reading these post, i ran to my cupboard an examined all my liners. The cheap one from the dollar store never peel but are so thin that the edges fold in when you poor the batter so i am finishing those off for some morning blueberry muffins or anything that doesn't leave my house :) The other one, the reynolds foils ones, don't peel off in a matter like the paper ones do as they keep their shape but you can definitely see that they are loose when you pick them up (But at least they stay presentable!). The 3rd ones, my new favourites as they keep their colour and don't ever fold in, ARE WAXED inside!!!! urgggggg I had never ever noticed that after reading this post. PS: they are no longer my favourite :( I have some white restaurant type ones here that don't seem to be waxed inside. I am doing a trial and if this works i guess i will decorate the others by putting the cupcake in a coloured one after baking.... but this is so much nonsense! I wish this wasn't such an issue! Thank you everyone for posting this... it will save me hour of waisted work as i cannot send these out to customers like this!!!

Hi Jane, I will update with pics ASAP. It's just in the one pot. The pot I had before repotting was smaller, and it looked like the roots were smashed up in there. The mix is all bark with just a tiny bit of moss. I believe it's a Miracle Gro mix, but the moss was there when I first got the plant. It sits in a small container of stones that I keep wet. I had it outside, out of indirect sunlight, but in an area where it should be getting light. I just recently brought it in. It's now on the mantle, facing a window that gets a lot of afternoon light. The pot does have drainage, and I'm not sure about the deepness because some of the roots are coming out above the mix. It's kind of just sitting in the pot, with some of the bark mix around, and just a little on top. Not too much under it. Also, there was a lot more miss wrapped around the roots when I bought it, but I recently removed some because it seemed like it was always staying wet around that area.