Good luck, Serge. Let us know how your tree fares. Once you start seeing recovery (beginnings of new flush), you can safely fertilize. Just be sure to water first, fertilize, then water in well.

Y'all make me laugh. Goats would work but some neighbors don't appreciate having goats next door. I happen to love goats, but don't have any and don't want them. I already have enough animals and plants to feed and care for. We do have neighbors with goats, and if there is anything cuter than little kids playing in the pasture or goat yard, I don't know what it is. Goats are great unless they find a way into someone's vegetable garden, and then they can become demons of destruction. Kate, I love invasive vines and plant them on purpose because they generally survive drought on no rainfall, unlike everything else around here. They do make a wonderful privacy screen. If you want to cut and remove them, you will have the best success by cutting them off at ground level and painting a brush killer onto the stumps. Or, drill holes in the stumps and pour the brush killer into the holes. Nothing else will get rid of aggresive vining plants, and there is nothing organic that works even 10% as well on aggressive vines as a synthetic brush killer. You have to be careful, though, and cannot compost any of the plant matter from plants treated with brush killer as it sometimes degrades very slowly and can survive the composting process and then kill plants you try to grow in compost that contains traces of the brush killer. I am thinking about extending the eastern edge of our garden about 20' by moving the fence 20' east from where it sits now just so I can plant a row of aggressive vines along the east and south garden fencelines. I was watching our neighbor's hired hand drive back and forth pulling a spray rig behind him for the last two days and I know what this means 9 times out of 10. It means his herbicide drift will reach my tomato plants and severely harm or kill them. As I pondered what I could grow as a living border to protect the plants, it occurred to me that trumpet creeper would do it. Now I'm going to have to break the news to Tim that I want to extend the size of the garden just so I have room to plant some highly invasive vines. He hates putting up new fencing (after fencing in our 14.4 acres when we bought it, he swore he'd never put up any more fencing again). Ha! It is like pulling teeth to get him to put up more fencing, but I've managed to get him to fence in gardens, chicken runs and a dog yard that keeps our dogs contained in one spot. Be sure you really want to get rid of the vines before you do it because it is a ton of work, and you lose a ton of privacy and also a living barrier that may keep your neighbors' use of herbicide from sending drift into your garden that will kill your plants. I get herbicide drift when local ranchers spray herbicides in their fields, when the county road workers spray roadside areas that are too steep to mow (like the banks of our creek near the county road/bridge), and when the railroad sprays the area alongside the tracks that are well over a mile away from us. The more highly invasive plants I can grow to our east the better since all the sprayed areas from which we get herbicide drift are to our east because our woodlands protect us from the south (mostly), the west and the north, the better it is for all the flowers, veggies and herbs I love to grow. Sometimes highly invasive vines serve a very useful purpose. Good luck killing them, if you're sure that's what you want. Dawn

Thanks for the confidence. I am going to sit down and do it tomorrow. I got a call last night and was told that people from across Ontario who have taken it are complaining about the contents of the test. Some of the questions are about computer programmes none of us use. It just reminds me of the testing I did for a temp employment firm I did after my Mom passed away and I had to find a full time job. After the testing I was told I did not have any marketable skills for an office job which I had done for all the time I had ever been employed because I didn't pass some of the computer programme questions. I taught myself to learn DOS and at the time wasn't familiar with Windows, etc. They gave me a job giving out samples of sushi at Sobeys. I did that for a few months before I got my job at the bank. After the test I told the girl of all the accomplishments I had done during my working career and you sit here and tell me I have no marketable skills. She was doing recruitment for jobs. I said to her "you try recruiting 700 workers in less than 30 days" and see if you can do it. Or send out telexes for all the banks of the branch I worked for in Calgary during a mail strike, or write grants to apply to keep programmes open. People giving these tests have no idea what the jobs entail.

I suggest, Sensitive Plant. I don't know the real name, but it is in the Mimosa family. Low growing plant which gets very thick using deep underground runners. Very invasive and will take over any lawn if allowed to escape. I love it! I do not want to deal with a lawn. I refuse to baby green grass to grow in Florida. I do not have sprinklers, nor wish to spend a ton of money on fertilizer. I let this plant take over and I love it. You can abuse it, walk on it, do anything to it and it doesn't die. Fabulous ground cover. Takes full sun and partial shade. No water. It amazes me every day. My next door neighbor isn't thrilled because those thick underground runners appear in her very expensive lawn. I don't care. My property looks deep green and very pretty and it covers a large area. I'll look for pictures and post them. Jane