Yes ma'am, Annabeth. The yellow genes in Teas and the associated Tea-Noisettes produces some wonderful plants, but they can be SLOW right out of the gate and they HATE hard pruning. They, in particular, require all that stored food in the thick, old wood to explode into the growth you expect from them. It takes them what seems like an overly long time to create the roots and produce the wood they require. Add cooler temps, reduced sun, perhaps drainage issues and any disease or insect inhibitors and you have some real performance issues. Personally, while I love the idea of own root plants, for those types budding IS preferable because of the increased, artificial vigor the root stock adds to the mix. Even budded, they improve and benefit from the TPN treatment. Keeping them canned while you do it speeds things along greatly due to the increased cellular activity of warm roots and warmed sap, as well as the increased bacterial activity in warmer soil. From what I've read, most soil bacteria are fairly dormant in soil temps less than 70 degrees F, so the higher heat (as long as it isn't to the cooking levels) of canned roots helps push them even faster than when in the ground. That's also why standards on suitable stocks (read IXL where the sap flow is tremendous, as opposed to Huey, which is today's standard, and whose flow rate significantly slows as the trunks get longer), tend to grow a lot faster and flower earlier and often longer, than traditional bushes. Putting something weaker on an IXL trunk can push the dickens out of it! Susan, what would I do to push something like I did now? Whatever the size pot the plant is in now, presuming the roots are nearing or have reached the point of benefiting from being up sized, I'd go to the next size pot. I don't like jumping sizes because the roots seldom knit the whole together sufficiently to prevent the root ball from disintegrating when either up sized or planted. Going from a one to a two, then to a three or five, followed by a seven then perhaps a fifteen gallon, gives the roots enough time and warmth to infiltrate the soil ball and create a tight whole with good structural integrity. I hate when I tip the ball out of the pot and the danged thing bare roots on me. I would (and am) use whatever potting soil I find beneficial for my climate and gardening style. Here, because of the high evaporation rate, I use Moisture Control Miracle Grow. I like the timed release fertilizer in it, though be aware that time released anything, releases faster in higher heat. That's why they print "up to three months" on the labels. Make the soil hotter and it leaches out and breaks down faster. Pot the plant in the next size larger can in the soil you prefer. I like to mix organic and inorganic fertilizers. Organics feed the soil, inorganics feed the plant quicker and the additional nitrogen feeds the active soil bacteria so it doesn't rob nitrogen from the plant when it needs it most. Mixing them gets the soil cooking, allowing both the plant to make use of all the nutrients as well as the soil bacteria to do its thing and digest the organics, turning them into the salts which are absorbed by the plant roots. Nitrogen leaches from the soil in water. Potassium and phosphorus tend to stay put where they are, requiring roots to find them for absorption. With any heat, you should start noticing growth pretty much all over the plant in fairly short order. Keeping the flower buds pinched off stimulates an even higher level of growth activity. After several weeks, if the plant is continuing to push the growth, you might consider using a diluted foliar feeding of liquid fertilizer. It can be fish emulsion, Miracle Grow or whatever you prefer. If the instructions state to use a tablespoon per gallon every two weeks, consider using half that strength at twice the frequency. Say half tablespoon in a gallon, weekly. Plants will absorb nutrients through their leaves and canes as well as through the roots. I found in the Valley heat, hosing the plants off to rinse off dust and pollution, watering them well and allowing them to drain and air dry, then following that with a foliar feed pushed them like crazy. In that climate, at that time of the year, diseases weren't an issue. A film of water on the leaf surface won't cause disease. It can actually help prevent them. The spores germinate on dry leaf surfaces, in the presence of humidity when the temperatures are conducive for them to germinate. Rinsing off your foliage can actually help hydrate the plant and remove residues from smog, dirt and other sprays. Some of the most glorious foliage I ever grew were in the old Newhall garden where evaporation was extreme. There was constant wind, constant sun, high temperatures and without the extra water, leaves tended to be smaller and more stressed looking. Running an overhead, oscillating sprinkler on them for a good soak resulted in enormous, clean, healthy foliage on husky, amazing plants. Yes, I know, not everyone has those conditions and these days, none of us can justify nor afford that kind of water. Adjust it to what is appropriate for your conditions and water situation. The hotter, dustier and drier your garden, the more the plants will benefit from overhead watering. Just do it early enough to allow the added humidity to dry before night and you should see benefits from it. I'd had spider mite problems for the longest time when still in the Granada Hills garden and I read and followed all the Organic Gardening suggestions to the letter. Marigolds not only did NOT repel them, all the marigold plants were tented with their webs. Breaking all the rules, eliminating the plants they seemed to prefer and drenching the plants tops and bottoms with a water wand cleared the miserable things up in short order. The roses seemed to love it, too. You have your plant up sized, in the soil of your choice and are feeding it with your food (s) choice. Place it where you feel it receives the best air flow, light, heat, wind protection and can benefit from your focused attention to make sure it has the water it needs. Permitting it to dry out will bring all activity to a halt and can result in parts of the plant dying back, which you know from your normal gardening. If you're trying to create a spectacular plant in a shortened time, it will require more of your attention. A few minutes a day pouring over it to check its progress and attending to any new needs shouldn't add enormously to your gardening time. It will teach you a great deal while you're at it, too. Watching what the plant does in response to what you do is quite educational and a lot of fun! You may stop this treatment when you determine it is appropriate for what you want/need the plant to be as well as when you feel is appropriate for your climate. I can almost do it year round here in Encino as we will never have snow and very, very seldom have any weather cold enough to do any real damage. More severe climates will require tweaking timing and amounts to adjust for the beginning and end of their growing season. It serves no good to keep providing all the resources necessary to push all this lovely growth when a killing frost or several feet of snow are expected while it's still soft. That is pretty much what I did at Limberlost and The Outdoor Room to produce those specimen quickly. You may do any part of it, or all of it to suit your time, energy, interest, checkbook, etc. It does work and it's a very fun, interesting experiment which will teach you more than you ever expected it to. You'll be taking one (or more) of your plants and basically putting them under a microscope. You'll see concentrated results from your actions as the plants respond faster to all you do to and for them. All you're really doing is what specialty growers do to produce the photogenic examples to entice people to buy their wares. If you expect to hold an open garden, or have guests planned for a party or wedding in the garden later in the season, you can really push the maturity of points of interest this way. Without a greenhouse, it's the best way to produce these kinds of results. And, it CAN be a whole lot of fun! (I know, I need to get a life! LOL!) Kim

The banana entomologist worked all of his working years in Central America in charge of the large plantations making sure that they were disease free. I went on a field trip to Panama with the Topical Fruit Club 10 years ago for a tour. One of our visits was to a banana plantation where we got to see how they grow, harvest and box the commercial bananas. Quite impressive. Christine

Cutting back the foliage on beardeds is done strictly for cosmetic purposes. It is not beneficial to the plant. Some people snap the bloom stalk off at its base after bloom finishes. I remove spent blooms and let the stalk turn yellow before removing. The FAQ at the top of the page has info regarding foliage under transplanting.

Hi Misty, If you want it to look nice again for the rest of the summer, cut it all the way down to the bottom--about an inch above the soil, or just above the new growth that's close to the bottom where you can see new growth. It'll probably take about a month, but then it'll have all new foliage again, and since they only bloom once, it'll stay that way. It looks like there's new foliage starting to grow in on the Gazania side already, and that's what'll happen all over when you cut it down. It you cut it much higher, the ratty looking stems/foliage that remain will just sit there looking ratty! What's happened to yours is why I don't like the flowering kind! If you want to move it, you could do it now when you cut it down (but don't overwater if after transplanting if you do it now), or you could wait till it cools in late summer. If you don't want it to bloom next year, watch for it to start to spike--let it go for a couple weeks, and then cut it all the way down right away. That way the pretty new foliage gets going sooner so it looks nice for more of the summer. Now that it's established, I think you're gonna find it's a LOT bigger when it gets going next spring! When my flowerless one starts to spread a little bit more, I'll be giving small starts away at the swaps! Happy petting, when it grows back, Skybird