I read the whole thread from start to finish and realized why I wasn't following the thread too closely. Sweetcicily had given good advice & there was really no reason for me to add any additional comments - she covered it well, based on the information you gave. First, I really love trees, but I'm not all that worried about yours for the immediate future. It's quite healthy for a tree growing in CHI that only gets AM sun. Benjamina regularly loses some leaves through natural senescence, so loss of a few leaves, even under ideal conditions is normal. My areas of concern are: A) You haven't fertilized at all since you repotted. The small volume of soil you added, even though it did have some fertilizer in it, would not be enough to sustain a plant of that mass, so I would expect nutrient deficiencies, probably on multiple fronts. N,P,& K are all mobile in plant tissues so a deficiency of any of those would show up in older leaves. Mg and S are marginally mobile, so a deficiency of those would show up in older tissues when the plant is quiescent, and in all tissues when the plant is actively growing. Ca and almost all the micro-nutrients are immobile, so deficiencies show up in new growth. From this, you can see why I suspect a Mg deficiency, especially with your corroboration of the distorted new growth, prolly indicating a Ca/Mg shortage. B) Salt accumulation in soil (see SweetC's info above, too) is probably in play here, too. Excess salt inhibits both water and nutrient uptake, so it can manifest itself in a drought response and/or nutritional deficiencies. You really need to figure out your water issues & get that soil flushed thoroughly. After you flush the soil, fertilize immediately with 1/4 strength MG 12-4-8 liquid w/micro-nutrients. It's the best choice. Contact me off forum & I'll fix you up with a small vial of nutrients you can mix into the 12-4-8 you'll need & you'll have a complete fertilizer with all the nutrients your plant needs. I'll even send a little gypsum to help keep the Ca:Mg balance straightened out, and some chelated Fe (iron) formulated for high-pH conditions (your high pH is probably blocking Fe uptake, too). ;o) C) From all you've said about the condition of the roots, you're going have to bite the bullet & do a repot, complete with a root-pruning this summer. I'll help you through it when the time comes. If you don't, you can eventually expect branch die back, little or no branch extension, and slow to no growth. Basically, the tree will strangle itself, and "A plant that is not growing is dying". Dr. Alex Shigo - world renown for his tree research.size> Watergal also made very good points about the water from the refrigerator (Are you applying it cold? You shouldn't be; it will injure roots), the water softener (we still need to get that worked out, btw), dissimilar soils in the same container, and her repotting tips. Don't despair or throw your hands up in confusion. I know you're prolly on info overload, but the solutions are really quite simple in comparison to the physiology of what's going on with the plant. Al

Awesome pics! Those bananas look huge and the coco is growing very nicely. Nice king palm in the background too. I'm sure the new fronds will grow much faster once it's established. I like that you have a lot of edibles in your yard. The only edible thing Im growing right now are figs (and technically bananas), I definitely plan on working on getting some more edible stuff next year especially subtropicals. Thanks for sharing! -Alex Here is a link that might be useful: My Plant Blog!

Kim, There was a big package of seeds waiting for me when I got back into town today!!! I was out of town for a few days so I'm not sure what day it came, but WOW! I can hardly believe all of the wonderful seeds that I received. I've been looking through them and there are lot of things that I wanted and some that I didn't know that I wanted (but I want them now that I see them.) For example, I received Mexican Sage 'Limelight' for my blue and green garden. It has blue flowers with lime green calyxes. How cool is that!! So thank you everyone for sending in so many great seeds. I'm thrilled with what I got back! And a special thank you to our hostess. When I was putting together seeds to send in for this swap, I kept thinking how much work this swap would be to host. Honestly, Kim, I don't know how you did it. My brain would have turned to mush trying to keep all of those themes straight. You did an amazing job! Penny

Barb...both happy and sad....Happy he is moving forward with his life. Knowing he will go far as long as he stays focused on his studies, and learns to quit being so wasteful. Sad because he is moving on and we will be seeing very little of him in the next 4 years or so. We havent made any new life adventures yet. House needs some TLC. I suppose first we will get used to having a home with just us and the critters and go from there. Chell I used to be a dog and cat groomer. I loved it too. But my employer was a deedeedee. Never had the money to pay me each week and always "owed" me. And she never gave me my tips either.Then at the end of the year she reported more earnings for me than what I had really made.Fortunitly I kept records and proved my case and won, so make sure you don't let the same happen to you. I have kept my clippers, blades and accessories and still will do a neighbors dog or two once in awhile to keep my skills up.....but don't miss the hair stuck in places I did'nt know existed....lol. Love all the pictures the everyone post. Always enjoy seeing ya'lls babies. Regina