Plants usually need an adjustment period after repots if root work was extensive. When potting up, usually there is little noticeable difference, just a temporary increase in vitality. Repot/root-pruning will cause the tree to sulk for awhile & the time period varies. (BTW, Acers tolerate total bare-rooting very well, so don't be reluctant to remove all the old soil from the root mass). Also, timing of the repot impacts recovery. Visible signs are temporary slowed or nonexistent growth, temporary loss of vitality, possible loss of some buds. I would tend to consider leaf burn a result of a root system that is yet unable to keep up with water demand put on the tree by other cultural conditions (wind, sun, high temps), or fertilizer salt issues. Also, cellular pH has the ultimate affect on color, but soil pH affects cellular pH to a certain degree. Couldn't guess at soil pH unless we know soil make-up. Do you know? I can tell you how to test container media pH if you wish to know & don't, but it will vary widely over time. If I remember, we had some off forum discussions about soils for your Acers? Are you the one that linked me to another forum site discussion about Acer nutrient preferences? If so, I was impressed by the knowledge of the posters. I have always found that the fast soils I grow in require more N than I would at first think. However, I also know that generous applications of N in containerized Acers can bring about some unwanted problems. If you still have access to the folks you were talking to previously, I would seek nutritional advice from them. That works for me doesn't mean it will work for you. Are you the one who spoke of adding some extremely large pine bark to the mix? Is it possible the soil is simply becoming to dry between irrigating? What else is in the soil aside from the bark? Pam comes here often - also grows lots of Acers in containers. Perhaps she will read & offer her advice, which is always sterling. I'm at work now, but I'll link her to this tonight. Al

Water consistently - lack of water causes shriveled seed. Fertilize appropriately - nutrient problems cause small seed and cracked seed coats control pests and diseases - these cause damaged seed, brown, spotted, bitten, etc. DarJones

You are right sluginator. Pollination can only affect the seeds produced in the pods. What you get in terms heat , size, shape, flavor , .. comes from the seed that you planted. The flavor and heat of a given pepper can be affected by what stage it is at, growing condition ( sun, heat, water ..). Some peppers are hot from day one. Some develop it later. CASE : Today I picked few young green Thai Hots.They were tasty but had ZERO heat.

Digit! You're looking at the situation with your hose half empty, when you should be looking with your hose half FULL! Why do you assume the "past mistakes" are YOURS!?! The one Permanent Constant in gardening is that there are LOT of things we can't control--no matter how much we'd like to believe we can. Even if you had GOD [Gardening Obsessive Disorder] you couldn't control the elements! ;-) When I bought this house and finally had room for a garden--veggie garden, I observed and pondered and put a lot of angst into what was going right--and what was going WRONG with my veggies. Now, about eight years later, I've come to the conclusion that Angst didn't help my garden at all! A couple years ago I decided that what does and doesn't work in any one year is very little related to me and very much related to the seeds, the soil, the water, the sun, the heat, the wind---and the very fine day-to-day interaction between all of those. I can help--a little bit--with a couple of those, but the Final Conjunction of how they all come together is very much out of my hands! So I plant my veggies, hopefully at the right time, and I water them, hopefully at the right time, and I watch them---very closely (they haven't boiled yet!), but beyond that all I can really do is hope I'll wind up with something big enough to eat---and hope it tastes good enough to eat! One of my best years was the very first year when I was, truly, planting everything in Potter's Soil! Since the soil has been getting somewhat better there have been a LOT of ups and downs! Go figure! I attribute it to The Conjunction! And with the tomatoes especially! Every year folks are wondering what's the "disease" with this leaf or that leaf--and [IMO] nobody REALLY knows! Even "the experts" don't know! Yeah, they'll have an answer for ya---but go to three different Experts and you'll get three different answers! I wondered and worried about my (few) diseased and dying tomatoes the first couple years too! Never did figure out what what wrong with them! Everybody had a different supposition! I still wonder a little bit at times, but I don't worry anymore! Either they're gonna be fine--or they're not! This year I had a couple with SERIOUS problems. Have NO idea what "the problem" was--I call it Failure To Thrive, but they were growing all crammed up against each other like they always are, and whatever the "problem" was, it didn't spread, at all, to the ones next to and against the "diseased" ones! I just kept cutting off more and more of the leaves as they deteriorated and kept on keeping on! And since I have nowhere to "rotate" my crops to, they're grown in the exact same spot every year, and I have never found "whatever" was wrong with a couple of them the previous year to be spreading to the "new" ones the next year. I know people worry about that, but I've never seen it happen. I have to admit I do still put a little bit of GAS into my perennials at times! Guess it just seems like since they grow from year to year I should be able to figure it out when something is going wrong--and sometimes I can---sometimes it's painfully obvious, but this year I had a couple of them just suddenly keel over, and I don't have a CLUE why! Oh, well! Will try again! Maybe with the same thing, and maybe The Keeling has given me an opportunity to try something new! It's Gardening! And it would be VERY boring if I got everything exactly where I wanted it and it was all growing beautifully, and all I had to do was look at it! That wouldn't be any fun! So, as I see it, Digit, the only thing you're Doing Wrong is that you're gardening! And you most definitely don't want to stop doing that! So just stop with the GAS and the GAC and the GAD (Gardening Anxiety Disorder) and the GOD! Be sure your hose is half full---and Garden On! Skybird P.S. And besides which, if everything went right, there wouldn't be anything at all to talk about around here! :-) P.P.S. Hello, David 52!