9 out of 10 are flourishing right now...having made about 2' of new growth. i have since decided to not relocate the vines but to create 2 trellises that run approx NS and EW to hang all the vines. I figure im not a commercial outfit so a little difference in orientation isnt going to hurt anything. question though, I replanted one vine a week after planting and amended my clay soil with compost and good garden dirt for that one vine.....it is the one that seems to be dying... ideas?

I assumed that bellamama was planning to plant them. You are planning to, right? In general, hardening disorders include: * Yellowing: Exposed to bright sun too quickly * Purple: Exposed to too much cold, too soon * Limp: Hurting from one of several factors (too cold, too leggy, too much rain, too much wind, etc) Brassicas can survive just fine being a lot leggier than that. You can have them be so leggy that they're pretty much growing along the ground, but if you get them light, and they don't die within a few days of doing so, they'll recover and you'll end up with a slightly L-shaped brassica ;) No need to panic; your plants should be fine. Give them no more than a half day of direct sunlight for now and increase it to a full day perhaps Monday-ish. Just keep an eye on them; if they get any yellower than that, cut back on the sunlight. You could try growing them in pots this size, but I'd expect their growth to be stunted. It'd be better if they were in larger pots or the ground.

Hi DarthBrader. Well, first of all that is not a Windmill Palm. (Trachycarpus Fortunei) That looks to me like a Washingtonia Robusta. If it is not that then it is most likely a Washingtonia Filifera. OR, it COULD be a Washingtonia Filibusta, which is a hybrid (cross) between the two I mentioned previously. Most likely, it is a Robusta. They all look very similar when young though. As for what the problem is, well I'm really not sure. Washingtonia's in general are more arid climate palms, and do better in drier and hot climates, though they will TOLERATE humidity. If it was in a green house before, and was shaded, then it could perhaps be sunburn. It could be a combo of too much water and sunburn also. It my just have a little bit of shock from its move if its conditions were changed dramatically. I would let it dry out thoroughly between waterings if possible. You may also want to slowly give it direct sun if it was in full shade before you brought it home. Though, Washy's usually take full sun like a champ. Also, perhaps repot it to a slightly larger pot (maybe a few inches deeper and wider only) and pot it in PALM/Cactus/Citrus soil. They are fairly hardy palms and usually will bounce back. It does not look too bad, and the two newest leaves look very good. See if it keeps putting up new fans. Those things usually take off when the heat hits. Also keep in mind while they are somewhat cold hardy, they are no where NEAR the cold hardiness of Windmill Palms, and they will NOT survive outdoors in your area without serious protection, and I mean the kind of protection like building a small heated "greenhouse" like structure around it. Hopefully someone else who is more knowledgeable about Washy's will come along and give you more help than I can offer. Keep us up to date on how it does! Best of luck with it.

I am a little confused on this because in Carolyn's book, her recommendation for the size of the container for the first-and-final pot up seems tiny - "I transplant into plastic four-packs that have 2 inch cells", she says. Even if she is only starting seed 6 weeks before plant out, it seems like the plants would be extremely root bound by that time. ***** And that's the way I do it and so did all the commercial farmers in my area. And yes, they are very rootbound when they get put out and that's also the way I want it. And the roots are not as fragile and break as easily when transplanted as with seedlings that were potted up, which I've also done. I prefer seedlings that are about 6-9 inches tall to put out and yours aren't far from that already. So it's up to you what you want to do but if it were me I think I'd put your plants in as cool a place as you can right now and hold back on water and nutrients b'c in the next four weeks you're going to have huge plants as I see it. IN your MA zone 6 I think your last average frost date should be about May 1st, since in my zone 5 next door to you it's about May 15th, and I never plant out until about two weeks after last average frost,weather permitting, so for you that would mean planting out May 15th or so, so you'd have another month of growth on those plants. Another thing you might consider is taking some lateral branch, aka sucker, cuttings right now and I bet you'd have decent size plants in roughly a month, after hardening off. So pot up if you wish to; your choice. ( smile) Carolyn