Same thing that happened to me in the spring. They kept getting bigger and bigger, and I was just about ready to give up on them heading. All of a sudden, heads! Sure. You can harvest some of the outer leaves, but maybe just a couple from each plant at a time. Those large outer leaves create lots of surface area for photosynthesis.

Cut all mushy parts, until you see healthy tissue. It will leak normal DR whitish sap, wait until it dries and seal with water resistant wood glue. And wait! Was it growing in perlite before or you pulled it out of the regular mix after freezing? Good luck, Aggie

The best system. That is open to a lot of interpretation of money vs function. Many people will agree that the BEST, but expensive, cage system is called "Texas Tomato Cage". Just Google it to find the web site or do a search here to read all the "Controversial" treads. I just got it last week. It comes in two 3ft pieces, so you don't even have to stack it up until they reach certain height. They are made out of heavy cage non-rusting steel and easily fold again. It's a bit expensive 6 for 130 including tax and shipping. One other minor criticism I can see is that they don't have enough vertical and horizontal wire. Meaning you can't train your maters to "Exact" place where you want it. But you can overcome that easily with garden tape, if you really must have the branches 2.5 inches apart or something. You don't need extra anything for support. It's so damn sturdy, you can use it to cage your siblings or a burglar until the cop arrives, not that I tried ;-). To answer another possible question, no, I do not work for them, know them, or have any financial investment with them.

Donna, I could get in a lot of trouble saying this but if you are SURE they are not getting fed and they will be goners. 1. call a rehabber, any rehabber, anywhere, get help from a phone call. 2. get wax worms and feed those babies yourself. Try to feed them while they are still in the nest in the box. Skeuwer the worm on a hot dog stick or something you can poke in the box. If they dont eat...well I have been known to bring the whole nest inside and hand feed babies with tweesers, then replace the nest babies and all. You MUST be sure this is a last resort. You have been here over a year and you have been great about learning and helping. Just remember I have been here 7 years and I still panic. OBSERVE as closly as you can. Be SURE they are not getting fed before you act. I watched 3 baby TRES die last year because I did not act on what I thought the 1 remaining parent had under controll (Im sure you remember). I know it was Natures way but it still haunts me to this day that I did nothing. I didn't know they were starving before my eyes, I didn't think the parent would let that happen. Yup prolly against the law, oh well the bird police have only come to my door once and thats when I called them to come put a turkey down that had avian pox. by the time they got here (6 days after I called) the turkey had already suffered a sad death. If you are SURE it's do or die, I say do.