Also for watering: the soil looks too dry too soon currently. Mine, too--and I have no real problems. The very top surface of the soil dries out really fast in sun and wind, but that doesn't mean there isn't water underneath. You can test that by pushing a screwdriver into the soil. If it goes in fairly easily (barring rocks), your soil is damp. Or drive a small trowel into it and separate it into a V shape by rocking it a little bit. That'll give you a direct visual on how deep the water is. Here would be my plan: for now do very frequent waterings to help really wet the soil, I'm not familiar with California (except for the part about moderate temperatures and no rain), but this doesn't sound like a good idea--it encourages shallow roots and lawn diseases. The standard is 1" of water a week, all at once (well, within a day to allow for on/off cycles to allow the water to penetrate). For sandy soil your mileage will differ because the water wicks out fast and goes very deep very quickly. I will also probably try milorganite as a jump start, as I fear my soil is probably pretty depleted. I swear by it, others don't (it is processed sewage, but heated enough to kill everything in it). The 18 lbs/thousand square feet I put down last weekend kicked in and it's a rainy week. The grass, since Sunday, has grown one and a half inches and gone a deeper green. Once it stops raining, I'll mow. I went high, but I'm going to renovate this fall--with a deep, heavy core aeration I want lots of organics mixing into the holes. I alternate it with alfalfa and soy. When I started (early last year), my soil profile was slightly silty clay, poor drainage, very poor water penetration, hard as a rock, and a light tan. It had been corn field for as long as I could remember prior to building, and even my parents don't remember when it wasn't. Call it 40 years of abuse. Now it's still slightly silty clay (nothing's going to change that short of a renovation down to a foot or more). Drainage is fair to good, penetration is good to excellent, the soil is still hard when dry (it's supposed to be), but spongy when wet. The top half-inch is black, another inch is deep brown, and a good three inches below that have turned a midrange brown. Everything grows better and more strongly. I'm very pleased. Some older photos are here. I have to update them--the grass has improved since these were taken and the season advanced a bit.

You mean your other right, right, Jeri?? They look like twins! Thank you for the photos. I'll have to be more proactive training WAR. I have the wires in place now so it should be OK. RdO is going to a new home, and WAR will go in its place. I'm probably crazy doing this with a year of growth under my belt. (Time passes...) I went out and took pictures of him, and after some thought I've changed my mind about giving him away. I don't want to throw away a year's growth plus I figure he'll only get better, right? But this is what Reve d'Or looks like today. (I deeply apologize to all Floridian rosarians. In the CA vs FL contest my entry is an abject embarrassment. Do you see why I covet leaves???) The stink bugs have slowed down their chomping so he does have some leaves. So I'll stay the course. And I'll put WAR on an arbor where Don Juan is now. OK, I like that plan. It's OK if you kick me off the Forum. I understand. You have standards that have to be upheld. Sherry

You're correct, Dan, I forgot they trapped some infected psyllids, which led them to the infected pummelo graft. And yes, the testing for trees allows an infected tree to stay in production much too long, allowing psyllids to spread the disease for a significant amount of time prior to finding an infected tree, and removing it. Damage is long done. This was part of Florida's issues in attempting to control the spread of HLB. Newer, swifter tests are being developed that have a high degree of accuracy, but of course, they are more expensive. And there are not nearly enough traps out there, or manpower available to manage the amount of traps we need in urban areas, to monitor the psyllid population. In listening to Dr. Allan Dodds, Professor Emeritus from UCR (whose graduate students, such as Dr. Erik Mirkov at Texas A&M) are leading the research in the fight agains HLB said that HLB will start in someone's back yard. Since about 70-90% of homes in S. California have at least 1 citrus tree, it is simply logistically impossible to monitor all the backyard citrus. One of the comments Dr. Dodds shared with us at our CRFG meeting, was the possibility of requiring the removal of ALL backyard citrus, if HLB is found in the state (as in spreading - not an isolated case as found in Hacienda Heights). That produced a rather loud collective gasp in our packed meeting. Considering many of our members, such as myself, have more than 50 trees (in my case, over 100) on our properties, that was simply an unacceptable solution, in order to protect our commercial citrus industry. And Dr. Dodds also proposed to us, that HLB very well may be here, but due to the situations you've mentioned - not enough monitoring capabilities - we may not discover it until it has really taken hold somewhere. So, California commercial growers are being much more preemptive, than the commercial growers were in Florida. Trying to learn from the disaster in Florida - they are treating their trees well, completely and thoroughly. They have been for several years, now. Much prior to HLB being identified here in our state in the hopes they can keep HLB out of our commercial citrus orchards. Hoping that they can stave off massive infection prior to successful treatments being made available. There are no "useful treatments" in Florida for HLB. Commercial growers are simply replanting every 5 years, a ridiculous and costly option. Some growers are attempting to flood their orchards with nutrients to make their trees as healthy and vigorous as possible, which really only slows the inevitable. But, might buy a grower another year of production, thus lowering their overhead. A few have tried super heating their trees, but that treatment is simply not practical in the large sense. It's much, much too late to remove trees - Florida became overwhelmed before this could have ever have been considered an option. They got caught with their pants down around their ankles, sadly. And, they are paying an indescribable cost for their lack of vigilance and concern. California will not be caught off guard, but for now, there is nothing much we can do, except treat all our trees on a regular basis, and hope for a cure, soon. Otherwise, our alternative may be horrific - the prophylactic removal of all backyard citrus trees. Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: CDFA Press Release: HLB Discovered in Hacienda Heights

Got my brazilian cherry at wholewood, too. Victor is quite nice. They do tend to spam craigslist a little bit, but it all seems legit. Be careful, though...his prices do change, so this is one area where it's worth it to order more than you might need. Also, get the entire list of wood you need from your contractor. My guy was not at all organized when it came to the stairs, so I had to keep going back and forth with Victor as to how many risers and whatever other little parts they need to build stairs, and there was no bargaining room by then. if anyone wants to work with a chinese cabinetmaker in south san francisco, you can try Gao's Group. I think they have a website. I pushed them, and they got my cabinets done in just over 4 weeks. of course, now I've been in for 9 months, and there are still a few little things left, but he did get the important stuff done when I needed it! They actually make the cabinets, I believe, and definitely have staff who speak english. They were also 20-30% less than Precision cabinets from Brentwood, partly because they'll give a discount for cash. I got my floor tile/slate at Terico tile (absolutely love that place - I'm not one to need 10,000 choices, so this actually worked for me), and my backsplashes at Bedrosians, with some Terico, Unitile, and some Oakland place mixed in, while looking for my granite.