THANKS EVERYONE: I just got back from Pittsburg Kansas where I handed the little hummer over to a Wildlife Rehabilitater she will be taking the little guy to a Master Bird Rehabilitater in the morning. If it had not been for the information and support you all gave me here on this forum the little fellow was as good as gone. Thanks, Kathy

Hello Claire, I can give you a littl e bit of advice as I am growing a dwarf keylime and a dwarf moro blood orange. I went to Walmart and bought Organic Miracle Gro potting soil but unfortunetly it is not available on there website to purchase directly. They will tell you to enter your address and they will give you stores in your area that carry it. Logees greenhouses sell organic citrus fertilizer in a box. There address is logeesgreenhouses.com I think. Just google Logees and they can help you. I have tried the three more pop. tropical fruit nurseries here and none of them have it. I bought my citrus last year and they are growing like crazy. I really think the soil works well. Most of the growers down south will tell you to stay away from the Miracle Grow but my trees have grown by leaps and bounds. My keylime has doubled in size and I have only had it for 7 months. The keylime has flowered twice now. No fruit but I want it to grow more. The moro blood orange is also growing fast also. I am very pleased with Oganic Miracle Grow potting soil. Andrew

* Posted by mimzie001 (My Page) on Tue, Aug 12, 08 at 11:51 Girl I was in your shoes not too long ago!! lol Me and my husband were in a relationship way before either one of us were legally divorced or seperated. For a long time I worried that it was not going to work out because he wanted wait till she left because he did not want to lose his kids! well fast forward 8 years we are now married raising his 3 kids my 2 kids and our new grandson!! if you really want to stand by your man I suggest standing up for what you belive is good for the both of you and don't let the ex run the show. Sure the kids might resent you for a while at first but if you are loving and caring to them it will turn around. But you do have to be paitient!!! its was a hard road but in the end if he is the man you think he is he will do whatever he can to show you how much he loves you. Mine did and we couldn't be happier. Granted we do have the normal ups and downs but nothing we can't over come. Our motto is best friends first. No matter what.

I think the point is that just because something dies on transplanting or doesn't seem to be doing as well as we'd like it isn't the end of the season by far. It happens all the time in gardening. New gardeners need to learn to accept that fact. And it in no way means a lost year of gardening. The title of this thread conveys a sense of panic, a plea for urgent , immediate help needed right this minute. Life and death is on the line! Such a situation very rarely exists in gardening and most of us know that. So for purposes of effective communication it's best to save such wording for those times in life when it is truly necessary. Say something along the line of "Help!! My 4 year old just pulled up my tomato plants! Please help me save them!" :-) <do you have any insight into the OP's question about drought stress, or lowering the watering or even giving more water, etc. at certain stages? I'd be very curious to know your input on this. I've always known that you water young plants like crazy, but don't over water older plants so the fruit doesn't crack and it turns out sweet and healthy and doesn't confuse the old plant into producing yet more flowers and young tomatoes...> Well I addressed it in part above but as I said since it is a second hand comment taken out of context I wouldn't put much stock in it either way. And since this is a topic often discussed over on the Growing Tomatoes forum - as is the debate on pruning and topping plants and their effects - I'm not going to rehash all the various opinions given. But my personal position is that do not believe in ever intentionally stressing plants for many reasons. Be that with water or unnecessary pruning/topping. In general both defeat the purpose of growing the plants in the first place and both are done almost exclusively due to a grower's lack of information or for the convenience of the grower, not the plant. Obviously there are exceptions to the pruning issue as it all depends on the (1) the type of plant as determinates are never pruned, (2) plant in ground or in container, (3) spacing used for planting and (4) the methods used to support the plant. But when proper plant spacing and support are used, when adequate soil prep is done on in ground beds, and when proper sized containers are used the only pruning needed IMO is of any branches low on the stem that would come into ground contact and/or any branches showing signs of disease. Anything more is stressful to the plant and should be avoided. And, those devoted to aggressive pruning/topping of all plants regardless of the listed considerations are always amazed to learn that the vast majority of growers do NOT prune. Clearly there are those who disagree with me and that's fine. All I ask is that they don't just jump onto any bandwagon without first trying at least a few of the alternative approaches. As to the water issue, IMO ideal growth and production of tomato plants requires consistent levels of moderate soil moisture at the root level. That doesn't mean wet, it means moist. It doesn't mean daily watering as some are determined to read it. It means checking the moisture level at the root level daily and adding water only if needed. It doesn't mean wet soil surface since you shouldn't be able to see your soil surface anyway if the plants are well mulched as they should be. I don't "water young plants like crazy" as that only stunts root development. They get what they need and no more. And I don't worry about cracking fruit since I always harvest at first or second blush/breaker stage. Cracking, pests, heavy rains, etc. isn't an issue that way so there is no need to withhold water from them at any time. Just some thoughts to consider. Dave