In a former life, I used to work with inbred mice. The minimum number of generations of brother X sister mating was 20 consecutive generations before an "inbred strain" was considered established. In many cases, the number far exceeded F20. The advantage in that situation was that after 20 generations, the resulting population was considered to be genetically identical (or close to it). This has terrific potential in medical research. Theoretically, genetics is no longer a variable. A particular trait can be "highlighted" with inbreds. A rare mutant trait may become normal in all individuals. As bambi pointed out, fatal traits are often highlighted by chance instead of "desirable" traits. It is rare to get inbreds to F20 because they simply die out! In plants, this may or may not be desirable. Each individual will eventually appear identical. Nurseries would go broke--no variety! --Stitz--

Agree with John in putting the soil back over the small roots. Citrus are shallow rooted trees, so you definitely want to cover those small roots. What we usually do not do here is pile the soil up against the trunk higher than where the original soil line was in the pot (unless the soil was obviously too low). JR, here's how I plant my citrus trees in S. California. As long as you're not on clay, this should work for you. I dig a hole about 2 to 3 times as wide as the pot. I fill the hole up twice with water, letting it drain out. I then plant the tree so that the trunk will be at the level of the soil. If I see roots circling the pot, I try to gently loosen then, or if I have to, carefully trim them, so they grow straight out and not in a circle. I use a long-handled rake or shovel to be sure my tree doesn't get planted to deep or too high. I back fill with native soil - I do NOT amend my soil. I create a nice deep well around the drip line or a little ways out. I fill that well with a combination of chicken manure (not too much), and compost. It is also where I'll broadcast fertilizer in about a month. I then fill with about 3 to 4 inches of chopped wood mulch to help conserve water. I take care not to pile the chicken manure/compost or the mulch up against the tree trunk (although it does end up migrating towards the trunk if the wells get overfull, so I do try to move the mulch away from the trunks periodically). I deep water the tree, then place it on a drip. Every year I re-fill the well with compost/manure and re-mulch. This gives the tree just what it needs: Great nutrients percolating down to the feeder roots, just like Mother Nature would provide. John, with only about 5 to 10" of rainfall a year out here, we have to mulch our trees. The only issue I get now and then, are slugs and snails hiding out in the mulch, so I will wrap the trunk with a bit of copper tape, and sprinkle Sluggo in the wells. Rhizo is right on about the mulch, especially in areas like mine, where our soils are thin (I'm on just about pure DG, awesome great for drainage, not so great for micronutrients.) The compost/manure and the mulch make a big difference for me and all my plants, not just my citrus and avocados :-) Plus, everything looks very nice, and keeps the weeding down to a very bare minimum. Essential when you have an acre and no one to help you weed! And now, after a couple of years, I can reach down a few inches into the soil and see nice, rich black topsoil that is full of earthworms. Perfect way to grow any plant, especially citrus. Patty S.

I'm not sure that she's willing to listen to me much anymore. We had a fight a couple of days ago. She was laid off from her first "real" job about three months ago, and managed to find a new job within a few weeks, which is good. Now she's started saying to me that she's had a new job offer, and she asked me what I thought. I told her that being straight out of college, and holding a job for one year, then the next for only two months, and then jumping to another job is NOT going to look good on her resume, because future employers would think she was flaky. She said I was being way too stringent, and that she would surely hold this next job for several years, and that would prove she wasn't flaky. I was like, "How do you know that you'll hold this next job for several years? The company could go under. You could get laid off again. I think you need to stay where you are for at least a couple of years, and have a good solid employment record before you shift to another job." She has no good reason to switch to this other job; it's like someone shows her something shiny and her attention changes to that direction. Those of you suggesting ADD might be onto something. She felt that I had absolutely no idea what I was talking about when it comes to what future employers might look for when it comes to her employment history, and that they wouldn't care if she had jumped around from job to job. Never mind that I have several years more work experience than her, and have been on hiring committees at major universities; I guess I know nothing. The argument then basically shifted into her saying that she knew that I thought she was a f*** up, and that I disapproved of her life choices, etc. Not totally untrue, I'm afraid. At this point, I'm not sure where the friendship is. I have a hard time being friends with someone that I can't even really respect, I guess. I've come to realize that I'm sick of being her keeper, and that's really about all our relationship ever was...

"I must ask, Mascara. If it is hours away, and apparently a hassle and lots of effort for you to get to London, why would you expect the mom to take your message of offering to take child to treatments and/or babysit for an evening out seriously?" To answer this, as I said before I offered this before the transplant. She only lives 5 minutes from me, they are only in London at the moment because it is one of the only hospitals in England with transplant facilities. "Mom considers you a 'Teenage Babysitter' person. You want full 'Pseudo-Parent' status. (Now - recently) Dad hasn't taken a firm and public position about your role. Bottom line, you can't 'move up' to Pseudo-Parent status until Dad insists on it and Mom allows it." This is what upsets me the most. Firstly, when she was my age she already had a 2 year old child with a young boy she practically forced into conceiving with her just so she could have a baby. Yes I know he had his own mind but he wont say boo to a goose and he has never been able to stand up to her. She then moved, stopped him from seeing his child and only spoke to him over the next two years to throw abuse and obcenities at him. Suddenly, she realises her son will not get a kidney through waiting on the list so conveniently decideds that daddy needs to be a part of his life again, "oh and by the way I need your kidney." Now I admit that I have been selfish and I have been immature at times. But I have never ever ever been that selfish, so what right does she have to judge me by my age when this was how she was behaving at my age? I have already said to him that she wont want me playing a part in his life if she doesn't think I'll be in it for long, so he needs to talk to her and make her understand that this is something we are in for the long run, and all I get is, "I didn't have a chance," "I'll get round to it" etc etc. Now as I said, he is a bit of a pushover, but he has no trouble saying what he thinks to anyone else but her, he just gets so pathetic around her. And if he does ever say no to her - for example, she has asked him to last minute come over and babysit and he has a prior engagement - she has a very clever way of manipulating him by making him feel guilty that he missed the first part of his life when it was her that cut him out. He says that he doesn't want any conflict with her because she stopped him seeing his son once and he thinks she will do it again. Now no matter what I think of her as a person, she is a wonderful mother. She raised him from birth on her own and he is one of the most kind and polite children I have met. She would never again stop him from seeing his dad because she knows they love each other and she knows it would come back to her in the end. I also explained to him that she has no grounds to do this on anyway so if it did come to that he could get a solicitor. But he hates confrontation, so our relationship ends up with the conflict because he refuses to have any conflict with her, no matter what the situation. I feel like I've now done everything I can to make this better and it keeps getting worse, I literally feel like I'm trying my best and I cannot do anything right.