Below is a link to the squirrel trap. I did not mean to take credit for the trap, and I haven't even built one yet, but it seems like it would work rather effectively. I like it because it is the most inconspicuous one I have ever seen, which is a major selling point for me, living right next door to two families. trapping and drowning them seems like a quick way to get the ASPCA called on me, and relocating them seems like a major hassle, also seems safe for neighborhood cats. Yes, I meant PINE BARK. Thanks for the comment, I will edit accordingly. No, I water them with the hose. I had a drip line set up for about a day until I realized I put it on the blueberries to, and the way I coiled it around the plants, I had to remove the whole line to get it off the blueberries. Also, watering with the hose, by hand gives me an extra excuse to examine them without looking like a weirdo staring at his plants all day :) Brady, funny you posted that link, I saw that before and was planning on doing something similar to that but now that I need to keep the branchwork of the trees higher up, to allow sunlight/airflow to the bushes below, I am going with an elevated espalier form. This tree seems like a trouper though, so I think I can afford to experiment with it a bit. Here is a link that might be useful: squirrel trap

James, The camouflage netting that I referred to is much heavier than the bird netting and probably has more wind resistance. I think that your plan will work for netting individual trees, but the netting must be supported away from the tree to allow growth without the leaves tangling in the webbing. If I'm successful with my current rootings I'll have in the neighborhood of thirty trees to plant, and rather than try to net each individually I'm trying to figure how to net the entire row of trees. I would prefer a product that will survive the elements for several years so that I can just leave it up year-round, at least the top cover. We live on twenty acres about eight miles out of town so it's not like I need to be concerned with what the neighbors think, and the area is a couple of hundred feet from the house screened by some Lelands and my shop. Possibilities for framework are 4x4 posts on each side of the row spaced 12' apart down the row, with 2x4's spanning between the posts across the row and along both sides of the row. Another possibility is to use pipe uprights and steel conduit for the upper crossmembers. I'm thinking to attach the wire (or webbing) permanently along the top and down about six feet from the top, and for the bottom 4-6' use netting so I can tie it up when I need to mow around it. All of my trees are in the ground, and the prospect of netting individual trees is unwelcome if I can figure a way around it that will work.

Jose, Thanks for posting that information. I had seen it before when you posted it sometime back. It a good reminder and very applicable at certain times of the year. Some of these practices are indeed used by me the many Citrus growers in my area. They do work quite well. It is a well kept secret that Louisiana does indeed have a small (compared to Florida and California) Citrus Industry. The taste of Louisiana citrus rivals the fruit that is grown in Florida and California because it has a better sugar to acid ratio. Our farmers did a great job of protecting MANY citrus trees from the unusually cold winter that we had in our area this past season. I lost some but saved most of my citrus from the cold temperatures that we experienced. Fruitnut...... Wind chill is a function of both AIR temperature and its relative humidity level. And yes indeed, WIND CHILL CAN AFFECT PLANTS. Here is some technical information that I posted in another thread to help explain this multi variable phenomenon. [This is FYI only and for those other forum members who might want to know some "WHY's" behind potential leaf damage due to cold............it is not just about AIR TEMPERATURE. It is also about wind, leaf temperature, and air humidity level. On a windy night with clear or cloudy skies LEAF temperature will be nearly the same as AIR temperature. However, on a cold, clear night with little to no air movement.....leaf temperature can easily drop 3 to 4 degrees lower than the ambient air temperature. (It can drop as much as 8 degrees in my area.) This is because of the RADIATION heat loss of the fig leaves. The rate of heat loss of those leaves is a function of the air's humidity level. At higher humidity levels often frost will form on those leaves. So, while the ambient AIR temperature might only be 35 degrees F......the actual LEAF temperature might well be 31 to 32 degrees F. That temperature could affect tender new growth. In my area it is not uncommon for us to see frost form whenever the ambient air temperature is at 40 degrees F or below. This means that the actual leaf temperature reached 32 degrees F or below which froze the dew that condensed on the leaves as the dew point of the humid air was reached during the night. Late Spring frosts can kill fig trees in South Louisiana......especially if the outside air temperature has been cycling through several periods of warmth and cold. Yes, in my area, damaging frosts can form on fig leaves with ambient temperature as high as 40 degrees!! Ask me how I know and what I fear most at this time of year. Potential plant damage is really about leaf temperature and that is a bit harder to measure.] Dan

Snidely - good point about not removing things if they're not causing trouble - lest they turn out to have been needed. So I have left some things that I have no idea about. I did delete Dell Stage - bc. it's a real pain - gets in the way all the time (my daughter who's had this on her laptop for 2 years confirmed that it's just in the way). I did all the microsoft updates, ran a few antivirus, got rid of what I want to get rid of, and it's mostly good to go. Here's the trouble that remains: I can't get the printer working. It's a Canon Pixma MX850 - on the home network. I did not want to install the Canon disk bc. it has a ton of it's own bloatware. So I went to Canon and downloaded the driver - as well as the IJ utility software (I think that helps the computer find a printer on the network). Went to devices and printers, added the printer and made it the default printer. It shows up in printers and devices, but when I go to print something, it fails. Troubleshooting says the test page didn't print bc. something else is in the queue. But there is nothing else in the queue. I opened the queue from my pain desktop (that's connected to the printer) - and there's no documents in the queue. Went to the printer queue on DH's lapto; - it also shows nothing in the queue. I can print from other computers. Don't know what else to do. And I just remembered that I did not see Java. It didnt come up as needing updating when I ran the Secunia scan. I am not sure which programs need it, but can imagine my husband being stumped if he tries to do something that needs Java and asks him to install. I'd like to install it for him. Got to remember that. I also have a question about Microsoft Security Essentials. Twice now it found something bad - and I selected to remove the couple of files. Does this AV just run in the background or do I also need to run scans? Thank you. Lynn.