Thanks, harvestman. I didn�t want to put any tar or paint on the cut. What I did is cut a patch from double tape used for trapping ants on tree trunk and slapped it on. Temporary measure. Should I remove it?

Hi Christy, Yes, that MG citrus soil is toxic!! I have no idea why they sell that soil as citurs soil when it is so far from being citrus soil. Here is my experience with MG citrus soil. I used it last spring when I bought my dwarf keylime and my dwarf moro blood orange. A year later, and the dwarf moro blood orange is no more, and lucky for me dwarf key lime has thrived. I would urge you to repot the Meyer lemon ASAP. If the Meyer's roots stay moist for more than 2 days, you run the risk of having root rot and a whole slew of problems. I was turned on to Al's gritty mix. You might be able to make a version of the gritty mix but PLEASE don't use the vermiculite! That is also moisture renentive and therefore will keep your mix moist. From what I have learned from Mike, the point of the gritty mix is to have a mix that drains frelly and dries out completely in 1-2 days. I had a hard time deciding on using this or not. I was concerned about how well my citrus trees would do when I go on vacation since I really don't have anyone to water for me. However, I have seen a rapid big change in the 3 trees that I have this mix in. We should get together and write a complaint to Miracle Grow. They really need to change the name of the mix to just cactus soil!! Good luck with your tree. Once you change the soil to Al's gritty mix, your tree should improve greatly and yes it is extemely important that you remove every last bit of the soil mix before you repot it into the gritty mix. I would take the tree to the sink after you remove the majority of the crappy MG citrus soil. I would have the water at luke warm and rinse all the soil off those roots. I would not wait another minute to repot this tree. I don't remember who said it here, but someone had said that the average life expectancy of a potted citrus is two years because they normally die from root rot. The thing that is really bad is that us newbies don't think that we are doing anything wrong in using the MG soil since it is MG. I have been growing tropicals and other plants since for quite a while now and the biggest lesson that I have learned is that a prepackaged soil is not necessarily a good soil to use. For the past 4 years or so, I have been mixing up diffrent soils based on the needs of the plant. Citrus and mango were the last two fruit trees that I had problems with making a mix for. Andrew

I think those suckers were pretty THICK. For thicker suckers you should use the "Missouri pruning" method. > Thicker suckers should not be snapped off, since could damage the whole plant .If it's thicker than a pencil, use the "Missouri pruning" method: pinch out just the tip of the sucker, leaving one or two leaves behind for photosynthesis and to protect developing fruit from sun scald. The drawback is that suckers will develop from the stem that you leave behind, which will require additional pruning, but this technique is better when you're dealing with large suckers--if wound becomes diseased, it will be further away from the main stem, and leaving a few inches on the sucker reduces the shock to the plant. Prune suckers all summer long to keep the plant healthy. They grow quickly, so you may need to prune once or twice a week.

I agree with Carol. When you are grieving support from everyone is appreciated, you cannot get too much. Do you have any photos of your friend that maybe her family haven't seen? I'm sure if you copied them and sent them they would appreciate it. I did that for a friend of mine who lost her husband when her children were little but I didn't think about it until they were grown and they loved them especially the ones I had of them as babies with their father. Do everything you can for the family, I'm sure it will be welcome.