Bshef, Ive been wondering the same thing about self watering containers for blues. I saw a good video on You Tube about growing figs in self watering containers and I know they can be sensitive to wet feet like blues. His plants were huge and healty too. I have a 3 more plants that I need to pot up and will put one of them in a home made earth box pot and report my results. I assume with a earth box type pot system the potting media will need to be pretty fine to wick up the water so I will have to change my usual mix. Only time will tell.

D - is the tree now largely defoliated, other than the newly emerged small branching shown above - can we get a look at the rest of the canopy? Where do you live? I'm looking for some reference to a large city near you or something that will indicate what your weather patterns are likely to be for the next 2 months. You're probably going to have to unpot and inspect the roots. I can say that if the tree is already largely defoliated, I'd strongly encourage you to get after the roots and reset the clock back to the point where your tree again has at least the opportunity to grow at near it's genetic potential. If you leave the plant/roots to their own devices, you actually ensure a slow and steady decline. It's important to realize that the growth and vitality of plants are negatively affected by root congestion at about the point where the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact. Once the planting has reached that stage, potting up has less and less rejuvenating effect on the plant. Here is a copy/paste job that uses a sliding scale to illustrate the difference between what happens to trees/plants left to their own devices (no root work - only potting-up) vs trees where root maintenance is a regular part of the maintenance program. You can read the full thread here, but here is the part I referred to: In plants that are potted-up, rootage becomes entangled. As root diameters increase, portions of roots constrict flow of water and nutrients through other roots, much the same as in the case of girdling or encircling roots on trees grown in-ground. The ratio of fine, feeder roots to more lignified and perennial roots becomes skewed to favor the larger, (practically speaking) useless roots. Initial symptoms of poor root conditions are progressive diminishing of branch extension and reduced vitality. As rootage becomes continually compressed and restricted, branch extension stops and individual branches might die as water/nutrient translocation is further compromised. Foliage quality may not (important to understand) indicate the tree is struggling until the condition is severe, but if you observe your trees carefully, you will find them increasingly unable to cope with stressful conditions - too much/little water, heat, sun, etc. Trees that are operating under conditions of stress that has progressed to strain, will usually be diagnosed in the end as suffering from attack by insects or other bio-agents while the underlying cause goes unnoticed. I want to mention that I draw distinct delineation between simply potting up and repotting. Potting up temporarily offers room for fine rootage to grow and do the necessary work of water/nutrient uptake, but these new roots soon lignify, while rootage in the old root mass continues to grow and become increasingly restrictive. The larger and larger containers required for potting-up & the difficulty in handling them also makes us increasingly reluctant to undertake even potting-up, let alone undertake the task of repotting/root-pruning which grows increasingly difficult with each up-potting. So we are clear on terminology, potting up simply involves moving the plant with its root mass and soil intact, or nearly so, to a larger container and filling in around the root/soil mass with additional soil. Repotting, on the other hand, includes the removal of all or part of the soil and the pruning of roots, with an eye to removing the largest roots, as well as those that would be considered defective. Examples are roots that are dead, those growing back toward the center of the root mass, encircling, girdling or j-hooked roots, and otherwise damaged roots. I often explain the effects of repotting vs potting up like this: Let's rate growth/vitality potential on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best. We're going to say that trees in containers can only achieve a growth/vitality rating of 9, due to the somewhat limiting effects of container culture. Lets also imagine that for every year a tree goes w/o repotting or potting up, its measure of growth/vitality slips by 1 number, That is to say you pot a tree and the first year it grows at a level of 9, the next year, an 8, the next year a 7. Lets also imagine we're going to go 3 years between repotting or potting up. Here's what happens to the tree you repot/root prune: year 1: 9 year 2: 8 year 3: 7 repot year 1: 9 year 2: 8 year 3: 7 repot year 1: 9 year 2: 8 year 3: 7 You can see that a full repotting and root pruning returns the plant to its full potential within the limits of other cultural influences for as long as you care to repot/root prune. Looking now at how woody plants respond to only potting up: year 1: 9 year 2: 8 year 3: 7 pot up year 1: 8 year 2: 7 year 3: 6 pot up year 1: 7 year 2: 6 year 3: 5 pot up year 1: 6 year 2: 5 year 3: 4 pot up year 1: 5 year 2: 4 year 3: 3 pot up year 1: 4 year 2: 3 year 3: 2 pot up year 1: 3 year 2: 2 year 3: 1 This is a fairly accurate illustration of the influence tight roots have on a woody plant's growth/vitality. You might think of it for a moment in the context of the longevity of bonsai trees vs the life expectancy of most trees grown as houseplants, the difference between 4 years and 400 years, lying primarily in how the roots are treated. There is also a thread on this forum that addresses the care and cultural preferences of Ficus trees in containers that you may or may not have seen. I hope you find it helpful and that you reply with additional questions or concerns in addition to the info I inquired about. Thank you for the kind words, Karen. Al

How long? About 3-4 years. I can't remember. I let this ensete die because it was so big. I didn't dare take it outside during the summer months because the wind would break it off. Because of this, I couldn't flush the soil with water to flush out salt build up from fertilizers and other stuff in my hard water, so it eventually went down hill. I just put it outside to finish dying a week ago. However my other 3 that I put outside during Summer are down stairs in my unlit, unheated basement room in dormancy. In the Fall, I cut them down to 5-6' stumps, repot them in 15 gallon nursery pots, and stick them in the basement till next Spring. They have large thick "trunks". I do this every year and they come back to full beauty in the Summer.

You seem to think it's because he's not eating enough at dinner, and that's very possible. Why not try a adding a small glass of warm milk to the bedtime routine, before teeth brushing of course? It will fill his tummy up. I know when my dd would wake up in the middle of the night this often worked for her. Another possibility is that he is experiencing night terrors of some sort. It's pretty common among children. Sometimes they even seem "awake" while this is going on, but are in a state between sleep and awake.