IMHO .... after 2 years.. it should be rather well established.. as such .. i would have no problem taking some branches this fall once the leaves are shed.. to get a better idea of the interior structure ...' i want to be able to drive my lawn mower under my trees.. without losing my eyes.. glasses or cap ... that is usually my motivation .... on a 5 foot tree.. and surely without a pic from you ... i would guess i would take the lowest 2 or 3 branches off this fall .... UNLESS THERE IS A SPECIFIC TIMING REQUIREMENT REGARDING BORERS .... which i am not familiar with ... if it is in fact established.. with a root mass to support what is there ... then be taking a bit of the canopy ... next year should have explosive growth ... do not get carried away.. you can always take more next year.. you cant glue them back on ... lol .. how about a picture?? ken

Hoping everyone on Colorado is safe today...

Monsoon article: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/psr/general/monsoon/ Enough of that. By definition, the seasonal shift in wind brings moisture (humidity/higher dew points) to our area which in turn provides the opportunity for heat-of-the-day thunderstorms. OK, tropicals to grow. Click on my ID name to see what I am growing here. We may have another 1 month of banana growing weather. Either plant them immediately or wait until March when the soil warms up (although in a raised bed that will occur much sooner). http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Musaceae/Musa_acuminata.html I am growing Bananas, Avocados (4 trees), mangos, guavas, pineapples, apples, white sapote, Key Lime, Grapefruit, Tarocco Blood Orange, papaya, passionfruit vine, etc in Phoenix. They grow Keitt mangos commercially in Coachella (low desert near Indio/Palm Springs) and sell them in stores. I've eaten one and they taste great. Avocados are very tricky because they are sensitive to salt and sunburn easily on the branches until they grow up enough where the leaves shade the stems. Drainage is key and mulch is very important too. They will need sunshade the first year and eastern exposure with west-sun shade is better. I don't agree 100% with this info but it's pretty good (forget the rocks for drainage part). My trees began on a raised bed and then I broke it down so they are on a mound for better drainage. http://www.azrfg.org/avocados.pdf I grow palms including Royal Palms (take full sun), Foxtail palms, Dypsis Lutescens, dypsis baronii, ravenea glauca, etc. Good luck.

Floral_uk, I can definitely get closeups. Will try and take them tomorrow if I can find some with filled out flowering. We are just getting some warm days with flowers coming out. Thank you and I appreciate the input. Came across Pineappleweed that looks a lot like #3 though I got no hint of pineapple when crushing the leaves as was suggested. Also while searching around I identified another weed we see sparingly as spotted spurge. Fortunately that one is very easy to yank, unfortunately it seems to be ever pervasive so I am upping it to the puncturevine level of kill on sight as it is toxic. Not trying to eliminate every weed here, more like reduce the baddies, culture those that have some good virtues and introduce new ones that we want.