1. yes, about then 2.No, I didn't want to walk up to the house to get the chainsaw. the chainsaw would have been the proper way to do it. I used a linoleum knife I had with me and cut into the bark at a forty-five degree angle and went around the tree. It would have been quicker to go get the chainsaw. I really didn't think I had done a good enough job. 3. Probably about 15 centimeters. I am trying to convert to metric. (: What is that, two and half to three inches. 4. I start July 4 and want to be done by mid August. too early and they grow back and too late and risk of sap staying up freezing off the fine wood in ab early cold snap. Been there, done that. Purposefully, as an experiment. 5. this tree never came close to having half that many blooms. Now we'll see what sets.

Watering twice daily with drip irrigation for about 25 mins each time. 2 emitters (currently) on the grapefruit and 1 on the lime tree. Fertilized the middle of February and May and will again in August with Arizona's Best citrus fertilizer. Have done nothing additional as far as micronutrients or acidification. Beginners luck I guess.

Staticx, i maybe used wrong word not sure, but here is what i did, i wet my soil mix which was perlite and good potting soil in another container, then i put that mix in clear plastic cup after dipping stick in rooting gel. It grew roots soon and they looked good i never watered afterwards as the mix never got dry to water it. Im thinking maybe condensation occured or it was to humid or something like that in area where roots were growing. The plant had several nice looking leaves then all of sudden they wilted and dropped off and everything just went downhill. Maybe condensation is not the proper term. I dont want to say tranplant your plant and maybe it dies then. I just like to mention my experinces as bad or good things happens. But if your roots suddenly are all turning a darker brown it might not be a good sign as thats what happened to me. I have done same thing with some other cutting and they are doing very well so go figure! Oh 1 more thing i did have a plastic dome on top to keep it from drying out like i do all my new sticks when rooting. Martin

I'm looking back on these posts, and the links above, and I'm laughing hysterically! I thought I was the only one... When we purchased our home, DH and his best friend decide to completely gut our kitchen for a remodel. In trying to remove the kitchen counter tops from the cabinets, hubby comes up from the basement with an axe in one hand, and a sledge hammer in the other. Wide-eyed, I asked what he was doing. He tells me he's going to remove the counter tops. I said, honey, the counter tops can be lifted off of the cabinets, you just have to loosen the seal where the backsplash meets the wall, and dislodge the countertop and lift it off. You don't need an axe to do that. His engineer best friend is standing there with the same DUH look on his face, totally clueless. I had to go into a 10 minute explanation on how countertops are attached to the cabinets, trying to convince him that an axe really isn't necessary. Meanwhile, best friend is removing the wall-mounted oven (that we were planning to salvage), and in doing so, tempered glass shatters everywhere. I asked DH to saw some vent holes in the paneling on the small room built around our furnace, for increased air flow. I purchased the vents, just needed him to saw the openings for me. No problem. A short while later, I come downstairs to find that DH and best friend had sawed the openings for the vents - but not at the top of the wall or at floor level, but smack dab in the middle of the wall. Right at eye level. Because that's exactly where you'd expect to see a vent in anyone's home. We've since replaced the paneling. DH was replacing a light fixture in the bathroom for me. I was happy, thought he's getting better at his handyman skills, though I always wonder why it seems to take him so long. Finally, after what seemed to be an hour or so, DH comes out of the bathroom and tells me that he doesn't know why the light doesn't work. Turns out, he never kept the wires separate, and combined the grounding wire with all the other wires, not knowing what was what. We had to call an electrician. We have old plumbing in our 1920's home, and about a month ago, I asked DH to remove the stems from the bathtub handles so we could update them with something more modern. Instead of turning the stem with a wrench for removal, DH takes a plumbers wrench to the bolt it's attached to, totally strips it and bends it out of shape so now we can't even put the old handles on if we wanted to. $700 later and a plumber, the problem is fixed and we have all new plumbing in our bathtub. DH decided to beautify our landscaping one day, unbeknownst to me. I come outside to find that he trimmed my beautiful lilac trees into 3' high square bushes, removing all the foliage and leaving only the branches. ??????? I asked him why he did that, he said that's what his Mom always does (and she does!). DH and MIL are not allowed to touch any of my pruning shears. DH and Best friend went out to the family land this past weekend for guys night out. They purchased groceries - including a dozen eggs, put them behind the seat, loaded up the car with their goodies, and DH had to slam the front seat back (repeatedly) as hard as he could so best friend could fit in the front seat. They realized 2 1/2 hours into the drive that there were eggs behind the seat. After laughing hysterically, they said to eachother, "yeah, I guess our IQ does lower when we're around eachother".