Monica I bought a half pound box of Nagami kumquats at Kroger grocery. They were small and they had seeds. I did a years worth of research and decided to order a 10 pound box of Meiwa kumquats from Florida kumquat growers Inc. They were delicious and I planted 300+ Meiwa seeds. I also bought Poncirus Trifoliata seeds since my research showed that kumquats from seeds were a no go. Out of 300 seeds I had 2 plants left and one thrown into the compost heap as low quality. My 2 died and I rescued the compost victim. 1 years later it was clear that I could not graft to PT. I planted seeds and ended up with 4 sweetlee tangerine trees for rootstock. They grew very nicely and are the pride of my citrus fleet. My Meiwa died and that was the end of my citrus career. A friend moved and gave me her 2 Meyer lemon trees. They did well so I built a greenhouse and kept the tangerine trees and the 2 Meyer lemon trees. 2 of my tangerine trees tripled in size over winter into spring and the Meyers doubled in size. A friends gave me a grafted Meiwa kumquat and 2 seed grown Fukushu kumquat trees while another friend sent me The New Zealand lemonade tree, all mentioned above While doing all this I bought a fig tree and it took off and I have rooted over 30 cuttings that all produced figs. I can produce easily 500 to 2000 figs a year going into next season. The Hardy Chicago fig has been a real winner for me. This past year I harvested more figs than 5 apple trees of 20 feet. More than 17 full size peach trees 1 plum tree, 2 paw paw trees, 2 cherry trees, 7 blue berry bushes, almost as much as my black berries. At current I have a total of 6 citrus trees gifted to me and 3 tangerine trees from seed. All 9 are doing well#3 above is in ground #4 above is in ground I believe I know enough to get set up to produce most if not all of the citrus fruit we would eat in a year and do it cost effectively. I am there with the figs. Gardening is a labor of love. I will repeat that growing citrus trees take a real commitment to do well and is ONLY easy when the trees are not having problems. I will also say if you are growing for foliage then grow from seed from fruit. If you are growing for fruit start a bunch of trees from seed and learn on them for 2 years before buying a grafted tree. You get more fruit sooner if you blow 2 years growing from seed first as you go over the learning curve. I can say now I really enjoy my trees

Could have been any number of reasons why it died as stated above, we don't know what conditions you gave it...other than 'probably' poor soil. My first thought would be starvation from being in the same pot/soil for o19 years. I assume by 'dirt' you mean potting mixture? I know in the US garden soil is referred to as dirt on occasions. Etiolaion could also cause total collapse. If it's been in the same pot for 19 years, either it was way overpotted to start with, or at its end it was too crammed in and rootbound as I'm assuming it had grown somewhat? Was it ever fed, how often was it watered, did it get a teaspoon of water or a 5 hour soaking each time, did it have adequate light, had it been moved into a draughty area for some reason, where was it kept? I know say it thrived but without pics we can't even be sure of that....have you any pics of the deceased? There is a vast difference between someone's vision of a thriving plant and one that is actually only clinging to life in reality. If you decide to buy another one, best advice is to at least change its mixture more frequently than you did do. However, please give us more info, only then 'maybe' we can guess better. Gill

Sara-Ann, I'm sorry to hear about your dead roses. I've had mass deaths like this as well and I know first hand that it isn't fun. I've even posted pictures in the past of what's lovingly known as black die back or just die back. I've also grown several of those varieties and many of those have been very hardy for me (the fact that you can get Sheila's Perfume to grow/live for you is testament to your skills). So here's what I've concluded about it: 1- Like many have said, healthy roots beget healthy plants. I have found that if my weeds get out of control and I go and pull weeds that I invariably get die back. Most of the time the die back has started before hand, possibly from losing root realestate to the weeds, but the pulling usually quickens the pace. 2- Most research will tell you that die-back is often fungal in nature. With that said, I've found that I have been able to save one cane out of four or five from die-back with a heavier use of a systemic antifungal like Banner Maxx. Once saved, it's a question of building up the root system enough to get the rose to snap back. 3- I've also found that if I use a heavy amount of granular fertilizer that I experience die-back as well. Fertilizers can range from the typical granular to alfalfa pellets placed too close to the stem. Again, this is a root issue. 4- I noted you said watering might have played an issue. Be careful, often we take a dried out pot and assume that more water is the path to recovery. This isn't always the case. Dried out pots usually equal less roots to take up water. In overwatering we end up water-logging the pot and drowning the rose. Keep it moist, but pay attention to not overwater. 5- Another mode of fungal spread that I read up on was insect damage. Often there are scraping insects that compromise the cell walls of your stems and allow for the introduction of certain fungal infections. In these instances, bug spray with an anti-fungal could help (note, I don't think this is the case for you, as you are in a low bug time of the year). I hope this helps. Know that our failures only make us better gardeners. Good Luck, Adrian.

New growth isn't a clear indication that the plant is growing. True growth is measured by a plant's increase in dry weight; so, if a plant is shedding a leaf and growing a leaf, it's roughly in a static state, which is not a good place for a plant to be. I'm not necessarily saying the leaf ISN'T being shed as a result of normal senescence, only that new growth might not indicate an o/a increase in mass. There is no better fertilizer program than one you can control to the degree you know exactly what nutrients your plant is getting, how much of each, and when nutrients will be available for uptake. There is an ideal level of nutrients in the soil and an ideal fractional amount of each in comparison to each and all of the others. Most plants use about 10X as much N as P, and about 3/5 as much K as N. The rest of the nutrients also have an ideal level determined by a function of N levels and the overall level of total dissolved solids (TDS) in the soil solution. Adding tonics, miracle concoctions, or supplements targeting an increase in 1 or 2 nutrients w/o good reason or a strong likelihood what you are doing is going to correct a deficiency, is far more likely to result in limitations than benefits. Al