Here is one I got from a book: - 1 teaspoon baking soda - 1 teaspoon oil (any oil will do, like cooking oil) - a few drops of liquid soap (I use natural dishwashing soap) - 1 litre of water This is much like what Elks proposes above, with the added benefit of oil, which makes sense as it helps to make the mix stickier so it stays on longer. A word of advice, though. I find that if I start with the water and add the other ingredients to that, this will hardly ever become a homogenous mixture. Therefore, I would try mixing the baking soda, the oil and the soap really well first and only then diluting this slowly with the water. I just sprayed two pumpkins with this (they caught it from a pair of garden center bought zucchini - so much for buying started plants!). I used a brass plant mister for this (see link below). While this may be far from being a standard garden tool, I find this works better than other implements as it really creates a fine cloud of mist that can reach where other tools can't (we all know how tough it can be to get the stuff UNDER the leaves, where it really matters). When almost full, you can even turn it up to target leaves from below and still works great. Also, because the mist is so fine, there is less waste and also less of a chance of overdoing it and burning the plant. Just saying, because I have been wondering if it just might be that those who complain that baking soda doesn't work for them are simply not applying the stuff right. I'll let you know what gives. Here is a link that might be useful: Brass plant mister

~~~ and increased blossom drop and BER problems. In fact many commercial growers do what is called dry farming for those reasons. ~~~ Hmmm. This is one of those "takes all kinds" moments. I am finding that younger plants (or could it be cooler temps?) do suffer BER more when more moist but the plants are growing so, I can't deprive them of it too much. Older plants, seem to get it more if allowed to dry out too much. I also find that heavy fruit setters, excluding cherrys, are more suseptable as are unpruned plants and those in smallish containers. This yr. only plants in 8gal and smaller have suffered BER so far with 2 exceptions. One German Queen (she was finiky last yr too but the taste, Oh my!) tom in a 2 cubic ft. container and for the first time I remember I had to toss a half doz from one inground plant, Health Kick. Health Kick is in my "gorilla site" and virtually ignored ... no pruining, almost no suplemental water or feed. As to the prunng, I've just about convinced myself and will be sharing some photos that show that moderate amounts of pruning are beneficial if you want early fruits. Purdue has already shown a size increace. No, its not a lab grade test. Some of it you'll have to take my word and some extrapolation made. Numbers are not in question, pruning reduces numbers but to me, even though less flavorful than those when the heat comes, early tomatoes are valuable.

Any tree "will drop it's leaves" for a healthy number of reasons ..... it's what they're genetically programmed to do as a survival mechanism. Whether or not leaf loss is a minor or lethal problem depends on two factors - the % of leaves lost and the plant's state of vitality when the setback occurs. A few leaves lost from a healthy plant - no big deal; a high % of leaves lost from a plant that had been enjoying good health is a significant setback; a high % of leaves lost from a plant already in decline can be a lethal setback because the plant may not have enough energy reserves to push a new flush of foliage - which carries with it an extremely high probability of collapse. I'm actually grateful for the opportunities you provide others to turn the sweeping statements you make without qualifying them into perfect learning opportunities. Explaining why those statements cannot be broadly applied doesn't take much time and many people benefit from what others say in disagreement with you. Similarly, explaining why many of the offerings you leave are simply erroneous provides additional opportunities to consider more reasoned points of view. Al

Thanks Kelley! I'm still on the fence about how well my tree is doing but so far it doesn't look like there's any large infestations or obvious diseases. The only explanations would have to be root rot, lots of fungus gnat larvae, or not enough food for the tree. And I'm hoping it's not the root rot! With your mix, it might be due to the fact that each of those materials hold water very well. From all the research I've looked at online, vermiculite and perlite are usually recommended to be chosen for just one or the other in most soil mixes. Or a mix of both to equal 1 part. The only time I've seen a mix include both as separate parts was IVOrganics on YouTube but I didn't stay updated on how the tree fared. If your vermiculite was a larger, coarser type then it might be ok? I've read vermiculite tends to hold water very well due to absorption while perlite just gets wet on its surface. Is your lime also on that same mix? It probably is just the mix's drainage...I think an expert should give you a more informed opinion on your eureka. I've had my first lemon for only a month now. My advice would probably be to not listen to my advice lol