Fruitnut, I am retired but only in my 40's so my back is still in good shape lol. I prune low growth off so most of the fruit is up high anyway. Well the leaves I have now are last years leaves and probably half have dropped. You can see how yellow the leaves look in the circular bed.....the yellow on the ground is a pile of orange rinds as we had just made juice from our trees. If you mean the lack of leaves on the new plants I pruned most of them off with the fruit buds. The leaves here tend to have fungal problems in the late fall and will cause the leaves to drop. That is probably what is on your Santa fe as well. The commercial guys with multiple acres of 2 foot on center plantings have more trouble with it. The thing is that happens in November when most of the BB plants in the country are already bare. When you factor in the growing season here the plants are in leaf from Mid February until December/January you can see why the plants here grow like weeds. You can spray for the fungus but don't see the point in doing so.

I think you're thinking in terms of tropical fish. Typically, with fish, you use tap water, which usually has Chlorine. Letting it sit allows the Chlorine gas to evaporate. For most CP's, they live in nutrient poor conditions. Not only will the Chlorine kill them, so will the minerals in tap water. Evaporation concentrates the dissolved minerals. Rain water doesn't need to sit. It's normal for the media to smell. Not a problem. As long as the plants are green, they are okay. If everything turned brown, then I'd worry! Maryland, depending where in Maryland, may be too cold to leave outside for the winter, without mulching. I live in the Buffalo, NY area. so I take my plants to a co-worker, and he keeps them in his windowed garage for the winter. That works for me. Are you near the coast or near the mountains? That makes a difference.

Jim, in Canada, we get WAYYY overcharged for things here. The price that was on this palm and the Spindle was $100 each. But, we got them for $50 each. Topher, I assume that you mean the washie that we moved in May 2006 to the middle of the yard. Well, last year it put on something like 5 large fronds and hit about 7 foot tall. BUT, I had a little accident this fall, whiich was totally my fault for forgetting to do something. That something was, no, those somethings were: 1) mount the blow dryer (heater) properly, don't just leave it hanging 2) install a 15 amp service onto the 35 amp that was feeding that area. So, what happened was that because I didn't mount the dryer properly (forgot) it moved to the plastic and its air intake got blocked. It burned up. BUT, because I had also forgotten to install a 15amp fusebox. So the dryer not only burned up, but the wires melted and continued to burn/glow whatever. So like what I guess is about 1 or 2 weeks later when I noticed black on the plastic, I figured it was black fungus. It's when I finally opened things up to check on their condition, that I saw what had happened. Of course, the black was the smoke and of course, it covered the entire inside and all the palms. On this Washy, all of its outter fronds where singged so I had to cut them off. Also, due to this little mishap, the palms inside expereinced -12C (10F). But this washie and the other large one, on their first year, also experienced -8C (18F), which I think only cold hardened them. So the -12C seems to have had a good effect on the palms in that structure, because the washy has already opened up a fresh new large frond. I was shocked (sorry, no pun intended). LOL The other palms, in pots inside the structure, are also putting on new growth. So, you'll understand if I hold off on posting that picture for a bit! ROFL! ;) Of course, I will post a pic when we remove the protection, which I hope might be in 2-3 weeks IF THIS FREAKY WEATHER settles down! Geeze! -8C (18F) this morning... last year at this time, we has like 10C (50F). :)

When my Mum was pregnant for the first time and went into labor, she went to the hospital. The doctor said "when the apple is ripe it will fall from the tree. We don't pick ripe apples." and sent her home. She returned later the same day and delivered. She had 6 kids and tells us we were all late so she was pregnant more than 54 months of her life. With child #5, she was so late they induced her and she picked March 30th because she thought having an April Fool's day birthday would be awful(and the 30th would provide 2 days to get it done). Naturally, child #5 has always wished she had an AFD birthday. Our BIL and a nephew, who do have an AFD birthdays, love to tell her how it is the best birthday. Hope all is well with you and yours. When the apple is ripe, it will fall from the tree...