Yeah, I've read the same stuff you have, but that doesn't make it logical. Plants that have been dug-up have a difficult time obtaining water whether they're in a pot or in the ground. I think the sooner they regrow roots, the better. I've lost very few doing this with many different plants in high temps. It seems like unnecessary work for the person and restraint of root formation for the plants to hold them in pots longer than it takes to dig holes and get them in the ground. Then the plants have to go through another location change and being re-planted. It's the kind of thing that people like to say because they've heard it before, juicy rationalization of why they're putting it off until it's cooler, or it sounds like importantly complicated insider info, but they rarely actually do it themselves. Nobody wants to wait for their plants to get as big and beautiful ASAP. And sometimes your circumstances can change, and later you may not have the time. I don't want to sound argumentative, just firmly rooted in my convictions about this. By fall, you can have a bunch of yearning-for-the-sun, pot-bound plants, or big healthy ones with full-grown root systems, ready to withstand winter.

Hi Laura how did your tree make out last night? It sounds like you know what you are doing , that will probably make a nice mix with the 2 potting soils. Laura with pro mix you have to wait at least a week before fertilizing . Let's hope your tree catch's on . Laura do you leave your tree outside in the winter? If you leave it outside why not pot it up in a larger pot . Wow you had a thunderstorm last night good .Is that very common in the summer ? Do you have something that catch's the rain water . Because if you ever over fertilize you can flush your tree with that water . Have a beautiful day Laura Mike was it raining cats and dogs or was it raining more frogs ? Thanks Mike for all your help , without you I probably would have kept on fertilizing every time I watered . I was washing my trees all day , so relaxing i am in the sun and i am cooled by the spray from the water .I have a wicked tan to prove it . I have been cleaning my trees so much I don't think I have to worry about the fertilizing problem any more . There is so much water that goes into the pot . I am getting ahead with the scale problem I have been washing all week and I am off all next week so those suckers don't stand a chance . Where there are ants there are scales and I did not see one ant in any of my trees. Mike do they ever respond to a good cleaning just as much as I would think to a good rainstorm . My trees are so green and even my tango which is in the pro mix is going to have a major flush , I can see all the new growth coming and it has a lot of fruit on it . What a glorious , spectacular etc day we have going here , it is 80 degrees with a beautiful breeze . I know what your saying about the cold day your having , it was very cool here last night to . You will probably get the weather we are having right now tomorrow , something to look forward to . I saw that Boston let there fireworks go Thursday night that was a very smart decision . I wonder if that ever happened before . I am glad you and your plants were safe . Everybody on the forum was concerned . Always nice talking to you Mike . Brian

A little skunk anecdote, which I will call "Summer of the Skunk." Last June a skunk started to visit us regularly (there is a reservation not too far away). This began a summer of almost weekly encounters between our Wheaten Terrier, Nevie, and the striped intruder. Terriers are bred to get rid of small varmints, so the first time the skunk squeezed himself through our fence and into our yard, Nevie headed for the skunk. In no time flat she was back at the door howling, covered with skunk smell. Clueless, we opened the door and brought her in (the number one rule of what NOT to do when your dog gets skunked). We knew right away, and at 11:00 p.m. my husband fled to Walgreens to get the ingredients for all-time-best skunk deoderizer, not to mention several cans of Febreze. Meanwhile the skunk smell had wafted through the entire house in no time, the kids were gagging and whining and when hubbie got home we plunked Neve into the bath. She was grateful. We stank. This happened five times in all during the summer. We attributed the last four times to either stubbornness on Nevie's part in protecting her family, or maybe that she is not the brightest dog in the neighborhood. We tried every natural repellant we could think of, kept the dog in after dark, said prayers and lit candles. We were afraid that maybe the skunk didn't leave at night but hung out under our deck (but we didn't see him and were too afraid to go under there.) The last time the skunk visited was in September, when we had a Danish exchange student staying with us. Her room windows were open when the skunk attacked. It was bad. No matter what we did the smell hung on. Our daughter, who brought our guest to high school with her each day, came home to say that all day teachers were asking if anyone else smelled skunk (?!) A wonderful memory for senior year. I'm sure our guest's report when she got back to Denmark included some mention of skunks. Just when we were about to bring in professional help (for us and to remove the skunk) the skunk stopped visiting. I guess his work here was done. Here's hoping we have no skunk visits this summer, but if we do, at least we've learned some lessons!:)

Mike - Ya spraying them inside is kind of a pain, but I would like to think it's more effective for all the trouble I go through lol. I bring them straight into the bathroom and put them in the shower so clean up isn't so bad. They get sprayed super frequently for the first couple of weeks so anything that survives the initial hose down can't spread to my other plants. Though if your having such success with just spraying them outside, then I think I will incorporate a couple of outdoor sprays into my routine as well. Preventive measures are definitely important :)