I really enjoyed reading this post! I'm probably guilty of buying ALL THE PLANTZ!! I started with a couple then a few more... Because I'm lucky to find so many different types in my area at reasonable prices I take risks in buying ones that may or may not do well here. I figure it's worth the risk. I had no idea how lucky I am to find such a variety, but it's rare to find a big established plant. Although I just passed on a 5 foot (on trellis) multi flowering carnosa because I couldn't fit it in the car... I have a couple of Graveyard hoyas, most I've replaced and trying again. (Or will if I find another one for sale) I don't think I'll get another lauterbachii again even though they turn up all the time. Mine grew fast and tall but died. Not sure if it was underwatering or the cold but as I since found out it grows huge with next to no chance of me ever seeing flowers here I really cant be bothered buying it again. Since joining this group and learning "if in doubt, unpot and check roots and/or chop" I haven't lost many plants, except poor polyneura that got cooked in the last heatwave :( (I bought a new one in case my cuttings didn't take but they did!)

Ugh, i hate when signatures are required! If im not home (and im usually not because i work) that means they keep the package until i can make it to the PO. So i have to either be late for work or leave early in order to go get the package. My packages from poland were left at my door.

Hi all. I take care of a university biology department's collection of plants here in Connecticut and have grown citrus at home for over forty years. My take on the above issues follows. First, my Meyer lemons that get a good dose of cold before I move them inside (this year around Halloween) often drop many of their leaves and then soon break out into the same kind of flowering cycle seen on the second plant. They are more prone to dropping most of their leaves in November than any of the other citrus I care for. Next, when the tip of a branch begins to die back as in the photo, you should use a sharp pair of secateurs (sterilized in bleach solution) and prune it back to green wood just above a leaf node ASAP. Leaving the dying tip is only causing more tissue to die. Next, I think both the plant that shed all its leaves in a week and the one that consists of just a single stem are in pots that are much too large for them, especially given that they are in regular potting soil and seem to be in cool home environments without a great deal of sunlight. The single-stemmed plant would probably be quite happy in a five inch diameter pot. Over-potting makes the cooler conditions the plants encounter in the fall and indoors more likely to cause root rot which can kill a citrus tree quite quickly (I've done it to a couple of my own trees: they drowned). The test I'd do is to get them out of their pots and see if there are a decent number of roots spreading through most of the soil. If a plant that has been in a container for several months is lifted from the pot and when this is done large gobs of soil simply fall away, that's a good reason to put the plant into a smaller container. There's no good rule for this, but I'll note that most of my older citrus (15 to 30 years old) are in containers that are about 1/3 as high and 1/3 as wide as the plants. A typical example: I have a Key lime in an 11 inch wide and 10 inch tall pot (with soil to within three inches of the top and an inch of bark chips on top of that). The Key Lime has a 1 inch diameter trunk at the base and is roughly 2.5 feet wide and 2.5 feet tall. Soil considerations. At home, I long used regular brands of potting soil picked up at Home Depot (non-moisture control) with success for decades but then had a bad experience when I used a more expensive brand from a garden center that had too much ability to hold water--the bottom of two pots turned to mud. In the aftermath of that experience, I researched my options. For what it is worth, I've adopted the following mix at the greenhouse: 1/2 Al's Gritty Mix plus 1/2 ProMix BX. Al's Gritty Mix consists of three ingredients 1/3 Turface (the stuff used on baseball infields), 1/3 Grani-grit (rough granite chips for chickens to grind their food in their gizzards), and 1/3 fine bark mulch. I do not sift or sieve any of these things but simply pull out any overly large bits of wood from the bark mulch or mix if I see them. I found that Al's mix alone drained and dried out far too quickly in the greenhouse. You can obviously vary the amounts or omit one of the Al's ingredients and still have a much better mix than what you'll buy at Home Depot. A cactus might get 1/3 ProMix BX and 2/3s Al's, etc. I use the 1/2 and 1/2 mix for most succulents and cacti, including Desert Roses. Oh, and I've found that covering the soil surface with larger bark chips is a great way to reduce the fungus gnat population, but that problem is also helped by shifting to a mix that has less peat in it or by NOT repotting your plants just prior to bringing them in for the winter (the fungus gnats are particularly attracted to new potting soil with its fresh peat).

Honestly, I think you're over reacting...in my experience splash plants virtually never revert to solid green...they may put out more lightly splashed leaves (look at your half-splashed leaf further down) or even no-splash leaves (like your two newbies) but the MAJORITY of their leaves will continue to be heavily splashed...You may be confusing the splash clone with the variegated clone--like Krimson Princess--which does seem to be quite unstable and will revert to solid green if you even look at it sideways, but the splash phenomenon seems to be very stable and, as I said, seemingly never totally reverts....Hang in there and watch for more new growth--chances are like 100% that the splash will be back :-)