John, Don't worry about thinking your are being too assertive... no offense is taken. I'm just genuinely curious as to why the soft water is perceived as being so terrible. I often see many quite firm statements on a variety of topics (water, fertilizer, temperature, sunlight, methods for planting in ground, etc...) related home gardening. There is a sound horticultural basis behind many of these recommendations, but at the same time I see many firm recommendations that for most people likely make no difference one way or the other. I don't see the point of having this huge list of varying do's and don'ts if a large portion of the recommendations either are minimally helpful, or don't really have any impact. When I began growing container citrus several years ago, I started out all gung-ho trying to do everything under the sun that was recommended to make my trees happy especially in winter (grow lights, supplemental heating, boosting the humidity, etc...). The end result invariably was sickly looking trees. I've had much better luck not really doing too much and allowing the trees to acclimate gradually on their own to whatever their current environment happens to be. Getting back to the soft water question. I completely agree that too much sodium chloride will kill plants, especially citrus. I would also add that too much salt of any kind could kill your plants, of course the lethal concentrations will vary quite widely depending on the specific toxicities. An ion exchange water softener does not add sodium chloride to the water. The sodium chloride is just used to regenerate the ion exchange resin by saturating it with sodium ions. The softening process only replaces the magnesium and calcium ions with sodium. The primary anion before and after treatment should remain carbonate, no additional chloride is added. Since sodium carbonate is much more soluble in water than either magnesium or calcium carbonate, one could argue that it would be more difficult to build up high concentrations of it in the container. This is assuming that one flushes their container with excess water on a semi regular basis. Nevertheless, I doubt this aspect really makes much significant difference one way or the other if the container is being flushed with water periodically. While thinking about this whole issue, I also came across several research papers that investigate the effects of salinity on citrus. The primary toxic effects of "salinity" on citrus are increased osmotic stress and specific ion toxicities. Again, if one is flushing their container with water semi-regularly, osmotic stress should never become an issue, as the excess accumulated salts will be washed out regularly. With respect to ion toxicity, the general consensus seems to be that chloride is a more significant issue than sodium. However, the water softening process does not really add any chloride to the the treated water, therefore its concentration is no different than in the untreated water. The concentration of sodium carbonate in the "softened" water is also not really ever going to be that high (in the neighborhood of 200 ppm, if the input water is classified as very hard). I've seen a study (link below) that subjected citrus to salt (sodium chloride and/or calcium chloride) at concentrations up to 6000 ppm. Although the differences in response to the salt challenge were clearly noticeable among the tested cultivars, the most significantly damaged trees only showed a "slight marginal burn" on the leaves. So even assuming there was 200 ppm sodium chloride in the softened water, it would take several months of watering with no flushing of the soil to build up to these high salt concentrations where there are clearly visible toxicity effects. In summary, I do not see any scientific basis for why "softened" water should be perceived as so bad for citrus culture. At the same time, there is not much evidence that it has any significant benefits. In the absence of finding any direct studies investigating this question, I think the issue is largely irrelevant for container citrus culture. If a few basic care practices are observed (mainly not treating your soil as a black hole in which an infinite amount of fertilizer and soluble salts from the water supply can be allowed to accumulate), it shouldn't really matter. I will add one final caveat, if signs of salt toxicity do happen to appear irrespective of the water source, then one should absolutely start trying to isolate and correct the problem. John, I'm curious to know if you have any additional thoughts. In any case, cheers, and thanks for the discussion! -Scott PS Susan, my sincere apologies for taking your thread off on a little tangent. Here is a link that might be useful: Salt tolerance of some citrus

Sunnie, please see your doctor. I've been on anxiety meds for about a year now, and boy-o-boy, howdy!!! What a difference. They don't make me drowsy, don't make me 'stupid' (at least I don't think so)...but it takes away that heaviness in my chest...if something goes wrong, or I'm worried, I can deal with it, or fact it, then it just goes somewhere else instead of my DWELLING on it every minute of the day! I no longer obsess about what COULD happen, and worry much, much less. You need to take care of yourself, or you'll be the one being taken care of. *Oh! I've always hated dropping a participle like that! hmph. Where was I? Oh, yes....Sweetie....you can't run on 'empty'. Everyone needs to re-charge now and then, and we all have different ways of doing that. Debbie has her bubbly baths, and I go shopping with friends and to lunch, or I put a chick-flick on and sip wine with abandon ! lol! You have to find a way to re-charge...that weekend coming up with your daughter sounds wonderful! What a nice bonding experience for the two of you! Make it a celebration! Take in a movie or two! Bring bubble-bath for yourself!! And apply wine medicinally! haha! Find what brings you some joy and just do that when you can. Even 1/2hr spurts now and then can re-charge you. Snap those ear-phones on and blast your favourite music! Or retreat and say your rosary. Whatever is your bliss. Sooooooo, Debbie!!! Your daughter will be on MY TURF next year, eh? hahahaha!!! Hope you can come here and we can both drive over and visit her! I have tons of room, several guest-rooms and you're welcome to whatever you need! Sandra's taken the bus here for a visit...you both can come! haha! OMG...she's coming in two weeks with 3 hockey-dads and their 3 hockey-playing 14-year old sons (her cousin and his son) who are also staying here! I hope there's enough room on that bus going back for all the Christmas stuff she's going to pick up at Costco! hahaha!!! Wow! 7 guests in two weeks! PAR-TAY~ !! Now back to you, Sunnie....please pay attention to yourself, okay? It's so important, we can't stress it enough. I've had anxiety attacks, and they're no fun at all. Time to get a little help and find what you need to refresh yourself. Blessings Linda

Pqsmom, I'm so happy you love your Buckingham! I can't wait for mine. I'm still not 100% at ease, but doing better. There have been a few snags (what a surprise since that never happens right?). For example in spite of asking the owner of the cabinet shop about 7 times if she was sure she had made the trash cabinet big enough since I thought the Rev A Shelf website saying the opening had to be 15" meant it needed a 16.5" cabinet, she repeatedly stated her specs said a 16" would be fine. Well, installer agreed with me since the trash didn't fit. Now they are going to have to re-cut that cabinet, adjust some stuff and re-order the door. They also sort of forgot to make the fridge cabinet or order the doors for it. Whoops. Anyway in spite of those and a couple other issues, they were still able to come out to template so at least the mistakes won't mean I have to wait even longer for my Buckingham - just as long as it takes to re-cut and install the messed up cabinets. I found the templating interesting since it sort of looked like two grown men doing a big arts and craft project, using plywood boards instead of toothpicks! But maybe that's just the renovation insanity setting in.

Nicole I would cut the side branch now since it seems that the main trunk has still some rot in it. (I was suggesting to let side branch to callus before potting it up). As Crenda said, you can just leave it sitting there, without worrying - as long as it is healthy (same procedure - see if there is any black inside. If yes, cut slice by slice until clear. Otherwise, just let it callus). It will survive months without any water as Crenda showed - I am procrastinator too...have left branches without potting for many, many months. The main trunk needs to be sliced off until no black spots/threads are visible. It would be good if you clean cutting blade with rubbing alcohol after each slice (sorry I forgot to mention this before). You may end up with very short stub, but have nothing to loose - if healthy, short stub will eventually start growing new leaves. If there is too much rot thru it, it will die anyway. The pot you have them in seems to be quite large, it holds lots of soil that is very easy to over-water. But you could keep it, as long as you take care with watering. Get a long wooden skewer and insert it deep into the pot - about 2/3rds down - when you have urge to water. If it comes out clean and dry (you don't need to keep it in the soil for too long, just a min or two), time to water. If any particles of soil are sticking to it and/or it feels damp when touched to your hand or cheek, do not water at all. Rina edited to add: It may take a while - could be few months - before any new growth is visible. Be patient, and just check for any signs of rot - softening of trunks. Otherwise leave alone... This photo shows new growth just appearing, about 5 weeks after pruning - but the plant was healthy before: