I had always heard that you should never put out transplants (without a wall of water or something else) until nighttime temperatures were stable above 50 degrees F. I thought that a temperature drop below 50 would stunt the growth. Definately some misunderstanding going on. The learning curve has been difficult for you as you started the plants so early and so have had to deal with issues most don't have. ;) Thus much of the confusion I think. In previous threads of yours you were advised that you could begin hardening off some time ago and told then that 40 degree nights would pose no problems. But I think you might be confusing soil temps and air temps. Totally different issue. Back in one of your earlier threads - the one where you were going to transplant them out on April 9th (3 weeks ago) it was suggested to you by one poster that soil temps in the 40's or lower could lead to stunted plants without a WOW or something similar. That may be true but it does not apply to air temps. That is a totally different issue. You mother's plants will be fine as already said and yours can easily go into the ground now. Hope this helps clarify the issues. Dave

Well that's quite a large wall to work with and anything that helps to shade/screen it will, no doubt, cut down on the electric bills. Besides trees/shrubs, you might consider a tall trellis/vine as well. You could also train a non-vine type plant on it such as the evergreen (orange/red berried) Pyracantha. The birds will thank you. Trees that have similar orange/red berries are Yaupons and Possumhaws. The Yaupons are evergreen the Possumhaws drop the leaves and show just the berries. Then there's the sun loving, orange flowered miniature pomegranite that gets about 10-12 feet. But if you don't want the fruit then don't do it. Keeping with the natives, there's always the fragrant Mountain Laurels. Very slow growing so buy one that is fairly mature. Another lovely native is the Vitex with its lavender blooms that are enjoyed by bees and hummingbirds. It's deciduous. As far as small trees go, my new favorite is the Tea or Sweet Olive (Osmanthus Fragrans). Fragrant, evergreen, and can be used either as a shrub or a specimen tree (find one with a single trunk). As for evergreen junipers, there are varieties of Sky Rocket Junipers (or rocket junipers) that might be appropriate. They keep a fairly slim width and height under 20'. Attractive, sun loving and drought tolerant, but I'm not sure how they do in Texas. There are many more 'smallish' trees that could be used in that space. Too many to name.

Do you live in a large city? While a 2-week wait (or longer) for the soil to dry down is fairly common, commonality doesn't mean the plants that grow in it are going to show appreciation. Let's work on that point, and I have some other ideas that will allow you to make adjustments that might fix whatever is going on. That you can go long intervals between waterings w/o under-watering means there is an excess of water in the grow medium for at least a week after a thorough watering and perhaps longer. I know you've been at GW for awhile now, so you've probably read my tips on how to significantly reduce the amount of excess water your medium can hold. I'll outline them in case you're already familiar. * You can use items in the pot bottom as ballast to displace a large fraction of the grow medium that would otherwise be filled with excess water. * If the pot is of manageable size, moving it downward then sharply upward while holding the pot over the sink can remove ALL excess water from the pot. * You can tip the pot when done watering, which also removes a good measure of excess water. * You can use a wick through the side of the pot exactly where the sidewall meets the bottom (that's the best spot) or through the drain hole. Compare B to A to see what tipping your pots gains you; and compare E to A to see what a wick can do. Figure D is one way of using an item as ballast, but there are other set-ups. Sometimes, when the bark is too large, you'll get stratification where the peat migrates to the bottom of the soil column (causing it to remain wet for long periods) while all the bark is at the top of the soil column; but through the tell, it would seem you'd be picking up on that. Still, it's worth investigating when you repot. Wet soil and organic forms of N can combine to cause ammonium toxicity, and your fertilizer derives all of its N from urea. This is a very common issue but one seldom diagnosed. Your fertilizer doesn't contain Ca or Mg. Garden lime serves as not only a pH adjuster, but as a source of Ca and Mg as well. The magnesium fraction of garden lime is more than 125X more soluble in water than the calcium carbonate it contains, so it's not uncommon for a planting to need a Mg boost after a couple of years, especially when using a fertilizer that contains no Mg. I used to use and recommend MG 12-4-8 or MG 24-8-16 because I hadn't yet found Foliage-Pro 9-3-6. It has ALL nutrients essential to normal growth, and serves admirably as a complete single source nutrition package. I use it for all plants except tomato and hibiscus. For those, I still use it, but I increase the amount of K it contains for hibiscus and tomato by adding ProTeKt 0-0-3, which also contains silicon, which I have found makes a big difference in that it helps plants better tolerate heat/cold, too wet/too dry, insect herbivory and disease pathogens. You might want to try the Foliage-Pro 9-3-6. In the meanwhile, you can try adding a dose of Epsom salts with a solution strength equal to 1/4 level tsp/gal. I almost never recommend dosing with anything aimed at providing a single nutrient, but in this case there is so little probability of a negative result it seems reasonable. Finally, the damage is concentrated in areas of the leaf where the variegation is lightest. If these plants get much foll sun, it could be sunburn. The pigment, chlorophyll, actually protects the leaf's photosynthesizing apparatus from solar overload. Leaf tissues with little to no chlorophyll are much more sun-sensitive than their greener neighbors. Al

WOW - your wax myrtles look great!! I’ve sprayed my 10 with a 3 in 1 made by Fertilome which was recommended by the garden center and now I’ll keep an eye on them and see what happens. I bought plants in 3 gallon containers that were about 30 inches tall at the time of planting and they have grown about a foot so far this year. i did do a little pruning earlier in the year to get them to flush out more. We have a seldom used neighborhood park adjacent to our lot and I wanted some kind of natural barrier between it and our backyard just in case it gets more use in the future. I had had some experience with wax myrtles as a privacy hedge at a home in South Carolina so thought they would be the ticket here. The difference there was that they were already established and I never had to be concerned with watering or pests. It‘s been so dry here in Jacksonville that I have had to hand water them a couple of times every week. The irrigation system we inherited is set up for grass, not newly planted shrubbery but that has given me the oppoortunity to closely inspect the plants with each watering, not only the wax myrtles but also the azaleas and camillias that I have planted since we bought this place. Thanks for getting back to me. I’s good to hear that your plants are doing so well and are providing the needed privacy. Take care.