I'm quite sure after reading this thread that i have an answer for my early girls, which are all doing this thick leaf stem growing upwards and twisting (more like a sucker would do), with large, thick leaves that are also turning upwards and rolling/twisting. There is zero discoloration or otherwise poor health indications, i grow in the middle of 50 acres, totally organically, my own compost used, mulched with wood chips a year old from within the property. I've used zero pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. Just compost, coco coir, water and my seedlings. They aren't stunted, are growing quite fast actually but, here in Northern California in the Sierra Nevada mountains we've seen record breaking temps between 90-105 for a few weeks straight now and I'm pretty certain my plants are just tired of baking. I'm hanging shade cloth tomorrow and will post pictures as well because it's quite bizarre how hearty they are but growing like an upside down tipi (and it's only my early girls doing this, the other varieties are all fine.)

Thank you to everyone and especially to Worthy for posting my pics on the "builder's only" site. That was really helpful. After reading all the comments here and on the site Worthy posted on, plus everything else I can find about foundations and foundation repair and after talking to an engineer (from another state unfortunately) who has the expertise to actually do non-destructive foundation testing, we've finally decided that our best option at this point is to go ahead and allow the builder to do the "cosmetic fix" with high-strength, non-shrinking grout and then keep our fingers crossed that no structural effects show up down the road. Turns out that appropriate non-destructive testing of the foundation is pretty much cost prohibitive for a residential project. Plus, such testing can only result in one of two outcomes: 1) A finding that there are no structural problems which means we've bought "peace of mind" at the cost of not having enough money to finish the build unless we scale back to the very most basic of finishes and leave out pretty much every detail that made this our "dream home" to start with. - ergo, we wind up with a basic tract-home quality house that was built for a high-end custom-home price and which we would never ever be able to sell for what it cost to build; or 2) A finding that there are structural problems which will cost who knows what amounts to fix and which, in theory, our builder should be liable for. Unfortunately, in the past two weeks, I have also discovered that our builder lied to us and to our bank about having appropriate insurance in place before the foundation was poured. That in itself was a total breach of our contract and fraud but no insurance company will now insure the foundation because the work done prior to coverage! Plus, it has become clear to me that despite my having checked his references - including his financial status with his bank - he is actually on very thin ice financially. I suspect his bank is actually aware of this but was less than forthcoming to me about his status. All of which means, if we found out we actually do have foundation problems, he would probably bail from the whole contract and possibly even split town! My lawyer tells me a lawsuit in that event would be throwing good money after bad because if the builder is essentially broke and had no insurance then he is pretty much judgment proof which means even if I win there would be no way to ever collect from him. So, if there are foundation problems, we would have to pay to have them fixed or sell the property - with a known bad foundation sitting on it but no house - to someone who could afford to either fix the foundation and finish the house or have it jackhammered out and start over fresh. (Can't even imagine what it would cost to jack-hammer out nearly 2000 sq ft of rebar reinforced concrete slab!) So, we have fingers crossed that there are no real structural problems and are going ahead with the build on the CHANCE that the foundation is "good enough" and we'll wind up with our dream home without losing our shirts in the process. I'm not usually a head-in-the-sand kind of person but, at this point, I don't feel I have any other viable choice. Needless to say, I am livid especially because I DID check this guy's references every which way from Sunday including checking the website of our state agency that is supposed to register and police builders. They showed him as having a clean slate but it turns out that their on-line records appear to be at least 18 months out of date because in the last two weeks I've found out about 2 major lawsuits that have been pending against him for well over a year - both of which include claims of fraud as well as whole strings of construction defects. Plus, I've found out that the county D.A. is considering bringing a grand jury on him and indicting him for criminal fraud! At this point, I'm hoping he manages to stay out of jail and not declare bankruptcy long enough to even finish my house. And in the meantime, I'm at the site every single afternoon checking every single thing that has been done that day for myself and spending half the night researching what each stage of the build SHOULD look like. Builder is still scheduling subs and directing the build but, after confronting him about his lack of insurance and the two lawsuits, he agreed that from this point on, all financial matters will be routed through me and I made d--n certain he got the requisite coverage. I have also contracted for an independent third party inspector (not ATS) to come out an do several "phase inspections" at key points in the build - although I can't imagine any other problems/defects that could be quite so potentially expensive to correct. Hopefully this nightmare won't get any worse but with all of this going on, I probably won't have much time for visiting this forum so again, thank you to everyone and I would deeply appreciate prayers, blessings, good thoughts, and/or the sending of positive karma my way.

This is the one time of year I am slightly phobic about possibly having to go to a hospital Emergency Room. June 30th usually marks the graduation day of a Resident's year of training. So the brand new students will then begin their training on July 1st. I'd feel more comfortable having to go to an E.R. in the last week of June, when they've all been training for a whole year, than the first week of July when the Residents are all brand new! However, I do realize that sometimes it's the newbies who may be more dedicated and on the ball, because they are so inspired to do their best, whereas as the ones just finishing their Residency may be a little more tired and jaded. I guess we just have to hope that we end up at a decent hospital, and have the good fortune to be treated by staff who are both intelligent and compassionate.

Husband got Lyme disease twice over 35 years ago when scoutmaster during camping trips in Rhode Island. This was early in the start of the disease, and not far from the point of origin at the time. Doctors were not as aware then as they are now. We have had twice-yearly IPM spraying of our property since we moved to the countryside 20+ years ago on three wooded acres. The first summer here, I counted 36 ticks on me (I"m an avid gardener, used to spend more than 8 hours out in the yard daily), both the larger dog ticks and the barely visible deer ticks which carry Lyme. Freaked me out big-time! Hence the spray program -- since we have been doing that, I have had only one tick. Getting rid of mice is also helpful as they are intermediate carriers of the deer tick. LoneJack, I take one exception to the article you shared -- generally spot-on, but flushing a tick down the toilet is NOT a good idea -- they are able to survive the flush and crawl back up into the toilet bowl. I always use the "seal them in clear tape" method. Alisande -- Thanks for the rose geranium oil tip. Do you think that might work also on keeping those pesky "no-see-um" midges that are so annoying this time of year??