Oh you poor darling! How do you control yourself? I would be a screaming banshee if i had done all that work to have it all dragged out to cook in the yard. You must be a saint or something! LOL :-)---Im glad you like the sock idea. I have two dogs and both get the sock method. My oldest is a three year old Shepard mix we adopted from a shelter, her name is Mary. She will practically bring the sock to me and she always wants to go first because they get many many goodies afterward. Bribes always work :-)----Then Tigger is our little black and white boy mini schnauzer and he used to eat us up when we first got him. He just turned one in may. He did not trust us at first and if we touched him or tried to hold him he would bite us! Thank God thats over with and he is our little Velcro dogie now. Always hanging on somebody wanting to be petted. He still gets upset about getting his nails clipped but he wants the treats soooooo bad, so he is much nicer and no biting anymore just growling but thank goodness for the sock. I use an old stretched out one that the elastic is soft so as not to hurt our babies just paralyze them. HaHa Then with Mary i drape a small blankie or towel over her legs so as not to kick my eyes out because i trim them on their backs. It takes about five minutes per dog and then we have a big treat party about three treats per dog and everybody gets a new rawhide chewy afterward to go take their anxiety out on. And i keep my skin and eyes intact :) The only problem i have with Tigger now is when we go out for a potty break he tries to catch baby birds and he bite a baby robin this year and killed it. I cried. I had no idea the little bird was even in there but he knew right away and just grabbed it and shook it. It was over in an instant. I put a muzzle on him now when we go out because i dont want that to happen again. Glad Daisy doesn't hurt them thats really good just gives them a slobber bath :-) Sorry i talked your head off, I better go---------bonnie

Thanks for all of the advise, much appreciated. I will be removing two additional 60ft maple trees that contribute significantly to the shade situation. This should increase the direct sun hours to at least 3hrs during summer months and near full sun when the leaves drop as the shade is caused my nearly by all deciduous maple trees. My drainage is pretty good. Right next to this planting I did the 1x1ft hole, fill/drain, and then fill and time. It completed in 45minutes, which indicates fast to very fast drainage. Ken, not sure if you have done this test, I'm curious what you would get in your pure sands, 20min? Additionally, I actually used a hammer drill to increase the space between these two rocks and installed a drain at the bottom using a 1ft vertical PVC pipe with screen on top and rocks in the middle, so I don't think draining should be a problem. I'm starting to think now, that shade can in fact kill a tree all by itself (assuming there is no disease on mine). If it can't retain it's needles, it won't just have stunted growth, but will eventually die.... Damm shade...I need to cut down more of these mature trees.

I've decided to transform the leaf mould bin into a compost bin sooner rather than later. Instead of emptying out all of the leaves, I've started incorporating grass clippings and kitchen/garden scraps into the bin, making sure it gets a good green/brown ratio. Over time, by turning the existing brown materials in with the new green materials, it should make good compost. The negative about this is that I won't be able to use this stuff for about two years, when I could have actually collected leaf mould in one year. The positive is that compost is more nutrient rich but can also be used the same way, as a top dressing or mulch, for water retention and weed suppression, but giving those plants a boost that leaf mould may not do. I'll work green materials in for about a year (or unless we get it so full that it absolutely can't hold any more) then setup another swimming pool composter up. On appx April 2018, the plan is to collect compost from the first bin. On appx April 2019, I'll collect compost from the 2nd bin. Then, April 2020, from the first bin, and on and on. Meanwhile, I'm slowly building up a small farm, with rabbits, cows, chickens, and eventually, ducks, possibly turkeys, etc. Rabbit poop = instant garden fertilizer + worm food, for vermicomposting, to collect worm castings for the garden, and the worms themselves could feed some fish, for a future aquaponics setup. Cow, chicken, duck, and turkey poop will be composted. As of right now, it's all about slowly moving forward, to try to obtain a balance, where everything works together.

Direct sunlight would be outside in direct sun. The sun coming through your windows is already going to be filtered light. It would be very good for your tree to repot into a container with drainage, use something like the 5:1:1 mix and place it right up in front of a southern facing window where it recieves as much light as possible. I grow quite a few ficus benjaminas. They have the same general needs as your tree. Naturally, these trees want as much light as possible. Anything that says they don't like direct light is false. It's just that indoor grown leaves can't handle full outdoor sun unless acclimated. In the winter months, I keep the tree in front of a southern facing window with the addition of grow lights. I have five 55w (250w equivalent) 5500k grow lights above the tree. In the summer, I acclimate the tree over a span on a couple weeks and then place it in full direct sun all summer. That is when it puts out the most growth. Literally grows a couple feet every summer. the tree is 7 feet all and was under 4 feet tall when I got it a year and a half ago. Currently in an 18" terra cotta pot in Al's 5:1:1 mix.