No I can't be sure from the photos that nutrition is the only problem. The trees look very thin on leaves -- have they been pruned recently? Have you tested the soil for pH? Do you see any wilting of the leaves at times when the soil is moist? (I'm trying to rule out blight and/or tristeza here) Where in Fla. are you? (thinking of potential for freeze injury). How old are these trees? If they were in my yard, here's what I would do: 1. I would not fertilize heavily just now. Probably what you've already done is ok. But I would get the soil tested for pH and correct that through the winter, if necessary. Try to get the soil into the pH 6.0-6.5 range. A bit lower is ok if the trees are on Swingle or another Poncirus hybrid rootstock (sprouts from ground level will have 3 leaflets rather than one) 2. I would keep a large circle of soil bare around the base of the tree with no mulches or other additives of any kind. I would particularly avoid putting anything against the trunk. 3. In mid-February, I'd apply a good citrus fertilizer, approximately equal amounts of N and K and less P (10-2-10 or similar) with micronutrients, at a pound per inch of trunk diameter or per foot of tree canopy diameter, whichever is greater. 4. If greasy spot disease is s severe problem, I would spray once, around July 1, with a citrus-labeled oil spray; otherwise I would not do any spraying of pesticides. You should be able to see greasy spot on older leaves right now, if it's present -- looks like drops of used motor oil on the undersides of the leaves, with corresponding yellow-brown spots on the top sides. The symptoms develop this time of the year, but the only time it can be controlled is summer. 5. If the soil is alkaline and I can't bring that down (sometimes a problem in extreme south Florida), I would consider a nutritional spray of the micronutrients in February. 6. Your tangelo tree -- I have my doubts that that's what it is anymore. I think it likely died to below the graft union, and the tree that came up is now rootstock variety. Not sure from the pictures, but the leaves look very small to be tangelo. Is that possible? There appears to be a fruit on it -- is that fruit a tangelo? 7. Thinking of more potential problems that could cause the symptoms being seen -- Do any of the leaves lave little semi-circular notches cut from the edges? (trying to rule out root weevil injury, the adults of which will notch the leaves). Are there any rotted lesions at the base of the trunk, where it enters the soil? (thinking of phytophthora foot rot)

Well, I'm doing the hard work NOW so that I don't have to worry much about my tomatoes LATER. (that's how I'm "simplify" :-) The reason why I'm going through all of this stuff is that this is my SEVENTH year trying tomatoes. Every year I run into this problem or that. I've grown them in bags - which worked great 'til a cold snap hit. (I had planted them too late). I've tried them in the summer -- got aphid issues and died before I noticed... etc. This year, I'm getting them in the ground about a month later than I wanted to --- most of them are still in small pots and staying small... but I'm trying to get that garden RIGHT so that it's easier next time around. I'm going to pick up some Neem - I've never used it, but I'd like to try it. The watering tube is interesting to me - but I've been also hitting the soil from the top because I don't fully believe that the water wicks UP - I suspect it probably will drain DOWN, away from the plant. But I'm willing to try it. Overwatering is PROBABLY not going to be a problem because our soil drains SO QUICKLY, but I still am not 100% sure how to do it properly. They respond quickly when I water from above (directly to the soil - I don't get the leaves wet) but watering from below, I can't tell. (I'm truly hoping that it's encouraging a strong root system) Preparing the holes takes the longest. I probably don't need the sterlite, but I just love how loose and light the soil feels when I use it. The cages I ended up making are a little more narrow than I would have liked - they're about 18-20" around - but free is free (and I'm spending enough money on soil amendments as it is) I may snake a soaker hose under the black plastic- or perhaps poke holes in the plastic around the tomato cages and create divits to allow water to pool and drip into the soil underneath them - sort of the "moat" idea that I used with good success a few years back. I'm going to pick up some cheap fertilizer spikes as well, since I have a container tomato plant that is doing better than any of my other plants - and the only difference is that I put FOUR of those baby spikes in rather than one or two - and its growing and growing. I'm almost afraid to disturb it by planting it in the groud, its doing so well! (I'm leaving that tomato plant to be the last one I plant).

I have about 10 varieties of hot peppers growing inside using the bubble method. I spent about a month experimenting with different ways of doing it, and have found out what works good for me. I have one 400 watt MH grow light that I started with. It costs me $200. I then purchased a PH / PPM meter / tester. I bought 2, 3 1/2, and 5 gallon buckets and lids. I also bought some grow baskets, and rock wool cubes. I started out killing pretty much everything except the hot pepper plants and Basil. I killed about 5 tomatoes plants before figuring it out. Basically I put only two 4" blue bubble stones per air pump Whisper 10-20-40 gal pumps. I check and keep the PH in the solution between 6.0 - 6.3 for most of my plants. I use about 200 ppm for new pepper plants, and 500 for new tomato plants. When the plants are about 1 foot tall, I increase the ppm on the peppers to 500, and 1000 for the Tomato. When the peppers start blooming, I increase the ppm to 1000 ppm. When the tomatoes start blooming I increase to 1500 ppm. When the pepper plants get over 2 foot tall and have lots of peppers on them, I increase the ppm of the solution to 1500 ppm, and tomatoes to 2500 - 3000 ppm. Having a lot of air bubbles makes the plant grow fast, the solution changes PH less, and the plant is much happier. One thing I noticed is that when both tomato and pepper plants are small they take a long time to form a good root system. Then once they get about 6" tall, they take off root wise. To make the small seedlings grow faster, when I place them in a 4x4x4 rock wool cube I cut a hole about 1 1/2" all the way through it. I then place the bubbler directly beneath the cube, instead of the bottom of the bucket. I now have about 10 pepper plants in various stages growing hydroponic. Several plants have dozens of peppers on them and the Jalape plant is growing the fastest of them all.

three of them made a mess in one room. It was all sticky, and bugy so i washed them in bathroom and took it outside. It was hell to do. They grew along the windows without real support so when i took them down....with all those bugs...hell. Now they are outside on 5th floor. Wasps come by, have some lunch, some lady bugs as well. The nums od aphids is droping, but plants are loosing leaves rapidly. Htere were some cattepilars as well, but i guess that they didn't like neem oil, and me taking them down so there are no caterpillars. It is interesting that lemon chilly pepper doesn't have many of aphids, even when the leaves of infested neighbor habaneros are touching. There is some chemistry that someone should investigate. Three other plants were without aphids until recently, and numbers are growing incredible. I sprayed them on window sills with neem oil stronger than 2%, and i can see effects pretty quick...but i put also more organic dish soap. They are not pretty anymore, loosing leaves, sticky. pods are sticky, some are soft to touch...not the plants "that i used to know ". Talking about bad luck, i have some requests to sell them. By now I had more than 600 pods, approximately one kilo of dried ones. I had some experiment with those few pods that grew mold on stings when drying. I washed them all in diluted peroxide 3%, than in vinegar, water and dried them allover. No mold now, and aflatoxin i guess. I learned that that repeated drying process can give an extra flavour, like Urfa pepper ( Turkish/Syrian stuff )