The more, the merrier. Now, let's just pray for temperate weather for the weekend. :-) AND REMEMBER! The day before the ceremony -- Sun., May 17 -- is the Celebration Of Old Roses. This is not only a wonderful chance to see roses you might never otherwise see -- but a great social occasion. We'll have a GREAT selection of Silent Auction and Raffle roses and other things, to raise funds for the Heritage Roses Groups, but there will also be incredible things of all sorts for sale. DH and I will be there all day. I'll mostly be at the LOcal Groups table, with the Silent Auction roses, so please come say HEY. Place, El Cerrito Community Center, 7007 Moeser Lane El Cerrito, CA Doors open 11 a.m. Food available -- and you really won't want to leave early. If you want to bring roses to add to the tables, please arrive before 10 a.m. The waiting time between 10 and 11 is a great time to socialize with friends outside. I'm hoping to meet a lot of y'all. Jeri

You're correct, Dan, I forgot they trapped some infected psyllids, which led them to the infected pummelo graft. And yes, the testing for trees allows an infected tree to stay in production much too long, allowing psyllids to spread the disease for a significant amount of time prior to finding an infected tree, and removing it. Damage is long done. This was part of Florida's issues in attempting to control the spread of HLB. Newer, swifter tests are being developed that have a high degree of accuracy, but of course, they are more expensive. And there are not nearly enough traps out there, or manpower available to manage the amount of traps we need in urban areas, to monitor the psyllid population. In listening to Dr. Allan Dodds, Professor Emeritus from UCR (whose graduate students, such as Dr. Erik Mirkov at Texas A&M) are leading the research in the fight agains HLB said that HLB will start in someone's back yard. Since about 70-90% of homes in S. California have at least 1 citrus tree, it is simply logistically impossible to monitor all the backyard citrus. One of the comments Dr. Dodds shared with us at our CRFG meeting, was the possibility of requiring the removal of ALL backyard citrus, if HLB is found in the state (as in spreading - not an isolated case as found in Hacienda Heights). That produced a rather loud collective gasp in our packed meeting. Considering many of our members, such as myself, have more than 50 trees (in my case, over 100) on our properties, that was simply an unacceptable solution, in order to protect our commercial citrus industry. And Dr. Dodds also proposed to us, that HLB very well may be here, but due to the situations you've mentioned - not enough monitoring capabilities - we may not discover it until it has really taken hold somewhere. So, California commercial growers are being much more preemptive, than the commercial growers were in Florida. Trying to learn from the disaster in Florida - they are treating their trees well, completely and thoroughly. They have been for several years, now. Much prior to HLB being identified here in our state in the hopes they can keep HLB out of our commercial citrus orchards. Hoping that they can stave off massive infection prior to successful treatments being made available. There are no "useful treatments" in Florida for HLB. Commercial growers are simply replanting every 5 years, a ridiculous and costly option. Some growers are attempting to flood their orchards with nutrients to make their trees as healthy and vigorous as possible, which really only slows the inevitable. But, might buy a grower another year of production, thus lowering their overhead. A few have tried super heating their trees, but that treatment is simply not practical in the large sense. It's much, much too late to remove trees - Florida became overwhelmed before this could have ever have been considered an option. They got caught with their pants down around their ankles, sadly. And, they are paying an indescribable cost for their lack of vigilance and concern. California will not be caught off guard, but for now, there is nothing much we can do, except treat all our trees on a regular basis, and hope for a cure, soon. Otherwise, our alternative may be horrific - the prophylactic removal of all backyard citrus trees. Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: CDFA Press Release: HLB Discovered in Hacienda Heights

Hmm. In SoCal, regular date palms (Phoenix dactylifera) are showing up everwhere, particularly in shopping malls and condo projects. I'm guessing the reason is that date groves are being ripped out for housing projects in the Coachella Valley, and thousands of cheap, mature palm trees are now available. So the question is: are your palms really *Canary Island* dates?

It is still dormant. Watch putting her in the direct sun real fast. We had that hot week and then this cool one. Do you have a sunny window to put her in. It is going to take awhile till you see much change. Once she is use to the sun she will love it out there. Most say to plant them with about 2" all the way around from the caudex to the pot. A lot of people here like about 4 to 6" of pot below. I use a bonsai pot so as to keep a smaller tree. It would grow in this pot for a very long time. But it likes tight roots. Since our nights can be cool bring it in when it is below 50. We are suppose to be warming up. Remember you can have a micro climate in your area so you will have to judge that the soil is draining and damp. not soggy. When your up against the hills the temps, humidity and breezes can very. I grew up in Niles. so I know the various weather the bay gets. Just keep a look out for caudex that gives or branches that get odd spots on them. I am guessing your tree is about 4 months old. But I may be wrong. With all the great heat you will be having soon. The roots will build them selves up and start pushing out leaves. My young ones do it slowly. I have even seen some throw a bloom before our Oct weather turns cold. Give it as much light as you can when in the house. But don't let the window glass burn the skin. Be patient with it. It grows at it's own rate. When it is older you can learn to shape and graft on it if you want.