>> the Chinese are building dams both for electric generation and flood control. >> Water is a highly political issue and will only become more so as global weather patterns naturally shift, whether you believe/agree with global warming or not. It is now generally accepted that CA's rainfall averages over the last 100 yrs were unusually higher than the true long-term (read: thousand year weather patterns) average rainfall. CA is mostly desert and without imported water - whether from other parts of the state or other Western states - nothing would survive in summer except for a few trees and scrub plants. It's cheap irrigated water that gave rise to the eventual huge agribusiness corporations that have made agriculture CA's #1 industry. As for the Chinese, their dam building may very well cause huge ecological problems in the coming years. Many experts (both Chinese and Western) have postulated the devastating earthquake in Sichuan province in 2008 that killed 69,000 people was caused by the massive Three Gorges Dam, whose geological engineering was questionable and untested at the time. The villagers that were originally displaced have recently had to be moved yet again, for the new farms they were given have developed huge irreversible cracks in the ground (not-so-affectionately called 'pig killers'). The government is now in the process of building another two dozen dams exactly like Three Gorges, almost all of them in earthquake-prone areas. Areas, in fact, very (geologically) similar to CA. The Chinese have even more serious water problems than we do; Beijing's ever-increasing water demands are destroying local agriculture around it. The North China Plain will be completely depleted of water by 2030, by US Dept. of Agriculture estimates (they conducted the study at the request of the Chinese government). In a reverse of what we see in CA, where water from the North goes down to the South, China is working on a $70 billion project to move water from their South provinces up to the North. Their ecological problems are beginning to mount ever higher as more and more of their critical river systems begin to collapse. Dams prevent flooding, but without sufficient fresh water releases there are more than just fish kills. Fresh water is the flushing system that prevents sea water from creeping ever further inland, reducing public water supplies and creating cesspools where pollution runoff collects and never gets dissipated.

If you have trifoliate leaves, you have rootstock growing. Not the lime cultivar. 2" is just an arbitrary measurement. The graft line can be as low as the soil, or up the trunk even as far up as 12". What you want to look for and very clearly identify, is the graft line. Where the cultivar scion was grafted to the rootstock. Any shoots emanating from below that graft line will be rootstock. Any shoots emanating from above the graft will be the scion (your cultivar). If your rootstock was a trifoliate hybrid, you're going to see "leaves of three", hence the name "trifoliate". If you can provide some close up photos of the trunk at varying heights, we can try to see if we see a graft line. If I have time today, I can snap a few photos of my trees, and show you where the graft line is, and what to look for. For me, I think it is very obvious, but for someone new, it may not be. Patty S.

For those who wonder about "marine layer." During May and June in Southern California, the land warms up but the Pacific Ocean is still in the 50's which causes the moisture in the air to condense into a dense high fog. The SW daily wind pushes this fog over the land to the 12,000 foot mountains about 100 miles inland. This creates a gloomy windy day that sometimes burns off after noon and sometimes not at all. This is not a good environment for plumies as the moist air encourages black fungus to sometimes attack new leaves and inflos. Also attempted rooting can be interupted or delayed by the sudden damp cooling that comes at the end of a warm spring. By July, the ocean is warming through the 60's so the May gray and June gloom is no longer created and the skys are sunny and hot. The lesson: do not visit So.Calif in May or June and if you grow plumies, expect some damage from the gray gloom. Bill

i am surprised rhiz didnt mention her favorite.. horticultural oil ... which must be timed perfectly.. to when those eggs turn into 'crawlers' and move out from under momma ... it suffocates them ... and if you arent out there with a jewelers loop and miss the exodus ... there is always next year ... i prefer to go nuclear with scale.. one shot of a systemic product.. and you will be done with scale for years.. on a given plant ... you would have to read the label.. but i would start with bayer tree and shrub ... i know its rated for scale.. i dont know if its this scale.. or usable on PVine ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: something like this ... with imidacloprid ... where do they come up with these names.. lol ...