Maybe it smelled like a Industrial Hog Farm Operation. Ever drive by one of those? They are way worse than the Cattle Feed Lots lol. One time we were driving through Iowa and smelled the more horrific stench and this huge dump truck pulled in front of us complete full and overflowering with dead hogs. They were boated and reeked so bad we all almost started retching, and immediately were making sure the air vents were closed and the windows tightly shut. The kids were in the back seat and that was really something for them to see lol. They were making jokes about them taking the hogs to make dogfood or bologna lol. DH was desperately trying to get around this dead hog truck before we all just puked and died but we were stuck in traffic and everyone in the cars around us were holding their noses. When ever the truck moved a little, the bloated hogs on top would bounce around..some were hanging over the sides. The kids were making bets on if one would fall out, which surrounding vehicle they would land on. When we were finally able to get around the truck, we of course, just stared over to see who would drive such a putrid smelling truck and if he had a gas mask on or what? Noooo, the old guy had his window down, arm out smoking a cigarette like he was going to the hardware store or something. Hogs' juices were leaking down around him! It was like 98 degrees out. Thats when dh lost it and we had to pull over while he puked on the side of the road lol.

Great to see some improvement! I used the same soil method and am having good results. I know some people on here are fancy with soil mixes, but a simple bag of citrus soil and extra perlite seemed easier. As far as spraying the tree, you are right to use Neem at recommended dosages. I almost want to say that you could do without the alcohol. Neem works wonders on its own. Spraying twice a month would be a bit much. You should give it a "shower" once or twice a month with plain water in the bathtub, but only spray when there is something wrong. You can spritz with water whenever you want. Your tree will love any extra humidity. In the future invest in a bottle of liquid seaweed and mix that into a spray bottle as a "treat" for Mr. Meyer. He will benefit from foliage feeding once a month. That is also a natural deterrent against sap sucking insects (at least one of my gardening books says so). I would still expect to get scale or spider mites every winter. Or both. My meyer lemons trunk is pot marked with dead knots of previous branches that totally died back. This is actually the first winter my tree hasnt died back - and im glad because I have put in a lot more effort this year. Being in a cold zone it takes a lot more ambition to keep a lemon tree happy and healthy - it would have to be something sentimental to you or it would get forgotten. Your trees new growth looks good. It will take some time, but more growth is on the way. Any older leaves that are left will probably get dropped at some point as the tree makes way for new growth to replace them. Citrus will drop their older leaves anyways to replace with new better working ones - I think any single leaf has about 1 year of working life. Do you have a temp/humidity meter? If not I would highly recommend purchasing one. For me its the easiest way to know for sure if those needs are being met. Its hard to tell how much a humidifier actually raises ambient humidity around your tree, but keep in mind that if you are getting 'shocks' in the house then it is way too dry for a lemon. Enjoyed your update and pics! Keep up with the tree daily and I hope my advice doesn't turn you into a crazy citrus lady! ;-)

James, I guess when you've been around GW for a long time like I have (since the late 90's), off topic is just a normal sequence. If you go to some of the really old posts that are still alive, you'll see a lot of them veered off, but then somebody new came on and asked a question and that got the thread back on track. I personally, don't mind a thread going off topic at all. I do feel it makes it more interesting. If you'll notice, the suggestions and comments forum is missing now. It's been missing for a long time, because all anybody did was to complain about one thing or another. I think we all need to understand that our words are just words. There's no voice, no fluctuation, no body language to go along with what we're saying. Anymore, if I feel somebody is saying something totally inappropriate, I ask for clarification. They either come back and don't explain it correctly and I know my first instinct was correct, or they come back and apologize for not wording it correctly in the first place. I'm guilty of that myself! I've been in a hurry and just written something quick and to the point, but not using the correct words. And not thinking of how somebody else might take my words. The old saying about sticks and stones....but words do hurt our feelings. All of our feelings. I do come back and apologize though for not wording it like I should have. I have seen so many people come and go, I forget that not everybody has been hanging around as long as I have! I don't browse over to the discussions side in any of the forums. I have fun talking and chatting within the threads in the forum, be it on topic or off topic. I don't plan on changing where I post. There's already way too many forums anymore here at GW, I honestly don't understand the problem when a thread goes off topic. I've heard people complain about posts in the forum that are off topic, but not when a thread goes off topic. Finally, lovefornature, please don't go anywhere. James has explained his thinking in what he said and somewhere in there, I'm sure is an apology for not being clear. There's always going to be somebody who doesn't like something about GW, be it some of the people, the posts or the way the conversation goes. I acknowledge what James is saying, but I don't agree. Not at all. The finch thread is your thread and it can go any way you want it to go. If you want it to go back on topic because somebody objects, then veer it back. If you don't care, then the person who objects can choose not to read it anymore and they can start a new post on whatever they choose. It's when people get too picky and complain, that a lot of people choose to go elsewhere. Then GW slows way down and becomes somewhat boring because of the lack of posts and conversations within the thread. I don't know about anybody else, but when I call a friend for a specific reason, we always end up talking about a lot of other things. Same way in the threads. If my question is answered, then really, what difference does it make that now the conversation has gone off from I initially called for? Or asked in a thread? Hmm...I said finally already up there, but I guess it wasn't really my final thought. This is though.....and again to James, I don't feel you stepped on any toes. There are no hard and fast rules here at GW except for arguing. That isn't tolerated. Off topic threads however, are entirely different and if you don't want to read them, then move on to the next post. I've done that when a subject grabs my attention, but it isn't what I thought it was...so I either hit the back button or the "Return to".....and go find another post to read. If this whole forum was taken up with things not relating to birds, then I understand, but it isn't.

Weedy, You're the best. Thanks so much for doing that. I'm just about up to my elbows in Titebond (literally, I've used a little over 1.5 gallons today) so it would have been a while before I could have devoted time to savethe thread. If at all possible, sometime next month I'd like to go through the thread and tweak it a bit. Sort of add the details that we've covered since that were not included in the original text. I'll be in touch a few weeks down the road to ask you what I need to access the thread so I can edit it. Best, Mongo