Darkcyde, the light levels at this time are very poor where plants are concerned. In winter, they go into dormancy and do not need the water, nor the light so much. As light levels begin now to increase, you can expect your sapling to put on new growth....as little as it is. There's nothing wrong in starting an outside plant indoors as long as you give it some sort of natural habitat it would otherwise enjoy outside. Don't let the plant dry out, but when you water, water to drainage and dump the excess after a reasonable period of time. Don't let the water be drawn back up. Watering with distilled water. Was that info given you by someone who has views on regular community treated water. The 'treated' I take is your town's water is fluoridated. So what, most communities think its good for the kid's teeth. As far as fluoride damaging a small tree, I doubt it has had the time to have an effect and besides, just leaving the water to sit overnight and gain room temperature, is sufficient. Salts build-up in soil is a long-term thing, it doesn't happen overnight. Don't worry about it. Brown tips on plants can be usually traced to one or two possible causes: light...and or overwatering. You would know whether you are giving the plant too much water. Remember, it can only use so much water through winter...it should be actively growing to use such water. Light. Light at this time is very low....not until well into February is the intensity of light sufficient to push growth. I suspect what growth you have now is being pushed by your feeding it. Plants don't need feeding in winter, albeit very minimally, because they are not growing. Sunlight influences growth. Since light levels are so low, growth is not wished. So, no more feeding the plant until spring and new growth is in evidence. Water only when the plant needs it...don't put it on any schedule. Let the plant dry down between waterings and when you water, water always to drainage and dump the excess. The new growth in spring will change those brown tips to green ones. Whether you continue to buy distilled water is up to you. I don't believe its needed. When plants have a definite problem due to the water issue, then you can consider buying the more expensive stuff. Until the problem is one of water type, I would use the straight stuff and let it get to room temperature overnight.

Hi, I'm back again. I'm sorry I have been away from my computer for awhile and did not realize there was still some interest in this post. My 4 year old had surgery to remove a benign brain tumour on the 13th (she is doing awesome!), so I have been occupied with other things. I am also getting our current house ready to sell, so I have been a cleaning, trim-painting, de-cluttering machine. They had a meeting about my kitchen and the builder agreed with me that too many things had been changed. The kitchen company is going to fix things at their cost. We went through each thing and I had to say which I would compromise on, and which HAD to be changed and what I should be compensated for financially. Basically, they will be removing the upper cabinets and installing 36" uppers and the remaining 6" to the soffit will have moulding and trim work - similar in look to kitchenkelly's. (This forum has been so valuable for pictures and ideas. Even though I mostly lurk I find so many helpful things). They are also fixing the microwave shelf, the baseboards on the island and installing some beadboard trim on the island that was left off. They refunded money for granite, the custom wood hood and the 42" uppers. Anyways, the kitchen won't look EXACTLY as I had wanted, and a big part of the problem is that soffit. However, it will be very close and I think it will still look very nice. As my husband pointed out, I am the only one who knows exactly what it was supposed to look like! We are disappointed with how inflexible the kitchen copmany is in regards to doing NOTHING custom (the original company was more custom) and we would probably have not signed on with this builder had we known. However, the rest of the house is WONDERFUL and I think in the end the kitchen will be great too. It's just not what we would have expected. I will post pictures when it is finished. They will be installing the new cabinets in about 2 weeks - and I will definately be keeping an eye on it to make sure it is done right :)

I'm sorry it's taken so long to answer, but to be quite frank, you post was difficult to read as it appears to be one giant paragraph. Okay, what is the brand/model of your softener? What size is it? What is the hardness of your water in the following 3 places: 1) Before any treatment, 2) After neutralizer, 3) After softener? You could have something wrong with the softener valve or it could be something as simple as a plugged brine draw orifice. Any further trouble shooting will required answers to the questions above.

It looks like it's trying to recover, but doesn't quite have the resources to do it. Try this. Go buy a bag of Milorganite at your local big box store (or landscape shop or small garden shop, most places tend to have it). Feed the whole area there heavily, including the green stuff around the hole (so it can spread as I note that there seems to be plenty of KBG in there). Water it when dry, so weekly just like the rest of the lawn. Keep up the Milo monthly through the season--the bag should be enough for the rest of the year. If you don't see marked recovery by early August, plan on overseeding that spot when temperatures start to drop off their daytime high point. That's usually mid-August.