Aureliajulia, this is a well written piece, and it provokes thought and feeling in equal measure. Having given the compliment to your art, I must say that this forum is intended for discussion of antique roses, and is meant to be a refuge from the more serious matters of life. Please move your essay to the off-topic conversations area, or maybe even to another website intended for creative writing or social commentary. I think the moderators of GardenWeb can help you move it to a more appropriate location. Please take no offense. It is truly a well written piece, but should be displayed where the viewer is expecting to read this type of material. Best Wishes, Allison

My humblest apologies for my long posts. The firmness of the roots is a good thing. Be wary of disturbing the actual root mass unnecessarily--it just may cause more damage. I know someone who bare-roots her trees every time there may be a problem, and I've been doing my best to discourage this process (ahem. you know who you are ;) Ultimately and ideally, in a potted tree, you do want lots of fine roots for nutrient uptake as opposed to woody lignified roots taking up space, but if the roots are so fragile they are breaking off essentially spontaneously, then they are not viable anyway. pH does seem to be one of those topics that sets some people off for an unclear reason, but I now fall into to the camp of I-don't-really-care-about-it. pH management in *containerized* soils is different from the earth and the reason it is a PIA IMHO is b/c it is extremely dynamic. (Out of curiosity, what is your method for checking--is it pH paper or a meter?) Having said that, citrus do prefer a *slightly* acidififed soil, but they are not blueberries. Most tap water is going to be basic to some degree to keep contaminants from precipitating out, but since you've used bagged soil, there is a very high likelihood that there is a good portion of peat moss in your mix and therefore you've already got a slightly acidified soil. I'd leave that alone for now. Otherwise, you can add a light dose of slow-release fertilizer that is nitrogen-dominant, and since many sources of nitrogen are acidifying on their own that may help. Also, I've seen a brand of those slow-release granules that also has sulfur in it, and that might help over time. When you do fertilize otherwise, you can choose an acidifying formula that way too (I use Miracid for the most part). No, thorns do not *precede* growth. They *accompany* it and you should be seeing something besides just thorns if you really do have some sort of growth. Other possibilities are thorns that you missed previously since there were more leaves to cover then, actual new vegetative growth forming (doubtful if you're still seeing signs of decline like continued leaf loss), or the beginnings of massive pathologic stress-bloom. You're going to have to wait awhile before you see results--I had a tree in CHCs (stupidly) for over a year before I pulled that sucker out and rehabbed it, and it was easily 5 mos or so before I felt like I had made any progress with it whatsoever. The tree's stored energy is eseentially depleted and it has to have time to build that back up. Which is hard when it doesn't have many funtional roots and reduced leaf surface area. Something some speak of, but I don't do, is to prune it back significantly and reduce the canopy mass when you have had major root damage. The main reason I find this difficult is that often leaves will drop first from the inside of the canopy in this situation (older leaves), and then if you prune it back you're cutting off the rest of the leaves--shooting self in the foot while you're at it, lol. The tree needs maximal photosythetic area. Personally, I think citrus is hard to kill if you've got the basics down. It's easy for them to get into trouble, but I don't think they actually die that easily from stuff like this. So it's reasonable to keep trying with this tree. Branch dieback will be your guide, but even if the graft goes, the rootstock can survive--and then in a little while you have someplace where you can do your own grafting. How appropriate--lemonade out of lemons. Literally. Please keep us updated on your progress. Hopefully someone else will comment--where is tapla, bencelest, eyeckr, jackpines, citrusboy? Surely you gents can help us out here...oh wait, I know where they are--they're sick of my longwinded posts :)

Great posts all. These chemicals are so dangerous and so many are so unaware or couldn't care less. Years ago my aunt's cat was diagnosed with sclerosis of the liver disease. She jokingly stated that her cat didn't drink. Her veterinarian asked if the cat went outdoors and told her that the disease probably developed due to exposure to her neighbors lawn that was treated by ChemLawn. My husband works for the utility company. They sprayed Roundup several years ago to kill some weeds at one of their job sights. NOTHING has grown there since. We use no chemicals in our yard but have very few honey bees although we do have lots of bumblebees. My crab apple tree had plenty of spring blossoms but has virtually no fruit due to lack of honeybees. We have no lawn, just flower beds and gravel paths on about 1/4 acre of our 1 acre lot. The rest is woods. I don't know if the lack of bees is due to our being in such a wooded environment or if there is something else going on. We have plenty of dragonflies and butterflies so it may be that honeybees like a more open area rather than dense woods. I bought Bayer 3 in 1 once and never used it when I reasoned that there was no way for the pesticide to distinguish the good bugs from the bad. I now deal with the insect damage if not too severe and try to manually kill the damaging insects when they start to overwhelm the plants. When you look at the seeming explosion of cancers in our generations, 1959, and later it's difficult to not question whether this is due to the fact that we are poisoning our food with this toxic arsenal. I know several women who have had breast cancer but don't recall any of my mother's friends being diagnosed with this disease in their 40's and early 50's. 2 of my 6 grandchildren are mildly autistic, one also suffers severe food allergies, a third was diagnosed with cancer at age 9 1/2. It really makes you wonder if the explosion of allergies, autism and cancer diagnosis is related to the explosive use of such toxic chemicals that contaminate our air, water and food. Massachusetts is considering passing GMO labeling laws so at least the shopper will be aware of whether the food they eat is GMO or not. Monsanto is now making GMO grass seed so soon even grass fed beef will not be safe from contamination. What is scariest though is the apathy and indifference among most people who either don't know or don't care about all of the toxins being introduced to our foods and water supplies. I recently purchased some David Austin roses from a nursery in NY. She recommended both disease and insect spraying. I might spray for disease if absolutely necessary but adamantly refused to spray for insects. Her anecdotal response was that she has plenty of insects around so she really couldn't believe that she was having an impact on the ecosystem. What would happen if we all felt this way? Sharon

Evan, what's up!!? Beautiful pics of the flowers up close. Does your yard smell nice at any given time ? Does the fragrance waff through the air, especially towards the evening? Does it fill your home with the windows open depending on which way the wind blows. Great job buddy! Love that variegated one so flawless as are all your trees. Mom is no too good but hopefully better soon. I love teh red tinge on your blloms. I can tell they love that sun)) Evan, those really orange blossoms look like trumpet vines to me! I have always loved them Great humming bird attractors...Yes? Jan, nice to meet you. I keep the greenhouse always above 60 because it's loaded with orchids which can not take temps below that. Sometimes depending on how much sun we get all winter that Meyer tree will drop many leaves or will grow like a weed. This year it is growing like a weed. I have had to cut it back at least a dozens times since it was planted. I think this year I will either dig it up to be replace with one that Silica suggested or a Shasta which Brian seems to have great success with. That greenhouse you are getting is wonderful and in fact that is what I have. Depending on where you live we can help you with all the learning curves...There is a member here called Cory who is amazing with greenhouse ideas...Just as and I am sure she will have plenty to say. I am sure she is looking at this thread..She's a gem with all her ideas! Brian too. Many here in fact!