Banana Babysitter....you sound like a very good friend, that is being taken advantage of big time! I know this isnt the advise you wanted. She dumps some huge banana 'trees' in huge pots on you, and doesn't tell you when she will take them back? She is paying you how much for taking care of them, for the water, fertilizer,new pots, soil etc... they sound like they are getting big and need bigger pots,more soil,etc. And they are going to go back into a small apartment...when? They don't fit now in the pots they are in now, and she cant handle them?...right? How is she going to handle bigger trees? They aren't going to grow in reverse and shrink. So she won't be able to take them back. It sounds like she is taking advantage of your friendship. I mean being a friend is one thing, taking advantage of a friend is another thing. Sure they can live in pots for a long time, certain 'ornamental' ones can live in pots all their lives inside, but fruit bearing ones, and these sound like fruit bearing ones, will just be unhappy and not look good and can grow so many pups in the soil,they can break clay pots easily! And split plastic pots in half. They need to be outside in the ground. Call and tell her to come get her babies, or they go to the dump or a community garden, if you have one near you. Or at least ask when is she coming to get them? As you see they grow inside, sure, but as you also see, they arent to happy, they dont look to good, and to many pups are starting in the pots? Those will crack a pot very easily, so can just the roots! They can grow a long time inside,if you had ornamental varieties, thats one thing, but these sound like fruit type, and they need room to grow and full sun and tons of water, and fertilizer. They wont go into a small apartment. You have a lot of patience.

Kristimama, Citrus are nearly carefree in the Bay Area, so there is no reason not to grow as many as you like. Fill up your whole yard with them! The only real problem that most people run into is infestations of sucking insects (particularly scales), vectored by the omnipresent Argentine ants. Other than that, you basically just plant them and let them go. Give them some acidifying fertilizer in the winter, and keep your soil healthy through mulching. That's about all you need to do. Calamondins are small, sour citrus fruits. They are generally used for their juice, much like you would use lemons, etc. (You wouldn't eat them out-of-hand, unless you *really* enjoy tart flavors!) Calamondins are essentially everbearing, meaning that they should carry ripe fruit just about all year long. This is a very nice characteristic. It is very handy to be able to pluck a few fruits for squeezing into water, over a piece of fish, etc., at any time! I haven't been following this forum that closely, so I'm not sure why folks here prefer to put citrus in smaller pots. However, I would say that most participants on this board probably don't live in areas where there may be absolutely zero rain for months and months on end. Keeping potted plants going when it is extremely hot and dry can be burdensome, and using large containers like half-barrels will at least minimize this problem.

Hi. I too planted heirloom toms this year for the first time. I went and bought a couple b/c my plants looked so bad after a few cold nights and so much rain. I decided to plunk them in the ground but they really did look about dead to me. The greened up a little but did not grow. I gave them a fish emulsion feed and they perked up as soon as we had some sun. Now they are going nuts an dbigger than my store bought tom's. They are full of blooms and fruit and I could not be happier. So, I would say give them a good dose of fish emulsion and then another next week. I think if your weather is warming up and sunning up you will do fine. Don't give up. The one thing I learned was that heirloom tom's are sturdier and harder to kill than hybrid plants. :) GoodLuck !! Nichol

Bryce, That choc hab is definitely taking up much more water just because of it's size. The more leaf surface, fruit etc there is the better the root system has to be. I use the same potting strategy for peppers as I do for tomatoes. Plant the seedlings deep. Strip off a couple lower branches if necessary. After recovery from transplant shock, water thoroughly and don't water again until plant starts to droop a little. Keep doing the water/wilt cycle until plant sets fruit. Then mulch for the first time.... heavily. A couple inches of shredded cypress is what I use. New roots will grow just under the mulch and help sustain the larger, fruiting plant. Then try to maintain a watering schedule that does not allow the plant to wilt much. The above works for me. You can bet there are people here that might do things just the opposite that works for them. Such is the nature of gardening. Some people have more of a knack for it than others and if it works for you then do it. jt