This issue was hotly debated here about a year ago. If I remember correctly (I'm on another computer so access is limited) the stock that was destroyed as carriers were from two of the three major CA nurseries. The third was certified virus-free. Stock from other states, such as Texas and Florida, was unaffected. Where I live there are a lot of the original Meyers still around. The East Bay was still mostly small homes (on what is today large urban lots) and rural farms until the late 1960's; the Warren Freeway section of Hwy 580 was not completed until the mid-1970's. I don't see any reason why a Meyer wouldn't live 50-75 yrs if properly fed (and that's a big IF, most people don't feed their Meyers as much as they should). The older citrus trees in our area were all planted in the 1930's and 1940's, and are still going like gangbusters today. One of my co-workers who lived in Concord in the mid-1990's had a home in a former orchard-turned-development, and said there were Meyer trees all over her area. The trees bore great big gorgeous lemons year-round. A neighbor across the street from her, who was born and raised in one of the original tiny cottages circa 1920, said she remembered when the Meyer orchard was planted in the 1930's, and watched as the owner sold off the land to developers in the 1970's and most of the trees were bulldozed.

Well we are starting to get into our late summer weather pattern where it can be cool one day and scorching the next. We had a cold front push through last night and brought a good rain to my area. today we are having what I call a "california day" 60's in the morning and mid 80's during the day. Ive never been to CA but I imagine thats what its like, LOL The next 7 days are forecasted to be like this. Its such a welcome relief but also a reminder that I need to get the greenhouse ready and start making plans for overwintering. Our first frost isnt until October so I have time. Our weather here can be so crazy that it made me think of a few things. Those who live or lived here may relate and those who may visit might take this advice. You really have to be like a boy scout to live here. In the middle of winter we will have days in the 80's and then the next day it can snow 6-8 inches. The opposite is also true, snow in the morning and mid 50's to 60's by afternoon. In the summer it will get to 110 and the next morning it can be in the 60's. I have left for work in the morning and it was colder by 20-30 degrees when i left in the afternoon. anyways it keeps you on you toes. Mike

Hi Seil! Thanks so much for your answer and the "tips"! I truly appreciate you taking the time to answer my post. As I said before, I am VERY new to roses and I can use all the help that I can get. I just enjoy them so much. Well, I opened an account on PHOTOBUCKET and uploaded some of the pictures, here is the link: http://s1209.photobucket.com/home/kuhra/recentuploads?view=slideshow Please let me know if you can see the pictures, I certainly hope so. In the pictures, you can see what is going on with the roses. I do think that there is more than one thing going on, like you said a disease and some kind of bug. I took a picture of the "worm/caterpillar" I found in one of the small buds. When I touched it, it curled up like a snake. It is the only one I had found so far but, the bud and the stem where it was, now have this kind of very little dark spots. This morning, I found more fallen leaves at the bottom of the plants. My three yellow ones are almost without any leaves. I also found some kind of "mushy stuff" underneath two of the leaves, in the same plant. I do not know what it was. I took the leaves off the plant. I wanted to ask what should I do: should I remove all the leaves that look sick or should I treat the plants first and see what happens? Please advice. Thanks for the tip about the pots drying out quicker than the ones in the ground. I will be more "generous" with the watering. I have them in pots because when I got them they were so tiny and, like I said, I was just trying to see if I could grow them. Until now they have been doing so well and I am debating whether to keep them in pots or plant them in the ground. We moved into our new house in the spring and we are still trying to "work out the yard", which is kind of small. But, in the from yard there is a very nice space for a nice and roomy flowerbed. My first idea was to plant the roses as "borders for the flowerbed, but if I do that, they will be in "full Florida heat and sun" at least ten hours a day, plus they will get rain on. I just don't know if that would be a good idea. Now, the good thing about this particular location is that during the fall/winter and spring time they would get a lot of sunshine and not as "hot" as during the summer. Right now, I have all of them in a "row" alongside the front of the house, and they are protected from the rain. I have thought about planting them in the same place they are at right now, but I just don't know if they would be "tall" enough to be in the back of the flower bed and if they would stay "short" enough to be "borders". Do you know how big these "minis" can get?. I have checked out the grower's webpage but it only says :"between 12 to 36 inches" that is NOT too helpful. We have had 43 days in a row of over 100 degrees temperature! It has been terrible. But, somehow, the roses and the rest of the plants have made it so far. Hopefully, whatever is "attacking" them can be get under control. It is very interesting your theory about the "spray watering". I think I am going to try that. Like you said, they need all the extra moisture they can get in this heat. Well, I will wait for news from you about the pictures. Again, thanks for your attention and your time. Have a great day, Ana

Off the top of my head: Sanguinelli Blood, Tarocco, Moro, Budd Blood, Smith Red, Vaniglia Sanguigno, Valentine(Pumello), Red Vaencia, and Cara Cara (lycopene). I mighthave a couple more that I am not remembering and I have multiples of some and a few Moro and Tarocco from seed. I think they all have gotten fruitlets and several have developed mature fruit but they are all still small trees so not a huge amount of fruit yet. I was hoping for a lot of fruit this year as the trees have been doing well even after the greenhouse overheat in April, but something keeps eating or stealing the fruit when they get about 2 inches in diameter. It is quite frustrating. I never had problems other years so it must be something new to my yard. I have chipmunks for the first time this year, but the fruit seem to large for them to take. I had a second Tarocco, but it died suddenly for no reason I could ever figure out. It's twin is still doing fine and they were next to each other in the greenhouse when the one started dying almost overnight. I had a cocktail grapefruit/pumelo die like that also. I am wondering if that is a rootstock compatibility issue when that happens or maybe the graft fails. The Cocktail made 5 ripe fruit last winter and suddenly died overnight. It had fruited at least twice before that and was a strong grower. It was one of my largest trees. Again, I don't know why it died. It did not seem to be prone to scale, spider mites, aphids or other bugs. The rootstock still looks alive, but it has not sprouted at all. I have been waiting all summer. The Tarocco rootstock sprouted some kind of trifoliate and I now have a fairly large tree to graft onto when I get brave enough and find the time to try grafting. Some trees are real scale magnets,but these were not. Cory