Ah, apologies. I thought the picture was attached, but I guess not.

Plucky Ponderosa:

What a nice cutting!

I'm a big fan of low branching, and I generally prune in order to encourage back-budding
lower down the trunk....so my advice is to keep that branch, which should help to thicken
the trunk at the base. You can always prune it off later.

Josh

Thanks so much for the advice, Josh. I will keep the bottom branch. It might not be visible in the picture since it's so lousy, but there's also new growth starting on the "trunk." Should I keep that from growing or will that help, too?

Hey Rebecca! How are you this morning? I have been away from my e-mail but not this forum..
I think I owe you one:-)

Now, you have two choices, you could either listen to Josh, or me and I say..Do what Josh says. His plants are amazing, the shapes he keeps his in. In fact, I am always asking him the same questions about oruning since I hate cutting anything off, although a part of me says I should.

I am going to assume he will tell you to let it all fill in at the bottom to keep in nice a full, symetrically perfect, but we'll see.

Now, if you just want a straight up tall tree, and full at the top like a canopy, then discount what we are saying..lol

Hope you have a wonderful day and hope to see you soon again!

Hey Josh! Hope you have a nice fallish day today. Mine will be here by Monday. High 60's and 40's by night.Brrr for all my plants!

Mike

All of these are one year except for the Australian Sunrise, which is 8 months from seed.

Australian Sunrise
{{gwi:626487}}

Kishu
{{gwi:626488}}

Fukushu
{{gwi:626489}}

Valentine
{{gwi:626490}}

Mike,
I tried, with my somewhat limited skills, to answer your question on "Another yellow leaf problem" as to why it is important to focus on the new growth versus the whole tree.

Hi, Josh... getting ready for Winter? To paraphrase a line from Jeremiah Johnson, Winter comes early here in the high country.

Howdy!
Thanks, Mike! It's been back up in the low 90F's this week, and today the humidity
is higher (due to some light rains and high Sierra storms earlier this week). No relief!
I finished up a side-project for a neighbor this morning...and boy am I glad to be done
calling gravel...for a while at least ;-)

Rebecca, I see that little sprout emerging right at the point where the larger branch is growing.
In this case, I would rub off that sprout *because* it is growing from the same general point on the
trunk. I would encourage new sprouts, if they should appear, to grow at different heights and
sides of the tree for a full, even distribution of foliage up and down the trunk. Normally, I would
say just let the whole thing shag out, but if you let the branches get too big, it may make for an
ugly cut once you choose to remove it.

Hey, John! Although the oak leaves are falling, it sure feels like Winter's a long way off.
In November, I'll start getting ready...but I am certainly thinking about how I'm going to keep
my cold-frame warmer during bloom-time in late Winter.

Josh

Ooooo, RyanLo, they're lovely! And only a year old? Nicely done, indeed.

Hi, Mike! It was very nice seeing you, too (and your mother, of course). I'm doing pretty well, though keeping an eye on the weather for this up-coming week. I love the cool weather, but I expect my trees will not.

I do really like the look of a tree with a nice canopy, but I'm willing to wait and do as suggested. Both you and Josh have lovely trees and I trust your advice implicitly.

I'm looking forward to seeing you again, too. I'd love to have you and your mother over for dinner, but want to get into my job and my new schedule first. Sometime soon, I hope. My email can wait until whenever you have time. She's only not growing, not dying, so time is not of the essence.

Josh, thanks so much! That's just what I'll do. It seems that there are little starts of growth up and down the trunk, so I'll leave those to grow as they will.

Ooooo, RyanLo, they're lovely! And only a year old? Nicely done, indeed.

Hi, Mike! It was very nice seeing you, too (and your mother, of course). I'm doing pretty well, though keeping an eye on the weather for this up-coming week. I love the cool weather, but I expect my trees will not.

I do really like the look of a tree with a nice canopy, but I'm willing to wait and do as suggested. Both you and Josh have lovely trees and I trust your advice implicitly.

I'm looking forward to seeing you again, too. I'd love to have you and your mother over for dinner, but want to get into my job and my new schedule first. Sometime soon, I hope. My email can wait until whenever you have time. She's only not growing, not dying, so time is not of the essence.

Josh, thanks so much! That's just what I'll do. It seems that there are little starts of growth up and down the trunk, so I'll leave those to grow as they will.

Here's a picture of my Kaffir limes second growth flush for me. It seems like a nice bunch of new delicious leaves! On the last flush you can see some leaves got a few bites taken out. I'm assuming from some sort of grasshopper or other leaf eater.

{{gwi:626491}}

Kristopher