Hello, all –

Celeste and Petite Negri came to me leafed out; Violette de Bordeaux and Hardy Chicago were dormant. They have since begun to leaf out. None have dropped any leaves. Celeste looks healthiest to me but has not grown that I can see. Petite Negri came to me with several figs developing, which I cut off, as I have done with two figs that started up after I cut off the originals. But it worries me because its leaves refuse to uncurl. Hardy Chicago is growing new leaves, but some of them pale and mottled, as are some leaves on Violette de Bordeaux.

As people here have had success with lots of different potting blends, I used what I had on hand and seemed reasonable: 1/3 Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix, 1/3 generic HD top soil, and 1/3 a blend of sand, mushroom compost, cypress mulch, and what I could recover of the material that was in the original pots.

In the beginning I watered them every other day by putting them in big containers with water up to the rims of the pots containing the plants. About a week ago I moved them outside for the summer and kept them in trays with water up just past the level of the rocks around the drainage holes in the pots. Now I just water them from above every other day until the water drains out the bottoms.

I think my big mistake was incorporating about a cup of Espoma Organic Garden Lime into each pot. I'd read that when you put the plants in their ultimate big pots, 24” in diameter and similarly deep, you should put in five pounds of granulated lime, so a cup of garden lime seemed right. Now I think it was way too much.

But maybe I am wrong. What can I do to uncurl the leaves of Petite Negri? Improve the color of Violette de Bordeaux and Hardy Chicago? Make everything more vigorous? I have some Espoma Organic Holly-tone; should I put a teaspoon of that in each pot? Water them with peat tea? Do nothing at all?

Thanks so much for any advice.

Bernard

Northeastern Ohio