Generally speaking, with any plant you should water thoroughly, until the soil is saturated and runs out freely. I personally put my plants (even the 5 1/2 foot tall cacti, which is always a fun time) in the shower and spray them down, let them drain, and then bring them back out, so I have no idea what a ballpark figure would be. I'd say you're probably better off to move the plastic pot back and forth, because if you think it's heavy *now*, wait until you try to lift a 16-inch clay pot full of wet soil. That said, people do manage, sometimes, to water without moving their plant all over creation. Not sure how to advise on this one, because it depends on how blocked the drainage holes are, the season, the type of soil you have in the pot, how wet the plant is now, the temperature, etc. Also, to go back a few topics: Spider mites are possible, but not likely to affect the whole tree all at once within a few days of bringing it home. I would do a google search for pictures, so you'll know them if you see them, but I wouldn't worry about them either. dgmarie: I would think that neither the alkalinity nor the iron content of the well water is likely to be that big of a deal. Or at least, I would assume that the salt content of the softened water is a much bigger deal. I wouldn't worry about adding supplemental iron: it's probably not necessary.

Poor tree! This is just another example of untrained landscapers permanently disfiguring trees across the Valley. Too bad that company didn't take the time to send their staff to professional training instead of 'on the job' training that is passed down from someone doing it wrong. There are lots of opportunities and many aren't expensive. Smartscape, for example, is about $75 for all 8 classes. The Arizona Community Tree Council holds trainings throughout the year (a Palm Tree class is coming up on April 11 and covers biology, pruning and safety). Not all certified arborists have experience in appraising trees. Have you contacted your insurance company? You may need to use replacement value by finding the price of a tree close to the size of yours at a local nursery. A quick internet search found a 48 inch box Ficus nitida for sale for $850. You'll need to factor in installation costs as well. Good Luck. Here is a link that might be useful: Tree values

... happens all the time, Susan. I often reply to old posts because I know others will come across the information at some later point in time while they are searching for information, so don't feel like you've wasted anyone's time, including your own. Unless your tree came into being as the product of a seed germinating, it doesn't really have a tap root/ primary root in the sense that a tap root is the first organ to appear after a seed germinates. Almost all ficus that you would buy at retail would be the product of propagation by cuttings or tissue culture, so all the roots produced by those methods would be considered to be of the adventitious type, which simply means roots that do not occur where they would normally grow. However - that information is provided for those who might be interested in that sort of stuff, and not meant to call into question what you said. For all intents and purposes, several of the plant's roots will have grown deep in the soil where they act as primary roots/ tap roots in that they serve as anchorage against toppling and as conductive plumbing for (primarily but not exclusively) water. Your tree's dependency on you for water will be nullified by new roots which will grow deep into the soil to take the place of those severed. Al

You can do that if you like. I would expect that whoever did the grafting selected a scion because it had qualities (probably smaller leaf size and shorter internodes) than the tree serving as under stock. If that's your plan, I'd wait to remove the scion until you're sure the under stock is really what you want to work with. Also, as you grow in the art, you'll come to understand that you have wide latitude in deciding what shape or style young trees will be grown in. Personally, I'm not a particular fan of grafted trees, though I've seen some that are spectacular. I should backtrack on that. I've seen a lot of junipers with various cultivars of J chinensis (usually one of the varieties of Shimpaku juniper) grafted in place of their natural foliage. Roy Nagatoshi is famous for carrying on his father's work of grafting Shimpaku foliage to San Jose junipers to produce many spectacular trees with phenomenal deadwood. If you get a chance to take a workshop of his where the subject material is Shimpaku grafted to san Jose junipers - DO IT. Back to the grafts - Sometimes the scion and under stock grow at different rates, so reverse taper or an unsightly bulge at the graft union are a problem. Often too, the difference in bark characteristics between scion and under stock are very conspicuous and difficult to conceal. Often, trees are grafted because they are hard to reproduce by cuttings. The dissectum Japanese maples are prime examples. Also, 5 needle pine is often grafted to JBP understock because of it's greater vigor and aged looking bark. Then, there are good grafts and not so good grafts. Water from the top and flush the soil when you water. If you have concerns about the soil staying soggy too long, take steps to help some of the excess water out of the pot. Read this for pointers. Al