aggierose, your question re pot size is not dumb at all- I wondered that for years myself! The answers I came across indicate that unless your potting mixture (for young plants) is very light, nutritious, and free-draining, the closed environment of a pot holds too much moisture and too much air remains driven from the soil for too long. True, open ground CAN be so saturated (as after a heavy rainfall) there is no oxygen (especially in clay soils) in the soil, but usually water moves through the soil fast enough that it isn't a problem. Roots stop growing when there is no oxygen, and do so temporarily after a heavy rainfall. So your babies may be getting swamped (this can happen in heavy soil if you just amend a hole with lighter soils - the hole ends up being a sump that traps water). Also, if they are recently potted they have lost a lot of tiny feeder roots - so they need to replace those, plus you will have leaf yellowing and drop as the plant give up leaves it can't support right now, until the feeder roots re-grow. Which won't happen if the soil is heavy and oxygen -less. Without being there it is hard to say, I would be hesitant to tell you to repot again into a smaller pot and lighter mixture. If the plants re in danger of rotting outright you will have to, gently. Do the canes/stems still look good? Lastly I am still suspicious of your soil mixture - for me I have very, very rarely purchased ANY soil that I didn't need to amend (preferred) and a LOT of what I see has all kinds of junk in it - long-term fertilizers, wetting agents - it's getting harder and harder just to find good soil that I can lighten up with Perlite, sand, etc. That includes so-called African violet and cactus mixtures. For my own experience it is better to mix your own! I might try more than 2-3 hours of sun, at least more partial sun if your heat is strong. And do not fertilize at all until the babies are really growing!!! 5-inch tall plants need small pots with a light, free-draining mixture - you might try re-potting to a smaller pot and putting the small pots into the big pot (double-potting). Pack the space between the pots with insulation material (I've used newspaper, mulch, packing peanuts, even old dirt!)

Dollars to Donuts it's over water. If you have the heavy clay soil that's so prevalent in this part of the valley Deep soaking too often will cause problems. The nursery grown trees are grown in what amounts to mulch, not soil. When you water, it runs right through and collects under the root ball where the clay allows it to collect. I had the same problem and lost one elm before I caught on. Start by cutting way back on the water...like none for at least a week. Then cut back your watering time. Start applying gypsum around the tree to start improving the drainage and keep it up for the first few years or until you see the tree start to "take off". My problem was severe enough that I had to pull the new 32" box tree out of the ground and add drainage to the planting hole under the tree. Mine is now starting to make a comeback. Hope this helps.

The sytemic bayer product or any common insecticide is potentially more harmful to the bees than the spinosad. You are going to have to decide what to do and do something. The problem is not going to go away on it's own.

Just getting hear to read of your loss. I remember my trip to Philly several years ago when you and I made plans to meet for lunch --- you had to cancel our plans at the last minute and we didn't get to meet because your mom broke her glasses or something, and had no one but you to help her. You were a great daughter and I'm sure she knew that. My thoughts are with you today. You know, I think there is something special about those last rites. When my uncle got his last rites he had been completely "out of it" for a couple of days--hadn't spoken or moved voluntarily at all. And when the Bishop finished with them, my Uncle made the sign of the cross! And my dad was about to leave us at any second, then he got his last rites and kind of perked up for a couple of days (we were beginning to think we were a little premature with calling the Priest). I think it just gives people a sense of peace and acceptance after the last rites.