We had a few of our bottle brushes mowed to the ground a couple years ago and they are all growing healthily and have gotten over 5' tall in the time since the 'crime.' We are just letting them grow in a bush form, but I think they would be more than vigorous enough to train into a tree form if we wanted to. I would follow calistoga's advice and add to it just be patient, it's hard but a lot of times the best thing for an injured plant is to give it some time to grow. Good luck!

I've been reading up on "approved" hot sauce recipes. many of them call for substantially more tomato than pepper. is there a reason for this? Taste preference in part I think, the popularity of tomato based sauces. But also because tomatoes are much more acidic than peppers so using tomatoes adds an element of safety and shelf life too. Not to mention that many gardeners grow tons more tomatoes than they do peppers. :) Now there might be a problem. None of them are tested for canning as far as I know so I don't know how they (the lids especially) will hold up to the BWB processing. I guess all you can do is try a couple and see. The way the 2 piece canning lids work is as the liquid inside the jar gets hot and expands the air inside is forced out and burps out of the lid and then as it cools the lid is sucked back down to create the vacuum inside the jar. Your bottles and lids probably won't work that way. Try a couple of your bottles just colored water in them and with the lid just screwed on finger tight. Then when you remove them from the pot see if the lid is more loose than when it went in. I think that would mean the air was burped out of the bottles. But keep in mind this is just guess work on my part, not tested. I've been reading up on "approved" hot sauce recipes. many of them call for substantially more tomato than pepper. is there a reason for this? it doesn't seem like any of them would be near hot enough for my tastes, even using really hot peppers. also, all of my sauces are stored in hot sauce bottles (woozy bottles), and my intention is to store at room temp before opening. if I bottle them boiling hot, in boiling hot bottles, would the suggested next steps simply be putting on the caps and tossing them into boiling water for 10-15 min? can anyone suggest a good pH meter for a broke college student like me, with a budget in the $20 range? can I just use test strips? A meter for $20 won't be worth anything. Good ones cost much more. Personally I'd use food grade litmus test paper. It isn't recommended for using on home processed foods because it can give false readings but then so can meters. The litmus test paper (available online and pharmacies) is approved by the FDA for food testing just not by USDA/NCHFP so do it with great care. I haven't tried using it in many years but if i got a reading of say 4.4 or lower i wouldn't have any concerns with eating it. JMO Dave

when I say the jars open, I mean the screw on lids unscrew and come completely off the bottle getting water in the bottle and hot sauce in the water. it's a complete loss. I forgot to mention in my described process above that you have to check the tightness on every bottle when it comes out, and if it's done right they almost always need to be slightly tightened because they expand slightly further from the bwb, giving it a nice vacuum noticeable from the hiss you hear when it opens. (I'm going to go and edit my above post to mention this). now I'm not gonna lie, this technique involves developing some heat tolerance on your hands (you are after all hand tightening something that just came out of boiling water). or someone can come up with a less barbaric method than my "just use your hands sissy" approach. but finding a good non slip surface to do it on so you don't have to use the other hand to hold the bottle still helps (I use a textured glass cutting board). yes, I considered and tried using the jar tongs, but it ends up being more trouble than it's worth IMO. the kitchen I'm renting charges by the hour, so shaving down the time wherever I can is the name of the game. I've given thought to getting a torque wrench and finding the ideal tightness, and just using that. you can tell this is a topic I spend a lot of time thinking about. thankfully I'm better at actually doing it than I am at describing it.

Hi, Ann ... Please visit the adenium forum when you get a chance. Since you are the original poster, I'll answer you here. If you sowed 19 seeds and they all germinated, that is an outstanding germination rate. The seedlings look healthy ... Congratulations! Regarding the 3 that may be dying ... I believe what I see is 2 seedlings with damaged shriveled tips. Usually, what causes this is pulling on the seed casings or "hats" ... I have just killed one doing just that. It's best to defer from this practice. The casings will eventually fall off on their own. Once the tip is damaged, the seedling cannot produce leaves for photosynthesis and will begin to lose color & die. The white seedling is an albino and will die for the same reason. Enjoy your remaining seedlings. I hope you get a nice variety of blooms. The yogurt cups will keep them for 3 months, after which you can pot up to 3-4" pots. The above photo was to show them in their yogurt cups ... they get cuter & fatter. Here are the same seedlings at 4 months old. Some of my vintage german dolls wanted to say hello: - Maria Elena