In the first year the big fat canes that they shipped with would die, being replaced by canes the sizes of, say linguini, rarely more than a foot high. And by the time the linguini got hit with black spot in the second year, the living part of the cane was often not six inches tall, if it existed at all. This was, of course, not the case for all HT's; but it was the case for about ninety percent of them. I lost some minis to BS, too; but they generally put up a serious fight.