Scott: I can't say if you will need to irrigate an area larger than you raised bed. It depends on the size of the bed, size of tree, how much you irrigate, etc. Rainfall will eventually get the roots all thought the native soil. After all you do average 30 inches per year so the soil has to be wet at times. That will cause widespread rooting. My experience with drip is that you need quite a few emitters per tree and frequent irrigation. I never was able to grow decent fruit that way. Hence my move to flood. But my soil is deeper and better suited to large applications. I apply at least two inches once a week during the dry parts of summer. The best drip line is the one with built-in emitters. I use the 1gph emitters spaced at 24 inches. Basically with moderately permeable soil you need one emitter for every 2ft square of soil you want to wet. See below. Here is a link that might be useful: drip works This post was edited by fruitnut on Thu, Jan 3, 13 at 9:43

In case the link is ever broken, cut and paste the PDF file here: Linda Chalker-Scott, Ph.D., Extension Horticulturist and Associate Professor, Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Washington State University The Myth of Gypsum Magic âAdding gypsum to your yard or garden will improve soil tilth and plant healthâ The Myth Upon continued prodding from one of my university extension colleagues, I recently watched several episodes of a well-known gardening program on television. My kids joined me, alerted by my animated responses to the hostâs non-stop torrent of advice. Among many amazing discoveries I learned that by adding gypsum to my yard or garden I would improve my problem soils by changing the particle size and loosening compaction. Further searching on the web revealed that gypsum would also improve drainage, decrease acidity, and eliminate soil salts. Previously, I had heard of gypsum for use in soil reclamation projects, but not for a typical urban landscape. Since gypsum is simply calcium sulfate, could this chemical truly transform soil structure and serve as a fertilizer for yards and gardens? The Reality This myth falls into the category of agricultural practices misapplied to ornamental landscapes. Gypsum effectively changes the structure and fertility of heavy clay soils, especially those that are heavily weathered or subject to intensive crop production. Gypsum also improves sodic (saline) soils by removing sodium from the soil and replacing it with calcium. Therefore, one can see improvement in clay soil structure and fertility, and desalinization of sodium-rich soils, by using gypsum. What other effects will gypsum have on soil and plant health? There are a number of scientific studies on gypsum usage both in the literature and on websites. Briefly, researchers have found: ⢠Gypsum does not usually change soil acidity, though occasional reports of both increasing and decreasing pH exist; ⢠Gypsum can increase leaching of aluminum, which can detoxify soils but also contaminates nearby watersheds; ⢠Gypsum can increase leaching of iron and manganese, leading to deficiencies of these nutrients; ⢠Gypsum applied to acid soils can induce magnesium deficiency in plants on site; ⢠Gypsum applied to sandy soils can depress phosphorus, copper and zinc transport; ⢠Gypsum can have negative effects on mycorrhizal inoculation of roots, which may account for several reports of negative effects of gypsum on tree seedling establishment and survival; ⢠Gypsum is variable in its effects on mature trees; ⢠Gypsum will not improve fertility of acid or sandy soils; ⢠Gypsum will not improve water holding capacity of sandy soils; and ⢠Gypsumâs effects are short-lived (often a matter of months) With the exception of arid and coastal regions (where soil salts are high) and the southeastern United States (where heavy clay soils are common), gypsum amendment is just not necessary in non-agricultural areas. Urban soils are generally amalgamations of subsoils, native and non-native topsoils, and - in home landscapes - high levels of organic and non-organic chemical additives. They are also heavily compacted and layered (and gypsum does not work well on layered soils). In such landscapes, it is pointless to add yet more chemicals in the form of gypsum unless you need to increase soil calcium levels. This nutrient deficiency can be quickly identified by any soil testing laboratory for less than a bag of gypsum costs. (If you need to improve sulfur nutrition, itâs wiser to use ammonium sulfate). To reduce compaction and improve aeration in nearly any landscape, application of an organic mulch is more economically and environmentally sustainable. The Bottom Line ⢠Gypsum can improve heavy clay soil structure and remove sodium from saline soils ⢠Gypsum has no effect on soil fertility, structure, or pH of any other soil type ⢠Most urban soils are not improved by additional gypsum ⢠Before adding gypsum or any chemical to a landscape, have soil analysis performed to identify mineral deficiencies, toxicities, and soil character ⢠Adding gypsum to sandy or non-sodic soils is a waste of money, natural resources, and can have negative impacts on plant, soil, and ecosystem health For more information, please visit Dr. Chalker-Scottâs web page at http://www.theinformedgardener.com.

personally would not buy anything to manage ph in a worm bin. if you have any of these items on hand then it can't hurt i guess. better method ... put the citrus into a backyard composter and feed them the partially composted material. or put them in an open containter, let them rot/dry a bit and feed them to your worms. the citric acid will be broken down over time by bacteria and then should not be a problem in a worm bin. otherwise mix the citrus with enough innocuous material (half citrus half shredded cardboard?) and it should likely be ok. on the other hand; eggshells, oyster shells, bone meal, gypsum, wood ashes are good material to have in your compost. if you are using the compost for your garden then these items are good things. be careful with the wood ash though, it's quite alkaline but a good source of phosphorous.

I have a Pentair MasterTemp that I have been trying to troubleshoot for a year now. It calls for heat, heat starts for maybe 5-10 seconds, then stops, temp raises rapidly to 124 then slowly back down to 75 and cycles again doing the same thing over and over again. So far I have replaced the thermal regulator, igniter, thermistor and the bypass valve in the manifold. Today, I did a bunch of troubleshooting. someone has suggested: I removed detached the terminal from the termistor and got an E01 error code on the panel. I connected my old termistor and got a reading of 85 degrees. When I hold it, the temp slowly went up to 90. I then reconnected the terminal on the new terminstor and got 75 (I guess that's the water temp). When problem started happening last early last year, one of the thing I did was replaced a broken Jandy check valve between the heater and chlorinator. I also noticed that the flap wasn't opening even at 3450rpm and 20-25psi. Although, there's strong water coming out of the 2 return lines. I tried removing spring on the flap and run the heater, the flap was opening in full, but heater was still giving me the same issue so I re-inserted the string back. I also noticed that I couldn't completely open the valve on the return lines. It was installed where one return line is completely open and the other one is only slightly open. So, I opened the 3-port valve and adjusted it where the 2 return lines are fully open. I run the heater and this time it did something different. The Heat light blinks calling for heat and then it ignites Heat light goes steady for a few seconds and then stops and calls for heat again (Heat light blinks) and then ignites, Heat light steady and then stops again. It kept doing this several times and then sometimes the temp will start counting up rapidly and slowly counts down to the current temp and cycles again. Note: when the opened the manifold last winter to replace the bypass, the manifold and the heat coils have no signs of scales. I only found 1 small stone stuck inside where the bypass is. So I thought that was causing the problem. In case there is blockage in the heat exchanger, how do I fix that? Thanks for your advise. Here are the video links. 1st one is the initial issue. The 2nd is after modified the 3-port valve to the return lines. https://youtu.be/OaYfnEbjAFU https://youtu.be/OLxQI4lA1eg