I have been putting down Gypsom regularly. Maybe I should put down
more. I don't think there is such thing as too much gypsom when you have
clay soil.

It's also a good suggestion to aerate the soil.

Thanks!

"David Ross" wrote in message
...
G Burton wrote:

The lemons on my tree have very thick skins and the fruit is
extremely sour. I live in zone 14. The tree had been neglected
for at least 5 years and was badly infested with scale, but that
is under control now. I thought that it might be a bad variety
of lemon, but my local nurseryman looked at one of my lemons and
told me that was not the case. He also told me that thick skins
and sour fruit go together and are both symptoms of a tree that
is starved of minerals. He then sold me and iron, sulfur,
manganese, zinc mixture called F.S.T. I am also feeding it
Citrus food.

Well I have been tossing down a handful F.S.T. and citrus
food once every 6 weeks for about a year now, but the lemons are
still horribly sour and the skins are still thick. Much of the
roots are under our lawn, so I have been spreading F.S.T. and
citrus food on my lawn as well, but it doesn't seem to hurt it.
Our soil is heavy clay. It may just be that it takes a very long
time for the F.S.T. and citrus food to work its way down, but I
was hoping for results by now.

Opinions and suggestions please.

If you have heavy clay, broadcast a generous amount of gypsum
throughout the root zone, including where you have grass. (The
root zone is the area that would have some shade -- even partial
shade -- from the tree if the sun were directly overhead.) Rinse
the gypsum into the soil. Both the tree and grass will benefit.

All citrus prefers moist soil that is never soggy. In the ground,
it is best to let the top inch or two of the soil dry out before
watering again; then water heavily. Feed while the surface is
moist and lightly rinse the fertilizer into the soil. Feeding when
the soil is dry will result in root burn with the next watering.

If you really want to keep the grass under the tree, aerate the
grass. DO NOT merely spike it, which causes compaction. Use a
tool that removes plugs of soil.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at URL:http://www.rossde.com/garden/