Our lime tree has produced bumper crops the last couple years. Now I think I understand why. When I got home from Alaska, BJ mentioned that the drip system for the flower beds was not shutting off. That usually means there's a very small stone somewhere in the valve. I expected an easy fix, but when I pulled the cover off the valve box, I discovered three inches of water standing in the bottom of the box, and the flower valve leaking at its outlet. Its apparently been doing that for years!
On closer inspection, it seems that the tree has grown a large root that pushed against the side of the valve box, putting pressure on the control valve closest to the side of the box – the flower valve, of course!
The next challenge was that the box needed to be dug out so that the root could be “modified” and the valve replaced
It’s going to be interesting to see how the greedy tree does with a big chunk of root amputated. I’m sure the effect will show up in the tree, and rather soon I’d expect.
The box is back in place, everything is working, and I’m wondering why I’m working on drip systems when we could be somewhere cool.
Poor tree. I've been playing with water, also. Pressure washing all the concrete around our house. Carport, and two sixty foot porches. It's amazing how much crud such a pollen, and other stuff blowing in the wind, can accumulate in a year. Hope to be enjoying some cooler weather in about three weeks.
ReplyDeleteI could trade house & yard maintenance for RV maintenance in a heartbeat!
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