I mixed 1 teason of baking soda with a quart of water and sprayed the leave. The next day I sprayed entire area with milk/water. On some grass stems the white changed to black/gray and on the other everything stayed the same. We are going to cut grass today and bag it. I guess next week I have to do the milk solution again. I read abaking soda worked best but it seems to have a lot of effects. I have KBJ/Fescus grass.

I freaked out when my painters washed their equipment on my front lawn. By the time I saw them, the damage was done. But there really was no damage. I watched it and nothing happened. Still, that water based paint becomes a durable plastic coating when it dries, so what you are seeing could very well be their old paint. I wish people would write in before they start these projects. Removing the 3 inches of soil was unnecessary. That was the most valuable part of your soil. All you need to do to improve the health of the soil is to replenish the soil microbes (if needed) and then feed them. Soil microbes can be replenished with a very thin layer of compost. Then can be fed with any organic fertilizer or animal feed. I would start with the animal feed, specifically alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow) at a rate of 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Apply that now and follow up in a month with more alfalfa pellets at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. I would skip the compost because most soils have at least some residual microbial population from which to grow once they are fed. If you have recently applied a fungicide or insecticide, then go ahead and use compost at a rate of 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet. You can apply the compost and alfalfa pellets the same day if you like. Stop watering so much. If you have standing water for a day, that might not be too bad. But if you have standing water all the time for 3 days, you will kill much of the beneficial fungi in your soil and turn it into swamp style soil. It can still recover using compost and alfalfa but if you just don't flood it, then you won't have to go through the recovery process. Where are you in Calif? Are you planning to grow grass? If so, what kind? Is your soil shady? You said you had filtration problems. Does that mean the water did not penetrate when you water it? That's a different problem and what you are doing will not help.

Thanks Patty, John and Rhizo - The white substance wipes right off. I took a picture of the whole tree, but wasn't able to get anything closer up that was clearer than picture #1. I can't imagine it's something from the nursery, since it's been in my yard for over one year. I noticed a little bit of this on my lime today too (about 10 feet away). There are no sprinklers that hit my tree. Everything is done from a bubbler at ground level. A few months back, John suggested adding more fertilizer due to yellow leaves -- still yellow but it keeps sprouting fruit although it never fully ripens. It reminds me of a powdery mildew but I wasn't sure and if so, I didn't know if I needed to treat it. There is mulch under the tree and some grassy plants nearby, but not close enough to reach the root base of my lemon tree. It stinks to have so much unripe fruit. I just want to get my tree healthy again. The tree looked fabulous until all the flowers turned to seed/fruit in the spring. Thanks again for your thoughts - Christina

It is called white mold. White mold comes when you have poor ventilation, and moisture. Do you have good thick plastic on the ground throughout your crawl space. Do you have enough vents, and are they all open and working properly. You can google white mold, for more information.