mp, You have such a wide variety of plants with differing water needs. This water scheme may be hard to achieve a one duration fits all. As you probably know, usually plants with differing water needs are grouped together. To me, the critical part is the type of soil and the ability of the soil plume to spread outward and not downward. You could do what you suggest and see how it goes and then add drip laterals as needed as long as your water source can handle the extra water demand. You will have to compensate with the maturing of the plants. The tomatoes root systems are pretty extensive and can suck a gallons of water a day when mature. On the other hand nasturtiums require very little water and multiply quickly. GL. JMHO Aloha

from WIKIPEDIA: Macronutrient fertilizers Synthesized materials are also called artificial, and may be described as straight, where the product predominantly contains the three primary ingredients of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), which are known as N-P-K fertilizers or compound fertilizers when elements are mixed intentionally. They are named or labeled according to the content of these three elements, which are macronutrients. The mass fraction (percent) nitrogen is reported directly. However, phosphorus is reported as phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5), the anhydride of phosphoric acid, and potassium is reported as potash or potassium oxide (K2O), which is the anhydride of potassium hydroxide. Fertilizer composition is expressed in this fashion for historical reasons in the way it was analyzed (conversion to ash for P and K); this practice dates back to Justus von Liebig (see more below). Consequently, an 18-51-20 fertilizer would have 18% nitrogen as N, 51% phosphorus as P2O5, and 20% potassium as K2O, The other 11% is known as ballast and may or may not be valuable to the plants, depending on what is used as ballast. Although analyses are no longer carried out by ashing first, the naming convention remains. If nitrogen is the main element, they are often described as nitrogen fertilizers. In general, the mass fraction (percentage) of elemental phosphorus, [P] = 0.436 x [P2O5] and the mass fraction (percentage) of elemental potassium, [K] = 0.83 x [K2O] (These conversion factors are mandatory under the UK fertilizer-labelling regulations if elemental values are declared in addition to the N-P-K declaration.[5]) An 18â51â20 fertilizer therefore contains, by weight, 18% elemental nitrogen (N), 22% elemental phosphorus (P) and 16% elemental potassium (K).

Jan, Last night I saw one more adult Colorado Potato Beetle on a potato plant, and I left it for Mr. (or Ms.) Turtle. I hope he or she found it and ate it. I rely heavily (almost entirely) on beneficial birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects to control pest insects in my garden. It works. I know it works. Sometimes it is very hard--even exceptionally hard--to be be patient and wait for the process to work, but I really do try. Here's another example of how I didn't wait, and then regretted it. I overwintered some potted angel's trumpets (both brugmansias and angel trumpets) in my barn/garage last winter. It was the first time I'd overwintered them there, having previously kept them either inside (but there's too many for that now, and they are too big) or by overwintering them in the tornado shelter in a dormant state. It stayed warm enough here this past winter that the angel's trumpets remained leafed out, although a couple of them dropped some leaves when we when down to 18 degrees a couple of nights, but then leafed right out again. A lot of them kept blooming into December and January and others started blooming in February. Every morning (unless it was very cold), I'd open the garage door and let the sunshine come in, or I'd drag them out into the sunshine. One day in Feb. or earliest March, I noticed one plant was covered in aphids. Since I assumed lady bugs were still hibernating because it was still pretty chilly, I sprayed the plant with neem oil. (I did look for lady bugs and didn't find any on any of the angel's trumpets before I sprayed.) The neem oil took care of almost all the aphids. Two days later a mama lady bug showed up, and within a couple of days we had lady bug larvae everywhere. So, you see, if I had been patient for a day or two longer, the lady bugs would have shown up and I wouldn't have had to spray the neem oil. I really need to work on being more patient. I'll try to write later today or tonight when I come inside from the garden about how to attract more beneficial insects to your garden, and why you'd want them there. I need to hurry up and get outside now before it is too hot to be productive out there. You also can search this forum by typing "beneficial insects" into the search box and read old threads too. I know I've written about beneficials a gazillion times. Dawn

pepster I am assuming you are looking at HP systems. I would stay away from Lennox. The minimum performance metrics for a new heat pump system that I would look for is R-410 frig, matching var speed air handler, 14-15 SEER, 12 EER, 9 HSPF, full BTUs for the size in both cooling and heating mode,scroll compressor. For the XR14 and the XL14i, other than cost, the differences are noise, warranty, efficiency depending on size, and the funky top that the XL14i has. Depending on size and model, Trane uses both recips and scroll compressors. You will have to ask dealer. I am listing below three performance configurations for the XR14, XL14i, and XL15i three ton. Numbers are from the CEE HVAC directory. 1104157 Active OEM XR14 WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWR4036A1 4TEE3F39A1 36400 12.00 14.00 31800 9.00 19900 1104184 Active OEM XL14I WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWX4036B1 4TEE3F39A1 36400 12.40 15.00 31800 9.00 19900 1382162 Active OEM XL15I WEATHERTRON TRANE 4TWX5036A1 4TEE3F39A1 36000 13.00 15.00 34000 9.00 23600 As you can see, there is very little difference between the XR14 and XL14i. Both these systems have poor heating BTUs but for your Florida location, this should not be consequential. You can see that the XL15i has the overall best numbers. I would not use any of the Trane stats-go for the Honeywell VisionPro IAQ for superior dehumidification. IMO http://www.cee1.org/ Here is a link that might be useful: Trane HP Comparison