Hi, G-me. Sorry to have neglected you. I've been busy with meal related activities & company for the last couple of days. I'm gardener AND cook around here, having prepared all but maybe a dozen meals for the household over the last 30 years. I would tend to follow the procedure you suggested in your last post, but that's just because I have little personal experience with Citrus. I tried a couple of Meyer lemons as bonsai, and they grew very well, but I found them unsuited to bonsai because of the straight, angular branching habit and their tendency to put out furlong-long shoots whenever they had the whim. In early spring - Feb is fine - saw/cut off the bottom 1/3 of the root mass & then remove 3 pie-shaped wedges from the remaining roots. The 3 wedges should = either 1/3 or 1/2 of the remaining root mass, depending on the vitality of the tree and it's genetic vigor. You will accomplish a complete change of old soil in either 2 or 3 repots, depending on how large the wedges and whether you remove 1/3 or 1/2 of the root mass. It's important to the long term vitality of your trees to make sure that the old soil in the original root mass does not harden to the point that it literally girdles or compresses roots to the point where water/nutrient flow is cut off. I've seen nursery trees that have been bumped up several times in container size with soil so hard and compacted around the roots that it took a chisel to remove it. The soil was much, much harder than the rootage. The fig and persimmon can be bare-rooted while dormant/quiescent and root-pruned with no problem. Tip: I use a Dramm Fogg-it nozzle in 1 or 2 GPM flow rates to help blast away old soil, along with a root pick (like a chopstick) for the stubborn stuff. You can take your time with no worries about even the finest roots drying out because they are constantly being moistened as you work. I don't want to leave a link to a Dramm site, lest I get in hot water with the powers, but use the search words Dramm GPM and multiple sites will come up. Using it in combination with an in-line shut-off will allow you to control pressure/flow rate. Al

Marin, I had a meyer lemon and a Kumquat in pots for 5 yrs. or so and it did very well...I just this past Spring decided to plant them both in the ground since I lost a mango tree and Lychee trees(froze to death)...in its place. Not sure about the others but might get pretty large in pots...the grapefruit and Navel I would think would do better in the ground if you have the room.The other two might be okay in pots with a yearly trim. One thing in my neighborhood every other house has Grapefruits...so there's no reason for me to ever plant one(not my favorite) and the tree gets HUGE...NO room in my yard...gotta save it for Mango trees,lol... Here's my meyer lemon when I had it potted up...Good luck and congrats with all your new citrus! Oh...I also have a Calamondin...this one makes an excellent potted Citrus!

Bill (or anyone) - Do these pictures scare you? We are goint to a single handle for the shower, so we will have to remove some of the cement to re-plumb. I'm just afraid of the overall thickness of the cement after the repair/skim coat. Plus, we are going to go about 6 inches higher with the tile so we can raise the showerhead. Would you still tile over this or remove it & start over? Here is a link that might be useful:

I teach dogs to ring the bell when they have to go out. I know that sounds hard but it is very simple. Hang a large bell from the nob of the door you want him to use (I bought a large sleigh bell at the craft store) and hang it low enough that he can reach it with his nose. I also use operant conditioning to train, all positive with click and reward. ok, this is what you will do; have a treat ready, call him to the door, ring the bell and then immediatly open the door tell him "good boy" and give him the treat yes, even though your the one that rang the bell. Do this often. Your teaching him that ringing the bell means the door opens. It took about 3 minutes working with Gus to learn to ring the bell when he was 3 months old. I have a bell inside and outside that Gus uses. I hope that helped you, I know it sounds hard, but it's really not. Depends from dog to dog how long it will take for them to learn this. We don't give them enough credit, they can learn amazing things. Kathy Picture of my dog Gus below Here is a link that might be useful: