So, it's been a long time since it's been this cold. I'm afraid I wasn't paying much attention last time as I was about ten and I lived much closer to the coast (I'm in Deep East Texas now). Will this affect the insect populations this spring/summer?
Cold vs. Insects
Let's hope!
I know, right? I really hope we'll have fewer mosquitoes!
Unfortunately, I don't think it'll take care of the mosquito population. :( It might help with soil borne insects, though.
Ah well, wishful thinking lol
we should have some reduction in skeeters this spring cause anywhere shallow standing water has frozen it kills them.
The number one complaint from people who visit Alaska is mosquitoes.
the same can be said of MI
Please let this cold kill off all the fire ants!!!! :-)
Carla
Good luck on fire ants - I think they burrow 3 feet down.
http://www.safe2use.com/pests/fireants/fireants1.htm
Same for mosquitoes (not burrowing but on cold weather controlling them). Best bet is to move to an arid region to get some relief from them.
LOL! Did you *have* to tell me that about the fire ants? Couldn't let me dream awhile longer?? ;-)
Carla
My orchard got to 11 degrees and I was out there the next day planting some trees. I dug up a fireant hill and they were all still alive but in a kinda of lethargic state.
The fun part was my pond was frozen over and I couldnt break the ice with rocks. I was not stupid enought to try to stand on it.
"Best bet is to move to an arid region to get some relief from them."
I lived in Phoenix and they were on the rise. along with west nile, heartworm and all of that stuff..Many people were putting in grass and stuff instead of landscaping for the area. They wanted it to look like where they came from
I thought Texas *was* an arid region! LOL
When I lived in NW NM, I grew a couple of acres of beans every year. We had problems with Mexican Bean Beetles. One winter it got down to -20 for about 10 days. I was sure that the bean beetle problem was over. But, that next summer, same problem. So I believe that for most insects, it won't help.
People are always looking for the bright side of something that is bad or they do not like. There is no bright side, it's just COLD.
i do strongly dislike the cold, and apparently there really isn't anything redeeming about it at all - it didn't even come with any snow!
There is one redeeming quality. We are going to fulfill a huge chill requirement this year so blueberries, apples, peaches, pears and apricots will all flower strong. Some varieties dont produce every year here because they dont get enough cold. We easily got 100+ chill hours in the last week. I am betting on 500-600 hours this year while we normally get 300-400 in San Marcos. My Perfection Apricot has not flowered for the last two years because of low chill.
Not to mention that most wildflowers need some good cold temps to have proper germination!
ok, well that does make me feel a bit better lol.
Some wildflowers germinate in the fall here...cooler temps and rain in the fall got them up and going then. But some other seeds DO like winter cold to help them germinate well later on...those should benefit from the cold. Doesn't make me like temps down into the teens, but guess that's part of nature.
Not having snow, is the redeeming part of it all. If we had snow it would take even longer to warm up. It's either put up with the cold or move south of the border and I'm not going there.