Hoya watering day!... oh, still wet. Oh, that one too. Oh, all of them? Maybe something to do with two weeks of no sun and rain every day? Bleh.
Most Boring Day Ever
Mark....come over here. We have had no rain for 4 weeks and we are watering everything on the 12 acres by hand...out of a 50gal. barrel carried in the front loader of the tractor. Then we follow up with heavy mulch. The house is a disaster...and the water catchment almost dry from having to water... Please, send some water this way!!!!
Carol
PS Poor you!
Hey Carol, I could send some freezing rain your way, that's all I got to offer from here. Yuck!
Heather
Well I can send some sunshine from Arizona, it's about 70 today.
Blessings,
Awanda
Awanda, thank you so much! We got your shipment of sunshine today, what prompt shipping! Everything is starting to dry out now. Many of my outside Hoyas are still wetter than they should be, any more rain and I'll have to bring them in to dry. Wouldn't you know, serpens is happier than it's ever been, and is making lots of new growth points. Carol, we're through with the rain, I'll send it to you now.
Thanks, mark
I would of liked some rain, 81 days since our last percipitation. The wild fire season should be out of control again this year. Thought maybe Monday we were going to get it, but it just clouded up and then blew away. Darn.. Heck if it's not going to rain, then I would of settled with a high of 70. I'v been breaking ice on the dogs water bowl. And it was a blisstering 29 this morning. Brrrr.
Now why is it when the Hoya's hang outside in the rain, that all that moisture doesn't seem to harm them, but when there inside you must let them dry out(not all the way) befor watering again? Is it because of the increased air circulation and light when they are outside? I got brave last year and hung a few under a tree during our monsoon season, they were soaking wet for days, weeks but grew really good. Hmmmm??
Tami
Tami, I think it is the air circulation. Most houses have such still air. Plus which, when plants are outside there is usually a temperature change from day to night, which would force air in/out of the soil as it expanded/contracted. If the soil is well oxygenated the plants are probably a lot less risk of rotting. I didn't know Arizona was quite that dry. 81 days in the winter? Like I said before, Bleh.
Mark
Mark...thanks for the rain....it just arrived.
Really interesting about the expansion of air with the different temperatures outside...shows how important a porous mix is, eh? Thanks for that, Mark.
yep 81 days and nothing insight. Last year when we were looking to buy this house the creek in back of the house was roaring, I thought wow what a fantastic water feature. Now it is bone dry. Arizona has funny weather. I swear, no lie, it can pour rain in the front yard and be bone dry in the back. During our monsoon it is WILD.... I love it.... The lightning and thunder is just right on top of ya, it's like a little hurricane. It is amazing to see the big walls of dust that come in to the Phoenix area. Awanda does that scare you?
That is intersting about the soil expansion. I never thought of that. I do have a really porous mix, I have to water every other day in the summer. I keep a heavier soil on H. bella, H. lacunosa, and H. pusilla for me is just a little guzzler.
What does every one use to keep the plant hook secured to the tree branch, to insure in a high wind they don't fall?
Tami
I don't think it's soil expansion so much as the expansion/contraction of the air trapped in the soil, related to the temperature of the outside air. When the air inside is warm during the day, then night falls and the temperature of the air outside falls, the warm air inside is pulled out a little, and vice versa in the morning. Like breathing. Not a lot of movement, but enough to keep the air in the soil fresh, I think.
Mark
IT'S RAINING IT'S RAINING IT'S RAINING!!!!!
Everyone is perky and happy....
YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
tHANKS mARK
How did it happen that you guys had no rain for a month? I thought it rained almost every day in Hawaii. Maybe global warming intends to make you a mediteranean climate! We'll probably have some more rain for you by next week, just in case you need it.
Mark
Well...in the winter we get these lows that scream down from up north (Bering Straights, Alaska) and in their W to E direction they dump rain on the northern islands and sometimes Maui. Our two big volcanos sort of act like the Great Wall of China and they (the lows or sheerlines) slide over to the West side of the island. The only time we get rain in the winter is when we have the Trade Winds...when a High is allowed to form north of us...and if there is any moisture around, the Trade Winds bring them along and they dump on us, usually at night. It is really nice! During an El Nino the Trade Winds are really weak and those Lows just keep coming down and we get nothing. Last year we had no rain for 3 months (OK, I lie...we had .05" in 3 months)...it was an El Nino year.
So...when you live out in the middle of an ocean with two HUGE mountains...every day is a surprise. We now have snow on the mountains and a north wind and the temp is 61 and I am COLD.
Aloha
Same here, no rain at all for a very long time. We are having a very warm winter with temps in the high 70's during the day. Nights have been in the mid 50's. Not complaining at all as we are not running the heat or the A/C, but we just have to get some rain. The hoya in the greenhouse are sprouting new leaves and sending out shoots. The warmer it stays the better the chance I have of keeping all of the Eriostemma's alive.
Our worst weather is usually and consistenly in February when the trail riders mosey into town for the Livestock Show and Rodeo.
Yep, it's 60 and I'm freezing too.
Winter has been drier than normal here, too. Highs in the upper 30's tomorrow with a chance of snow, not my favorite type of precipitation.
SIXTY and you all are FREEZING?! ha! I wish. We're in somewhat of a "heat wave" here in Central Illinois and it only got down to 32 over night ----- but this time of year, it ain't nothin to be in the single digits with a wind chill factor that puts the temp BELOW zero. The kind of weather when you walk outside and within 10 seconds the hairs in your nostrils FREEZE! We're hoping to avoid that this year but it's only the first of January.
And SUN? What's thaaaaat?
=O)
I just checked the weather here, 21, with windchill, temp feels like 9. Burrrr.......
I believe that 60 feels cold to you two. Your body acclimates to it's climate. I remember living in CA, one night the temp was 39, I was frozen! How I wish for those days again!
Heather
Low 60s with the house totally open tho' screened .... DH is in sweats with a sweater and I have a polar fleece robe. The air is coming off the mountains. About 8 a.m. the wind changes and it comes off the warm sea and the temp goes up to about 75 in mins., all the glass in the house, mirrors, camera lenses etc. are fogged up with the condensation.
Whoa...wouldn't want to be in MN, or anywhere around there.....unless I were visiting you guys!!!
Carol
Heather, you totally do acclimitatize. I grew up on the north-east coast and clearly remember shoveled snow piled 8 feet beside our driveway. Now (after 11 years is SF) when it gets down near 40 it feels FREEZING, and when I visited New York a couple years ago, it was insufferably hot (I also lived in Atlanta before moving here).
Did anyone see the Daily show a couple nights ago when one of the correspondants was reviewing energy saving tips for this winter? His prime point was this: he was standing in front of a huge map of the US with color coded temperature zones. He said "see these zones in chilly blues and purples here to the north? Their COLDER. You want to move to these yellow and red zones to the south, they're WARMER."
So simple! Pass it on...
Mark
I love that! I couldn't agree more with that host, lol..
Heather
My husband and I keep looking at each other and going "WE NEED TO MOVE SOUTH!!". Once we get those last two out of school....we just may do that.
Until then - I will continue to break out the longjohns and envy those of you already enjoy the warmer climates.
Hummm a warm 80 here today:-).
Blessings,
Awanda
Here you can live where the temps are in the 90-80 all year....or 70-40...many mini climates.
There is no law that says you HAVE TO STAY WHERE YOU ARE!
It CAN rain a lot, but you can 'hear' the plants singing and you don't have to shovel it!
Aloha
Betsy, I just noticed you're in Mt.Zion, IL, that's exactly where I lived when I was a kid and where I remembered those 8 ft. snow banks from!
There is also an incredible grower of tropicals in Mt. Zion...Eclipse from DG. He is amazing and does all the city plantings as tropically as he can.!!
Wow...talk about a small world......life's like that sometimes!
HOW'D I MISS THE REST OF THIS POST?!?!?
WHAT? MarkRoy - you use to live in Mt. Zion? When? Did you graduate from MTZ High school? Tell me more!!! Man, what a small world.
And...who is this "Eclipse"? He's from Mt. Zion ILLINOIS?!?!
Hmmmm.....gonna have to hunt him down (oh won't HE be sorry!)
Eclipse = Kyle Courtney. Super guy....GREAT grower of tropicals and hybridizer of Brugs...is listed in the "Big Name Galleries"....most of all, a super fellow. Call him....
Betsy, I think I was 7 or 8, it would have been around 1975, and just for a year or two. Long enough for the snow to make a real impression, and send me flying to progresively warmer climates for the rest of my life!
Mark
Mark:
1975 huh? I was in high school then so unless I BABYSIT for you, you have older siblings, or you hung out with my little brother.....I probably didn't know you. I landed here in 1972 when my father got transferred from Ohio. But my ~ what a small world!! If you remember much about Mt. Zion - - you wouldn't believe how much its changed since then.
Carol: I looked up "Eclipse" on the Tropicals forum....says he's from Iowa?