are there any weather buffs in the tx. garden forum? what is going on? why can't texas be the same 2 yrs. running? i love the rain but if i had been told it was going to rain till june i could have put a lot more plants in the ground in apr. and may. did anyone know about this? did the almanac know about this?
it is raining again. it's june and it's texas. why??????
La Nina, which leads to below normal rainfall in the southern part of the country, has eased finally as predicted, and we are receiving more normal rainfall. We are in a neutral period that is expected to continue the rest of this year. With an El Nino, we would expect more than normal rainfall. After the last couple of years, I'll be very pleased with normal. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FEl_Ni%25C3%25B1o-Southern_Oscillation&ei=reImSsz5A6CW8wT2u5SCDw&usg=AFQjCNEYR-CyGckW6nDLb6UbIWYv6E4H8w&sig2=Imd6ZbbM1-3lBOD3lrbZLw
This message was edited Jun 3, 2009 6:26 PM
I'm sure not going to complain! Any chance this awful drought will end is welcome. I'm skeptical, however, because the end was predicted before and it didn't happen. Until we know for sure, I'll just enjoy the rain as long as we have it.
i am enjoying the rain too--i love how green everything is for now
It may be raining where you are, but I haven't had any measurable precipitation since May 16th. Yesterday one of the girls at the office that lives 7 - 10 miles northwest of me had an inch.
now hold everything patrob. what? el nino? again? we never had el nino's when i was a kid. are you saying that we are in the rainy period of el nino? when i first heard about el nino i thought it was a one shot deal. and if we are in the rainy period of the thing i really dread the drought years. lake lavon a 21,000 acre lake was reduced by half.
when does the drought start again?
Those who study the El Nino/La Nina weather patterns are not saying that we are beginning an El Nino now, but that the La Nina, which has kept us dry for two years, is letting go. They think we are returning to a neutral or normal weather pattern. I know that article I linked to in the second post is long, but if you'll skim it, you'll get the idea. I guess this is research that wasn't being done when we were kids and is still in its infancy. It is certainly not infallible, but during a drought, it gives me hope to see that someone thinks it will end. Of course, another dry spell can be around the next corner, but I hope it is a while. Right now our cows and calves are fat, the bermuda fields are ready to be cut, and the weeds in my back "yard" are huge!
normal weather pattern? you mean like when we were kids and the weather was the same year after year after year? it always rains the first week in aug. every year in neshoba county, miss. like that kind of normal?
did you really mean that you wanted ME to read that link? i am a person on person kind of person. lol. some people would call that lazy. not me though. person on person is what i am.
does that mean there is no global warming?
mamajack,
Sorry I should have posted that we would be getting lots more rain we just started our house so its going to rain ...
:)
Cheryl
This message was edited Jun 3, 2009 8:54 PM
I'll take about an inch or so of rain every 4-5 days as long as the mosquitos and humidity stay away!
"we never had el nino's when i was a kid."
When we were kids it was referred to as "seven years of plenty" and "seven years of drought or famine".
Jerry
Yup, read! (LOL I was an English teacher for way too long.) I am not a science/weather expert but I have a reading knowledge of some things I am interested in. Maybe a real weather expert will join our discussion.
Hope ya'll don't mind this lurker jumping in.......
Not an expert here but the forums I've been following say an El Nino has formed and will be felt by August (that means hot, hot, hot weather for Texas): http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=105425&hilit=
can't be worse than the year it was 101 in april. no rain. at least we had rain this year.
lilypon are you a weather buff? and we are glad you popped in. when we are having 110 degree weather what are you having?
and an "el nino has formed". exactly what does that mean? do these things form at will? and did we really always have them? i promise you i remember when i was a kid when it got cold it stayed cold until spring. not like this stuff we have now. 90 one day. 30 the next. who can garden like that?
I am a weatherbuff Mamajack.....we have a farm and knowing/guessing on what's coming helps in the decision of what to plant and how much crop insurance to purchase.
There is mounting evidence that the waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean have heated up enough to create El Niño (an atmospheric condition that suppresses storm formation).
"El Niño translates from the Spanish as 'the little boy' or 'the Christ child,' and is so called because the weak warm ocean current occurs along the western coast of South America around Christmas. El Niño is a very good example of the complex, intimate exchange between winds in the atmosphere and ocean currents.
In most years, strong, prevailing trade winds blow westward dragging the Earth's warmest surface waters across the Pacific to Australia and Indonesia. But every few years the trade winds slacken or change direction. Within a few weeks, the ocean responds to these changes. Without winds to hold it back, the warm waters to the west slosh back towards the coast of South America. This begins an El Niño. Some years the water warms up as much as 5 degrees C or more.
The atmosphere then responds to the rise in ocean temperature. The moist air above the warm waters also warms. It becomes buoyant enough to form clouds and tropical storms. The atmospheric stirrings cause heavy thunderstorms over the central Pacific, which in turn drive the jet streams that guide weather systems across the earth.
At one time, El Niño was thought to affect only South America's Pacific Coast, bringing flooding rains to Peru and ruining the anchovy fishery. Now we know El Niño can do very strange things to the world's weather for a year or even longer.
In some areas, El Niño means fairly predictable weather. For instance, it is almost sure to cause droughts in northeastern Brazil, eastern Australia and southern Africa, produce floods and mudslides in Ecuador, quiet the hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean, delay the Indian monsoon, and bring copious winter rains to southern California.
In Canada, El Niño's impacts are considered marginal, showing up most clearly during wintertime in western Canada. But, El Niño is both good and bad news for Canadians. For example, in British Columbia schools of hungry mackerel riding the El Niño wave may devour young sockeye stock. For skiers, El Niño's usually snow-free winter is not welcome news. On the other hand, an El Niño year also correlates with a wetter spring and a warmer summer, making for good crop weather. When El Niño occurs, it seems to have something for everyone." http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/storm_watch_stories3&stormfile=2009summer_22_05_2009?ref=ccbox_homepage_top_title
Mamajack right now my area is still showing the effects of La Nina.........we had a very, very cold winter (first frost occured in early September, first snowfall occured in the first week of October and the winter went on forever........we are expecting frost again early Friday morning (June 5th.......I really, really dislike strong La Nina's). We have had a couple of days in the eighties already but most have been in the 60's. However El Nino will bring us hot temperatures very soon (2007 we hit 118 F heat and humidity combined............I don't want to see/feel that again either).
My memories of years ago were of much more settled weather as well. Nice springs (with rain) and nice summer temps that fell in the mid seventies to low eighties (not like now where we see weeks of 90's and 100 degree temperatures).
thank you for taking the time to explain that. it is still complicated. from what you tell me i get the idea that you believe there is a global warming. it seems to me that that is the most important question that is screaming for an answer. if we are truly having global warming then we need to do everything we can right now no matter the cost to stop it. but i understand that scientists from across the world are debunking the global warming theory. what's up with that?
i would never have dreamed that it could be 118 degrees in canada. when i was a kid i thought all of canada was a frozen tundra. as an adult i have found out that there are places in canada that are warmer than my spot in texas in the winter. but i would never have thought that yall could be hotter than us in the summer. but the question is HOW LONG was it 118 degrees. the record in texas for over 100 degree days is something like 60. hahaha
Forgive me for rambling on........
I remember when,...as a child,.....I'd relish the fresh "ozoney" smell of the air after the predictable thunderstorms in July...looking out through the front screen door (no AC) and seein' the earthworms come out and crawl across the sidewalk,...after the rain passed.(We were "stylish" back then....with a 10 ft sidewalk in the front yard that ended at the ditch adjacent to the gravel road we lived on....north side of Houston.)......the wonderful smell of Mimosa and Magnolias during those summer nights....was intoxicatin'.
Back then,...meadow larks, quail, horny toads(horned lizards) and fire flies were plentiful,...as were bullfrogs, tree frogs and such. The air smelled GOOD....fresh and earthy....even in the great metropolis of Houston......but then,....the northern city limit was Little York Road (and it was a shell road) Weather predictions were fairly accurate....people mostly observed the behavior of the cattle.
Fishin' along the Texas coast (or inland creeks & rivers for that matter) was usually outstanding.....no matter where you were.
Fillin' up an ice chest of speckled trout (spotted weakfish to you furriners), reds and flounder was almost a given unless it had rained a lot for a few days an' the water was too muddy. Crabbin' along the coast meant a great afternoon of catchin' beautiful CLEAN, huge blue crab on chicken necks tied to a string,....weighted with an oyster shell. The smell of salt grass, "salty" air and wet driftwood still flows thru my memories.....seein' hundreds of fiddler crabs move as a "wave" into their holes as you approached while walkin' along the gumbo clay banks...only to re-emerge behind you.....as you passed....or..., if on the sand beaches,...it was the sand crabs doin' the same thing .
No such thing as "El Nino", La Nina,...."male" hurricanes, microwaves, plastic surgery, whitening strips, or even worse......genetically engineered vegetables (patented, of course) or cloned pets........or how about "someone else owning the rights to the water that comes from melting snow or rain off your roof..(it being illegal to collect that water in a cistern...for your OWN use).....
thankfully,....that doesn't exist in Texas.....yet
Today's "weather persons" appear to be "guessing" what may happen from day to day.
Does anyone else "love" the smell of a tomato plant? :~)
This message was edited Jun 4, 2009 11:06 AM
Scientists are pretty much in agreement that global climate change (aka, global warming) is indeed happening. What they disagree on is (1) what role man is or has been playing in it and (2) how fast it is happening.
I agree that today's weather person seems to be "guessing" what the local weather is going to be. When I moved here in 1980 Harold Taft was the weather guru and you could take his forecast to the bank. It seems that nowadays the weather people spend too much time studying computer models and very little time studying the Texas weather itself.
I wouldn't mind a repeat of the summer of 2007. It rained like crazy that year, and I don't think it went over 100 in the Dallas area.
Carla
I do love the smell of a tomato plant Lee, and i also remember many of the things you mentioned.
Josephine.
Lee,
OH MY you are bring back lots of memorials of Good old Houston days ......
And love the smell of Tomatoes,Sea Air & the air after the rain ...
"or how about "someone else owning the rights to the water that comes from melting snow or rain off your roof..(it being illegal to collect that water in a cistern...for your OWN use)...
thankfully,...that doesn't exist in Texas...yet"
I really hope we never see that we are setting up 2, 15000 gal water tanks.
Cheryl
"I wouldn't mind a repeat of the summer of 2007. It rained like crazy that year, and I don't think it went over 100 in the Dallas area."
We were told that the humidity we were receiving was from the Gulf of Mexico. The jet stream had some funny zigs and zags to it that summer.
The rain in the summer of 2002 was much more extreme here than 2007. At the end of June, 2002 it rained until I couldn't imagine it could possibly rain any more....then it rained again and again..it seemed endless for a while. We were cut off from the outside for a time. The safety of a dam that had never before been questioned was in doubt. I remember my childhood in Texas in the forties and fifties. No children will ever again experience what our lives were like then. I fear for my grandchildren. We are so dependent on food manufactured far away, or grown far away and transported (with much fossil fuels). And of course, without those fossil fuels, our country couldn't function.
Texas has a long drought interrupted by a flood or a flood interrupted by drought, depending how you look at it. The weather report just said no rain for the next week so that doesn't sound very hopeful to me. Two summers ago it rained constantly 17" in 1 night June 26th and it never stopped. I could have grown rice everything else in my garden either rotted or floated away. Last summer there was no rain and intense heat many of my heirlooms just couldn't take it and burned up, some of my hybrids managed to survive. No there are no two summers that are a like.
Lisa
oh my goodness i want to talk to all of you at once.
lilypon....by the way are you a boy or a girl? lol.
what do you grow on your farm? how long have you farmed? has the honey bee dilemna affected you?
willis.....yes to tomato plants. and fireflies and frogs. fresh plowed earth. cow manure.
loonie....i remember harold taft. and do you remember frank x. tolbert at the news?
linda...i agree with everything you said. what happened to us? oh, yeah....progress.
lisa...how long have you gardened? never heard it put that way but i liked the flood/drought comment.
Mamajack we grow cereal crops ie barley; spring and winter wheat, oats and rye ; pulse crops ie lentel; oilseed ie. canola, flax, mustard; and years ago we also grew sunflowers.
Both of my parents recently passed away (in this past year) so the farm is being rented out this year until we decide on whether to keep it or sell it.
We haven't had a problem with honeybees here (so far).
I'm female and my handle comes from a water lily that I finally tracked down and purchased (it's relatively easy to find in the States but not here in Canada). N. Lilypons http://www.watergardenersinternational.org/certification/lilypons/lily_pons.html I joined here about the same time it came in the mail (I had to drop the "s" however because a Lilypons representative is also here and goes by Lilypons)
Regarding GW or climate change an awful lot here believe it is happening and that man is influencing it but we also have our fair share of disbelievers too.
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This was posted at one Saskatchewan bloggers site.......I think she captured our feelings in the summer of 2007
"Do I look like a gila monster?
July 23, 2007, 3:50 am
Filed under: Life, Opinions, Personal, Rant, Rants, Saskatchewan, Thoughts, Uproars, Weather
It’s been hot. It’s been humid. Just as the wind in cold weather makes the temperature feel colder, humidity in hot weather makes the temperature feel hotter. In winter, it’s referred to as the “wind chill factor” and in the summer it’s called the “humidex”.
Fracas does not like humid.
Humidity has a much more noticeable effect at high temperatures, because high humidity with high temperatures, retards evaporation of perspiration from our bodies, and it “feels” much warmer than the actual temperature suggests.
So what does this have to do with gila monsters? When I googled the term animals that love humidity, who do you think came up with the top listing? That’s right… gila monsters. At this site, I learned gila monsters prefer a humidity level of 50 to 80%. From The Weather Network, I learned we’re sitting at a level of 83%. The other day, at nine in the morning, the reading was joyfully… 100%. Later that day it went down to 74% only to go back up within hours.
Saskatchewan is not gila monster country. No.. usually we here in Saskatchewan brag that we prefer our kind of heat because it’s a dry heat, and therefore easier to withstand. Yep, you got it. according to the lovely scientific explanation above, that just means that we can deal with our dry heat better because we can sweat like pigs and keep ourselves cool.
Perhaps we’re a tad hard to hold on to, but cooler nonetheless.
Except for this summer.
Ridiculous Saskatchewan weather...Dang blasted humidity has hung around like a mother-in-law who doesn’t realize you planned on nookie.
And it’s only going to get worse. Tomorrow, we’re expected to reach a temperature of 34°C (93°F) with a humidex advisory of 46°C (115°F).
I am not (kidding) you.
I am not a gila monster*, and I am not happy"
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The above poster lives up in Saskatoon......which is 2 hours north of my location and normally much cooler. Carmen Manitoba (one province over) was blessed however with a temperature including humidex of 53 degrees Celsius 53 degree Celsius = 127.4 degree Fahrenheit
"HOT AND MOIST AIR FROM THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES CONTINUED TO FLOW INTO SOUTHERN MANITOBA ON WEDNESDAY. THE HIGH TEMPERATURES COMBINING WITH THE EXTREME HUMIDITY LED TO RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES AND RECORD HIGH HUMIDEX VALUES OVER SOUTHERN MANITOBA TODAY. WINNIPEG SET AN ALL TIME RECORD FOR THE HIGHEST HUMIDEX READING EVER RECORDED AT THE WINNIPEG AIRPORT. HUMIDEX VALUES PEAKED AT 47 LATE THIS AFTERNOON BREAKING THE ALL TIME WINNIPEG RECORD OF 46.1 SET BACK ON JUNE 27, 1996. AS WELL CARMAN, MANITOBA UNOFFICIALLY SET AN ALL TIME CANADIAN RECORD HIGH HUMIDEX WHEN VALUES CLIMBED TO 53 LATE THIS AFTERNOON, BREAKING THE RECORD PREVIOUSLY HELD BY WINDSOR, ONTARIO OF 52.1 SET ON JUNE 20, 1953." http://robsobsblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/record-hot-and-humid-day-over-southern.html
This is a definition of Humidex:
The humidex is a measurement used by Canadian meteorologists to reflect the combined effect of heat and humidity. It differs from the heat index used in the United States in using dew point rather than relative humidity. According to the Meteorological Service of Canada, a humidex of at least 40 causes "great discomfort" and above 45 is "dangerous." When the humidex hits 54, heat stroke is imminent.
The current formula for determining the humidex was developed by J.M. Masterton and F.A. Richardson of Canada's Atmospheric Environment Service in 1979. The term is widely used in Canada during the summer months in weather reports. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humidex
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If you look at this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Western_North_American_heat_wave you will see that the dark blob is over Montana and North Dakota (it doesn't show that it continued well up into Canada where it sat for a month over most of Alberta and Saskatchewan and it eventually moved into Manitoba and Ontario....they were blessed however since it didn't stay very long over them). It also has a chart that shows a number of American and Canadian locations with the temperatures they received and what the normal temps usually are (it doesn't record the humidity levels however).
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The article below explains just what it was like up here without air conditioning......a vast majority here still don't have them (including me and mine). It was also written at the beginning of the month (it got a lot hotter at the end):
Canadian Heat Wave http://www.hugg.ca/canadian-heat-wave-013026.php
Western Canada has been experiencing a heat wave with record temperatures these past few days. I thought I could tough it out but it is becoming unbearable. I know what some of my readers are going to say. "That's nothing, places like California are just as hot." Well that's true except that Canadian house's are super insulated for our cold winters. Imaging taking a stroll outside in the summers heat with a blanket draped around you. Ya, it's like that.
Luckily this heat usually only lasts for a few days (then again who really knows with global warming). So for all of you out there who are running to purchase and install those highly un-green window air-conditioners, consider these tips instead.
* Stay out of the sun; if you planned a day trip to the theme park, cancel it.
* Hang out at the mall or other air-conditioned places.
* Move into your basement; avoid the upper floors of your house.
* Keep windows shut in the day and opened at night.
* Avoid water parks. Though you may feel refreshed in the water, water parks rarly offer shade.
* Drink plenty of water; carry a reuseable bottle around with you and keep yourself hydrated.
* Turn off appliances that radiate heat; avoid cooking or baking food in the oven.
* Shut down unused computers; you shouldn't keep your computer running all the time anyways. They can put a significant amount of heat into your house.
This message was edited Jun 5, 2009 2:05 AM
So sorry to hear about your recent loss, Lilypon....like losing a part of your soul, I know.
Goodness gracious.....I wasn't anywhere close to bein' aware of the climate situation in your neck of the woods..........makes me even MORE concerned about the changes we've seen , seein' now and going to see. I know,....we'll adapt...as needed,...we'll have to. Good advice you've given about making adjustments to deal with the heat.
I am becoming more aware of the importance of my shade cloths during the summer ,,,,especially when the container-grown plants are considered. I believe most people are (or should be) aware of the increased level of UV radiation....compared to past years.
I'm wondering how effective they would be protecting a residence?
Cheryl - Good move on y'all's part.....setting up your storage tanks.....it may be sooner than we think,...when their importance becomes acutely "in focus" I brought that subject up earlier....mainly because it was still fresh in my mind...having listened to a news report about the "water rights" laws in force in Colorado....disturbing to me....because I believe that we will be "charged" for water in the future. Gotta go for now....will continue when I return. I'll step off my soapbox! Lee
We have a see-through, but heavy-duty shadecloth all across the west-facing side of our covered deck. It really does cut down on the high temperatures on the deck. We had the shadecloth done with those round metal things (don't remember what they're called) to hang it on nails from the top side so it could be easily removed during the cooler part of the year...but I don't bother removing it anymore. Too much trouble for me...used to be DH's job. As temps get even hotter in southcentral Texas, trees are even more important also. I just love my Bigtooth Maple, which now gives some shade to the west side of the house and the Texas Ash and smoketree on the east side. When we first got this place there was only a liveoak motte on the northeast corner of the house and a cedar (which really didn't help much) on the southwest side.
Last year (2007) was the first year in S.E. Texas that I *didn't* get torrential rains in May and June.
where can you buy a shade cloth? how big are they? how much do they cost? how long do they last?
lilypon so sorry about your parents. i pray your final decision about your land is accompanied with GREAT peace at knowing it was the right one. what a hard decision to have to make.
and you continue to amaze me with canadian weather reports. who knew?
also i talked with one lady in another part of canada. she said because it wasn't getting as cold in canada anymore that they were losing a forest of some kind of tree due to a "bug" that used to be killed by the cold. that's the kind of thing that scares me. .. native plants dying.
Thank you both for your messages of sympathy and wishes for peace with our decision when the time comes. The farm has been with our family since the 1880's so we want to take time to put serious thought into it.
Our weather holds many surprises (even some for us unfortunately)......within 24 hours we can have a 100 degree F change in temperature here. From winter to summer we can go from -62F (-100F with windchill) up to 114 F. That high temperature (a Canadian record....without humidity) is held by Midale and Sweet Grass Saskatchewan.......God help us if we hit those temperatures again with extreme humidex on top of it.
Here is the sign recording that high (taken in the middle of winter on an extremely cold day)
Ours was ordered through a nursery from a company that supplied their nursery shadecloths years ago....I don't remember how much it cost. I know it wasn't at all cheap. And it has lasted more than 10 years now. It does have some damage from animals trying to climb it and things that fell against it on occasion. But it still works fine to keep the deck a bit cooler. I found this site that has those kind of things. Price would depend on the kind of material and how big it would be. Grommets....that's what helps hold it up.
The winter of 2005/2006 was extremely warm here.
Last Updated: Monday, March 13, 2006 | 4:34 PM ET
CBC News
It isn't final proof that the world is heating up, but federal climatologists say this has been the warmest Canadian winter since nationwide record-keeping began in 1948.
* INDEPTH: Climate Change
"Statistically, in an unchanging climate, Canada could expect a winter anomaly like this winter's about every 100 years," Environment Canada reported on Monday in its Climate Change and Variations bulletin.
And, with the exception of the springs of 2002 and 2004, temperatures have been stuck above normal for eight years, it said.
Other findings:
# This winter's preliminary figures show temperatures averaging 3.9 C above normal.
# That makes it not just the warmest winter but the most overheated season – winter, spring, summer or fall – on record.
# The weather has been even more unseasonable in some places than in others.
* FROM JAN. 24, 2006: NASA calls 2005 the warmest year in a century
Winter temperatures have been above normal across Canada, the report says, with most of the country at least 2 C above normal and with Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories all experiencing temperatures greater than 6 C above normal.
The winter figures in the report are for December, January and February rather than the customary Dec. 21-March 20 span.
Warm and warmer: areas of above-normal temperature in the winter of 2005-06. (Courtesy: Environment Canada
This message was edited Jun 5, 2009 12:39 PM
Regarding your friend's mention of a forest.......she is speaking of Canada's Boreal Forest. It draps Canada from sea to sea and in my province it covers 1/2 of it. It also goes right up into the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. I lived, for six months, in Inuvik (right up by the Arctic Ocean) and it is at the Northern end of the Boreal forest's line.
Here's a description of that forest and it will be a horrible loss to North America if it suffers a severe die back:
"Draped like a green scarf across the shoulders of North America, the boreal or "northern" forest is Canada's largest biome or environmental community. It occupies 35% of the total Canadian land area and 77% of Canada's total forest land, stretching between northern tundra and southern grassland and mixed hardwood trees. The boreal forest's animals, plants and products affect each Canadian every day, from paper products, to the jack pine railway ties, through to the air we breathe. This northern forest, named after Boreas, the Greek god of the North Wind, is an inevitable and unavoidable part of who we are.
Starting in the Yukon Territory, the boreal forest forms a band almost 1000 kilometres wide sweeping southeast to Newfoundland and Labrador. To its north is the treeline and beyond that the tundra of the arctic. To its south, the boreal forest is bordered by the subalpine and montane forests of British Columbia, the grasslands of the Prairie Provinces, and the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence forests of Ontario and Quebec.
The boreal forest is an integral part of our economy, history, culture and natural environment. It gives birth to new life through its diverse ecosystems and helps to sustain our lives through the renewal of the air above and soil below. This vast body of land provides the lakes, streams and rivers that act as the veins and arteries of so much of our country. It is also an important source of forest products, and, thereby, a significant part of the economic base of Canada.
"Insect infestation
Insect infestation is a significant disturbance in the eastern and central regions of Canada where outbreaks of spruce budworm cause extensive damage to commercially valuable stands of fir and spruce. Between 1980 and 1993 over 6.6 million hectares of forest land in the eastern boreal forest was affected by the spruce budworm. Had it not been for extensive aerial spraying the affected area would have been much more extensive."
http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/learningresources/theme_modules/borealforest/index.html
The pine beetle has decimated huge tracks of forest in British Columbia and, with our warmer winters, has moved into Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The red is dead pines (also a major tree in our boreal forest).
This message was edited Jun 5, 2009 12:38 PM
Mamajack - take a look at - growersupply.com I've bought my greenhouse supplies from this company for the past few years and am very pleased with their products and service. Shade cloths,etc. are one of the1st items on the opening page (upper left corner). They can/will make custom for you, ...offer pre-determined sizes,... sell the cloth in rolls,...if you desire. recommended! Lee
Well, I'm not a weather expert. Nor a native Texan. But I have noticed that if Evan on channel 4 news says it's not going to rain, then it will be raining at my house by the time I get home from work. DH rarely takes notice of these sorts of things and even he is starting to notice. It is really kind of odd. I'm begining to think someone at that station is a dyslexic weather map reader.
You would laugh at my current backyard scene. This starts the second summer without a huge fruitless mulberry tree that stood in the middle of our back yard and died after over 40 years (long time for a mulberry).
Anyway, it changed my shade to sun drastically. So we have three inexpensive pop-up sort of canopys spaced over some areas. The cloth on all of them is some sort of "shade cloth". Also since they all have their own frame and cured some of our problems. We have purchased them over a long period of time and they run in range of $25-$50 depending on the size. One we got at Academy, one at Big Lots and I think one at Home Depot. They are often in the Sunday newpaper ads. Looks like we are setting up for a carnival or something. Had not thought about the Sun's rays changing but they will sure cook the plants pretty quickly.
lucy...i need to see what you have. i would love it if it looked like a carnival in the summer. are they colored? how long have you had them? whatever i buy i want it to last for awhile.
lilypon have they got the bug problem under control? is the forest healthy again? and your weather is astounding. i will try to shut my mouth in july and august. i know without a doubt i could not handle those extremes.
Hey, mama. It is a scream. None of them even resemble the other. Most definitely a hodge podge. You know you are welcome anytime. Would be very happy to have you visit. Probably about 45 minutes from you and it is a straight shot.
One over the sitting are near the pond made from a horse trough.
One over the baby greenhouse. GH only 6x8 and it gets hotter'n a firecracker in there.
