Micromegas Posted February 1, 2009 Well that heatwave was a bastard! At my house it was 42.8, 46.3, 44.1, 42.8, 33 and 32 today. The worst is over I hope. I lost about 20% of the natives I planted last winter... including three 2-foot sandalwood trees and one 2 1/2 foot quandong. Knocked hell of out some young bunya nut pines... has just about killed a number of brugmansias and a khat... and made a real mess of my cacti, turning them yellow on the north-west side, wrinkling the skin, and severely dehydrating them. I would take a week or two of 35 before two days around 45, that is just crazy. Worse yet, the already suffering lower lakes and murray mouth have been pushed (probably) irrevocably toward ecological collapse. With no rain forecast for a month at least. Not a record we wanted to break. That's my rant, I'm sure many others out there have had similar experiences. Hope you're all coping. Rain dance anyone? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yawning Man Posted February 1, 2009 Hey Micro Yeah the heat was a cunt!!!! I lost a few of my loph seedlings, pretty much all of my Spach seedlings, my Lemon Balm and one of my Bridgesii has turned a weird yellow. 3 days in a row of over 40. Poor planet earth. cheers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
strangebrew Posted February 1, 2009 Yep not good, not good at all, but I've learnt my lesson in the past - any extended periods past the upper 30's & everything possible gets the shadecloth treatment. Just pegging a thin strip around a tricho makes a big difference & young shrubs get wire surrounds with shadecloth draped over. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FancyPants Posted February 1, 2009 Hey MicroYeah the heat was a cunt!!!! I lost a few of my loph seedlings, pretty much all of my Spach seedlings, my Lemon Balm and one of my Bridgesii has turned a weird yellow. 3 days in a row of over 40. Poor planet earth. cheers But on the bright side; at least they're more potent when they're stressed. Aren't they? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yawning Man Posted February 1, 2009 ^^^ Heh heh i think that seems to be the general consensus. But i have a soft spot for this cutting as she's always struggled a bit and seems to cop a bad wrap from our stupid cows. Plus she's no way near big enough if someone were to consume. She'll pull through though. Also, my Xanthorea (spelling) looks a bit tired. Stupid heat. cheers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
genki Posted February 1, 2009 most of my plants pulled through largely unscathed. there's some yellowing on the cacti that receive full sun. im fairly sure the growing tip on my caapi is not going to recover, id given her some more shade for protection it was just the end part that was poking out into full sunlight that got scorched. i was quite suprised to see both my P. carthaginenesis and grafted P. virdis were relatively unfazed by the 43 degree temps and ~10% relative humidity - great news as i forgot to bring the virdis inside before going to work. the major casualties were my strawberry plants and some salvia's that i chose to sacrifice so that everything else got a bit more water. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Micromegas Posted February 2, 2009 Adelaide has had it even worse, at 43.2, 45.7, 43.4, 43.1, 41.1, and 41, with another hot one today. That's a 100 year record! Definately shade cloth can make a huge difference, or moving things into shade. But that can be hard depending on how many plants you have to cover up. I resorted to old t-shirts but too late for some and not enough shirts! Quite a few of my seedlings have gone pink too. Here's hopoing for some serious rain... It had been such a mild summer I guess it was expected to heat up eventually... best of luck everyone. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mac Posted February 2, 2009 (edited) im about 540 ks inland from Adelaide in the semi arid zone of NSW , we have had much the same weather & are in for at least another week of 38-40+ temps. so far i have had to move a couple of cacti i planted out before the heatwave & have lost a couple of Argyreia nervosa seedlings as well as my tomato's, so not much damage done (well nothing i cant replace) Edited February 2, 2009 by mac Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Moses Posted February 2, 2009 I found this Beautiful Aussie Summer poem and thought it might be a comfort to you. It was to me, and it's very well written; I hope you enjoy it because it's the best piece of English literature I've seen in quite a while.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yawning Man Posted February 2, 2009 Haha thank you for that moses. cheers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
~shameless~ Posted February 5, 2009 Its quite wierd now....... even 30 degrees doesnt feel hot now, back in the day i would have gone to the beach, quick get the jacket on! hehehe Get ready saturdays supossed to be low 40's again, how ever the bay is just so sexy at the mo! have never felt sea water so warm down this way, ever. Do yourself a favour, fellow melbounites who havent visited a port phillip beach in a while brave the parking chaos or get the train, its just so worth it on a hot day! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mac Posted February 5, 2009 43 again tomorrow cool change Sunday if we are lucky Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
momomoto Posted February 5, 2009 Sorry to say It's been lovely up here except for the wind maybe, but that's keeping the temps down plants have all grown drastically, regular rain, overcast skies. really fertile times, even found seedlings popping up from where i dropped some seed on the lawn the other week. However, bastard spider mites, mozzies and bugs bugs bugs... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Micromegas Posted February 5, 2009 Haha MOSES... momomoto that's not what i want to hear actually it's great that some places are going well, extremely great in fact! it blows me away that 2/3rds of QLD is under 7m of water at the moment while down south we are sweating out a major drought and high temps. what a land of extremes, only going to get more so as the climate does a backflip. some places will get better tho for sure. i wonder, how possible is it to grab that water from north QLD and funnel it into the darling? probably not that possible but i will dream. forget $950 handout to half the population mr Rudd let's have some hard core engineering to secure australia's water security in the future please i agree Greenhouse i can't tell what's hot anymore, but the beach has been lovely everyday! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mauve Posted February 5, 2009 hum...we had snow yesterday... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mu! Posted February 7, 2009 FUCK YOU HEATWAVE MOTHERFUCKER!! you killed off my last two surviving ayahuasca plants you fucker. goddamn sun god Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hebrew Posted February 7, 2009 thats some real sad news right there mu. it killed off some of my baby ayahuasca plants too, the same ones as i sent you, i think i have only one of those left, but give me a message when things settle down a bit and we will get you some more Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PD. Posted February 7, 2009 shit mu, you mean tha panther is dead?? what a fucker! Has been a freakn horrible time here, so far have lost my favourite 5 or so year old A. longifolia, around 15 A. obtus, 5 A. phleb seedlings, 4 A. subporosa, 5 TBMs, 1 super pedro log with around 5 columns up to 40cms is fried badly and im not sure it will come out too good will def be scarred all over if it does, countless cacti seedlings, 5 brug plants the largest was around 2mtrs tall! it should come back tho from the base hopefully, the lil ones are fried completly. A few different sorts of salvia are gone and a few succs. My large planting of cacti were looking terrible till my dear old dad carted a couple thousand ltrs of water for me and we watered them 3 times over a week. Alot if not all of this could have been prevented if i got off my arse and watered more but i was in no state to do so but its too late and no use crying bout it now. As for water restrictions, ill be honest and say i dont follow the guidelines much at all. I have good reason but im not goin into that rite now. Im gon punch Ra in the fuckin face when i meet him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hebrew Posted February 7, 2009 yeah its fucking hard, i think i only got one black caapi left, but i have a few that might spring forth if i give them some love and tender care i will tryand get to it today or they will be gone and i dont want to loose them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
incognito Posted February 8, 2009 we have had a week of 47degrees here. Have put in drip irrigation under my cactus garden and run it for an hr every night, they are absolutely loving it!, boosting along!!!! my ibogas are also loving this dry heat, they are really putting on alot of growth! and flowering their brains out! didnt think theyd fair well but they r the happiest plants in the garden!! i put em in the ground in dads vegie patch, will hafta rig something around them to keep em warm in winter. caapi plants are a bit of a worry as they have run up my old mans prized passion fruit vine on his trellis, they r under threat of eradication1 hafta keep hacking em back on a daily basis, growing about 20cm a day i shit u not!! this place is getting more tropical every year all the local gardeners are saying, heaps of banana plants and rockmelons and sweet potatos being grown around the place which was unheard of when i was a kid. its just having access to the water to keep em alive. the local nursery is even selling frangiapanis! thank fuck my bro in law has just had a big saltwater pool installed, spend most of the hot days frisbeeing my nephews around in that. i really had forgotten the humour of a wedgie. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hebrew Posted February 8, 2009 hehehe incognito mate next time i see you i will have to give you a wedgie then sounds good man, sounds like things are going ok back at the parents house. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gerbil Posted February 8, 2009 yeah just wait until you're in the murray with ya floaties incognito Losings lots of acacia plantings it seems, will see what comes back. Brugs are hammered though, near on no leaf and when there is it's thick spider mite, come on winter! Cacti are loving it when they get some water, otherwise all the ground plantings look like cereus Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
incognito Posted February 8, 2009 haha its the lachlan river here, which is pretty much dry at the moment except for a few puddles. but it floods here like a mofo once every 7 yrs or so. we r pretty uphill from all that so my cacti garden is safe. its 47 but i dont mind it, its a dry heat so u cool of quickly when u sweat. been battling the grasshoppers though, u wouldnt believe it until u saw how many there are. council have been out spraying them on the roads 7 days a week, great when u get insecticide in ur car aircon!!! Pretty bleak outhere but great for cactus farmin' lol.my dad is right into em now we have grand plans haha. If only i can get my hands on the M & D clone it would love it here *HINT HINT* will put up some pics soonish. I cant figure out how they have bred sheep to survive on rocks alone. One thing thats spun me out are all the alpacas farmers are keeping with their sheep to protect their stock, never seen them here b4. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
