South Eastern Australia Swelters

[alan.oz]

Hopefully just reading this will make northern hemisphere people feel warmer.

A short time ago it was 114 F (45.5 C) here in Adelaide - hottest day in 70 years.

In Melbourne it was 109 F (43 C), the Australian Open Tennis was halted temporarily because of the heat.

Some places inland have reached 116F.

So far my palms and cycads are holding up well,some ferns are a bit frazzled though.

Unfortunately the heatwave is going to continue for another 5 days

[tim_brissy_13]

Really not much fun down here Alan, at 7:13pm it is still 42C (108F). I wasn't home for the peak, but it must've been 43 or 44C, really ridiculous temperatures at my place which is usually a couple of degrees cooler than the city on these sort of days. The next two days are predicted to be the same, some ferns are damaged already, and some leaves on my Monsteria have turned black, something I've never seen before. I'm yet to see any damage on any palms, but the worst is still to come it seems.

[Walter John]

Perfect here...................as usual..............sigh !

[Daryl]

Those hot days with full sun and low humidity do as much damage to some palms as a freeze. Time to spray a little Envy on them to give them a fighting chance.

Good luck with the weather, southerners, hopefully it doesn't get any hotter!

I am grateful we don't get those conditions very often here...humid 30C today...warm enough!

regards,

Daryl

[Tyrone]

Alan I've been watching Adelaide's weather and just reading it has made me feel hot. You had a min of 31.7C and by 9.30am you were at 40C. Melbourne started a little cooler and still topped out at 43C. What amazes me is the total lack of moisture in the air. Adelaide yesterday had a dewpoint of -12.7C. That would be enough to turn anything to a burnt crisp in seconds. All the best and if you have any water keep it up to the plants. I'd be doing anything to get the plants wet as.

Different story over in the west. The humidity has really kicked in. After a 22C min we got to 30C with dewpoints around 19-20C, and even some scattered rain in places. We're meant to have some early drizzle tomorrow and then get to a humid 29C. I'm loving it. We're back to 36C during next week for a while but still with dewpoints around 20C and a thunderstorm or two. It's a bit like Brisbane this weather. Real sweaty and sticky. Palms are going crazy.

Best regards

Tyrone

[ariscott]

Hot and humid here... again. The norm this time of the year... can't complain, as everything seems to grow. BTW, I remembered when I had that hot and dry day in the dry season (very uncommon...), so I can symphatise with people down in Melbourne and Adelaide. At least, we don't have water restriction, so I flooded everything...

Regards, Ari

[Miccles]

Have been in Indonesia the last week and will arrive home to Melbourne mid next week. Have been watching the temps on-line (gulp). Will be interesting to see how the garden looks.........

[aussiearoids]

Pouring rain , and a balmy 26 at the moment .

[simona]

I've been watching the serious fires near Melbourne on the news. Hope everyone is fine.

Best wishes.

[Daryl]

I see the overnight low temp in Adelaide last night was 34C (93F) and it is already 37.5C (99F) by 9am...that is real heatwave stuff!

And Melbourne is only 1 degree behind...

Daryl

[Tyrone]

Adelaide was 36C at 6am!!!!!!!! That's absolutely horrible weather. It makes Perth look like an ice box. I hope Adelaide and Melbourne get some nice soaking rain after this, or the odd thunderstorm or two.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Walter John]

just spoke to my sister in Melbourne. 46c late this afternoon. omg.

[tim_brissy_13]

Got to 47C (115F) yesterday in Avalon, between Melbourne and Geelong. Most suburbs got to 44C (110F), and it is already 39C (100F) today at 11am. Most ferns are damaged at least slightly, all Howeas are slightly burnt, as is a small Archontophoenix purpurea and a newly planted Hyophorbe indica. So far all Ceroxylons are holding up surprisingly well.

[chris.oz]

Hot, dry, 3 days of 43C plus, my garden is toast.

I watered for 2 hours on the first day, but it is the very very intense afternoon sun thats the problem.

Howeas showing some degree of burn. One hedy in the sun toasted.

Surprise, rhapis humilis seems OK with the heat, if not the direct sun.

Now Brahea armata..... its just loving it ! Its thrown 6 leaves this season. We are going to need more of that palm !

[tim_brissy_13]

Just hit 44C at home Chris, really ridiculous for Patterson Lakes on the canal, I could only guess that it must be 45 or 46 in the city, maybe a record will be broken today. Gotta love those B. armatas, the hotter it gets the faster mine grows and the bluer it gets. Linospadix monostachya really starting to struggle today, some D. baroniis are slightly burnt, as is my D. carlsmithii. Chambeyronia macrocarpa is easily my biggest success story. Second year in the ground getting most if not all of this burning sun and it is not burnt at all. It just about ready to open a new frond, but I hope it holds off a few days until this heatwave is over.

[happ]

Sorry to read of the intense heat in southern Australia esp the damage to palms. Hot & dry conditions occasionally occur in California also but heavy irrigation helps considerably. Sometimes I spray water right up onto the palm fronds esp at night & put fine spray sprinklers on several times a day. Good luck Could someone provide photos of damaged palms to help us understand extreme heat effect?

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Hot, dry, 3 days of 43C plus, my garden is toast.

I watered for 2 hours on the first day, but it is the very very intense afternoon sun thats the problem.

Howeas showing some degree of burn. One hedy in the sun toasted.

Surprise, rhapis humilis seems OK with the heat, if not the direct sun.

Now Brahea armata..... its just loving it ! Its thrown 6 leaves this season. We are going to need more of that palm !

Sorry to hear that about the hedy Chris . Has been around 30 here not so bad ,was 23 c last night very high for us !

[Jonathan]

Strangely enough Scamander on the East Coast got to 42.5C today - the highest temperature ever recorded in Tasmania. Hobart was 31, I think.

This is unusual because Hobart and the SE usually get the highest temps when we get towards 40 due to the air picking up heat again as it blows over the state with a northerly, but it was inverted today with Launceston recording its highest ever temperature of 39C.

I can remember it getting above 40 here a couple of times in my life - and its pretty nasty - don't know how you mainlanders cope! We are heading into a week of stable 24 - 26deg temps by the looks of it - very nice.

Good luck with your plants and lets all do a rain dance tonight at 9.00pm EST!

[aussiearoids]

Been pouring all day , roads are flooded , and the roof is now leaking in 3 spots .

A high of 28 and its now a brisk 24 .... ahhh Qld perfect one day , and perfect the next ..

seriously it never gets that hot along the coast here ...

[Tyrone]

42.5C in Tassie. What's the world coming too.

It got to a humid and cloudy 31C today. Real nice for palms. It's 10.30pm and it's a nice humid 25C with no breeze in the air.

Best regards

Tyrone

[chris.oz]

Its kind of analogous to the extreme low temperature events in the USA. Both destroy plant leaf tissue.

In our case, the summer had started very cloudy for weeks. Then we got this blast of 3 days of high temperature

and low humidity that fried many plants in my rainforest section. On successive days it was greater than 43 C.

Thats like Dubai !

Its a question now as to whether you re-build the rainforest planting that I had, or move to a more desert type planting.

Mind you the rainforest looked good for 7 summers. But this last summer is a debacle.

The palms that did not blink were Phoenix, Parajub, Brahea, but generally the sun was so intense and the air so dry that nothing much escaped.

Other plants that fried were Agave attenuata, Dicksonia........ they are history ! Most types of bromeliads that saw any sun.

I think I will have to move up to Michael Aussiearoids area if my desire to plant rainforest species has any chance of success.

[Tyrone]

Chris, I'm sorry to hear that you've taken so many losses. You've battled against the odds for so long, and you've done it with very strict water restrictions. Without water those sort of temps are nearly impossible to handle well.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Miccles]

I have had the good fortune to be able to meet Chris and see his garden. What is evident to me is the amount of effort and care he has put into his plantings, from the tiny seedlings on the garden table, to the butia and queens out the back past the pool. He's rightly proud of what he has achieved.

Mate - I really feel for you, and hope that you'll bounce back. I think palm growers are a tenacious bunch here in the southern states of Oz. It doesnt come easy, as its either too cool or too damned hot and dry!

Mind you, I may be writing "a post in mourning" in a few days time when I arrive back home to see how my yard has fared. It is a lot more open than Chris'

[chris.oz]

I have had the good fortune to be able to meet Chris and see his garden. What is evident to me is the amount of effort and care he has put into his plantings, from the tiny seedlings on the garden table, to the butia and queens out the back past the pool. He's rightly proud of what he has achieved.

Mate - I really feel for you, and hope that you'll bounce back. I think palm growers are a tenacious bunch here in the southern states of Oz. It doesnt come easy, as its either too cool or too damned hot and dry!

Mind you, I may be writing "a post in mourning" in a few days time when I arrive back home to see how my yard has fared. It is a lot more open than Chris'

Thanks for your comments Michael, It was extreme, so I hope your garden has not suffered too much !.

[ariscott]

The most ironic thing is that Darwin was the 'coolest' capital city in Australia a few days ago.... The good thing is that I think the worst is over for you guys...

Regards, Ari

[Tyrone]

Michael, I don't know if your area would have hit 40C being quite close to the bay. Melbourne city was forecast to be a good 5 or 6C hotter than your area. You can tell I've been using weatherzone.com.au can't you.

Hopefully your garden will only have minimal damage. Your foxtail will be loving the heat.

Best regards

Tyrone

[tim_brissy_13]

Usually that would be the case Tyrone, but on the day where Frankston was forecast to 'only' get to 38C my house got to 44C and stayed there for 3 hours.

Sorry to hear about your losses Chris, it is getting really hard to maintain the rainforest look in Melbourne these days. Were many of your Chamaedoreas damaged? I was surprised how well my tepejilotes coped.

[Miccles]

Yeah - I agree with Tim.... The bayside suburbs reorded far higher temps than they forecast. 38C would have been bad enough, but to get to 44C bayside ?? That's ludicrous.

Chris is as close, if not closer to the water than I am.......so I am not holding high hopes for any mercy from the week gone by. I guess I will know soon, as I get home in 36hrs...

[chris.oz]

Usually that would be the case Tyrone, but on the day where Frankston was forecast to 'only' get to 38C my house got to 44C and stayed there for 3 hours.

Sorry to hear about your losses Chris, it is getting really hard to maintain the rainforest look in Melbourne these days. Were many of your Chamaedoreas damaged? I was surprised how well my tepejilotes coped.

Hi Tim,

When I put in my rainforest garden in 2003, I could run the sprinker system for 10 minutes every night 7/365. Those days are gone.

Among the surprises..... now these really surprised me

Lytocaryum weddellianum x 2 in midday sun: No effect.

Chamedorea tepejilote in part shade. Slight burn. Otherwise fine.

Rhapis humilis midday sun no burn, slight premature yellowing of some lower leaves.

Rhapis humilis continues to surprise me. It actually loves sun. R. excelsa, by contrast will burn in our sun instantly.

CHRIS