Summer time south of the equator

[peachy]

I guess I should know, but I dont. Please can somebody enlighten me. What on earth is fakey ?

Peachy

[BS Man about Palms]

I guess I should know, but I dont. Please can somebody enlighten me. What on earth is fakey ?

Peachy

The Dypsis "fine leaf"/ "fakey ambositrae" is now known officially as "Dypsis plumosa", Peachy.

[peachy]

Thank you for that. I have a few of those planted here. Not particularly plumose though. So now I only have to be baffled over my D. ambositrae and my D. ambositrae sp wild form

Peachy

[Miccles]

I think I hate the name more because of Michael... Ask him why next time you talk to him, Tyrone.... Mine are doing very well... maybe time to update the photos soon.

Regards, Ari

[Tyrone]

38C today. The stupid dry wind has been blowing all night. It's supposed to ease off so we get a nice humid seabreeze this arvo. I'm sick of the dry air. A sea fog would be a nice pleasant change. One that makes all the leaves drip with condensation. I know I'm asking for too much.

Best regards

Tyrone

[ariscott]

People are never happy, Tyrone... I can't believe it myself, but I am hoping for it to stop raining for the afternoon. So, things can dry out a little bit!!! It is WAY too wet at the moment....

Regards, Ari

[Tyrone]

Well after a dry hot few days, the wind has dropped out and we've got identical temps and humidity to Brisbane at 10.30pm. It's 23.3C 75% RH and 19C dewpoint, and dead still. Just the way I like it.

We're going for a 22C min and a humid 33C tomorrow. The palms will grow well tonight.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Tyrone]

It peaked at 81% RH around midnight and then the wind went from a westerly to an easterly and the RH plummeted down to 50%. DP peaked just above 19C. Min was 22C, and hopefully it will be a nice humid day when the seabreeze kicks in.

[Daryl]

Perfect palm growing weather here lately, with high humidity, plenty of showers and warm temperatures. The dewpoint has only dipped below 20C once in the last couple of days, and has been 21-23.5C most of the time...not like Darwin, but humid enough, and the palms are loving it! Looks like the next week will be just as sweet, with nice, even temperatures.

I hope those in Florida and the eastern US don't suffer too much from the cold...all of us outside of the tropics suffer from these events occasionally, just to remind us mother nature is boss!

Forecast for Friday

A few showers, possible local thunder. Light to moderate E to SE winds.

Precis: A few showers, local thunder.

City: Min 22 Max 29

Bayside: Min 22 Max 28

UV Alert: 7:40 am to 4:00 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 13 [Extreme]

Saturday Mostly fine. Min 21 Max 30

Sunday Mostly fine. Min 21 Max 31

Monday Fine. Min 21 Max 31

Tuesday Fine. Min 22 Max 32

Wednesday Fine. Min 22 Max 32

Thursday Mostly fine. Min 22 Max 31

[Tyrone]

You've gotta love Queensland.

That sounds like some sort of Queensland tourism advertising slogan.

[ariscott]

After a week of NO SUN... (we even have to turn the booster on for our solar water heater... ), today we can see SOME SUN!!! I can imagine, the plants will go WOO and the weed will go YEAH... Hopefully things will dry out for a bit before the next monsoon trough... although the humidity is still 99%...

Mowing time, again... I can tell

Regards, Ari

[Daryl]

After a week of NO SUN... (we even have to turn the booster on for our solar water heater... ), today we can see SOME SUN!!! I can imagine, the plants will go WOO and the weed will go YEAH... Hopefully things will dry out for a bit before the next monsoon trough... although the humidity is still 99%...

Mowing time, again... I can tell

Regards, Ari

Ari, it looks humid up there!

Here are the readings for Cape Don...those dewpoints are staying up!

Date/Time Temp App Temp Dewpoint Rel Hum

08/09:30am 29.8 33.5 27.2 86

08/09:00am 29.7 34.7 27.7 89

08/08:30am 29.6 34.7 27.8 90

08/07:30am 29.6 33.3 27.2 87

07/08:30pm 29.3 35.7 28.0 93

07/07:30pm 29.2 33.9 27.2 89

07/06:30pm 29.2 33.8 26.0 83

07/06:00pm 28.8 33.9 25.6 83

07/05:30pm 29.0 33.9 25.8 83

07/04:30pm 28.7 32.6 26.1 86

07/03:30pm 28.4 30.6 26.0 87

07/03:00pm 30.3 34.8 27.7 86

07/02:30pm 30.2 34.6 27.6 86

07/01:30pm 29.8 34.2 27.4 87

07/12:30pm 30.0 34.3 27.2 85

07/12:00pm 29.9 34.8 27.5 87

07/11:30am 30.1 34.3 27.3 85

07/10:30am 29.9 34.1 27.3 86

07/09:30am 29.8 33.5 27.2 86

07/09:00am 29.7 33.5 27.3 87

07/08:30am 29.7 33.0 27.1 86

07/07:30am 29.6 34.3 28.0 91

07/06:30am 29.4 34.0 27.6 90

07/06:00am 29.3 33.8 27.7 91

07/05:30am 29.3 33.6 27.5 90

07/04:30am 28.3 33.4 27.2 94

07/03:30am 28.6 32.2 27.0 91

07/03:00am 28.8 31.9 27.4 92

07/02:30am 29.0 32.3 27.2 90

07/01:30am 29.0 33.1 27.7 93

07/12:30am 28.8 33.4 27.6 93

07/12:00am 28.5 34.0 27.8 96

06/11:30pm 27.9 31.7 26.7 93

06/10:30pm 28.8 32.9 25.8 84

06/09:30pm 29.7 33.9 27.3 87

06/09:00pm 29.7 34.4 27.7 89

06/08:30pm 29.5 34.5 27.7 90

06/07:30pm 29.6 33.6 27.0 86

06/06:30pm 29.8 33.8 27.0 85

06/06:00pm 29.9 34.4 27.7 88

06/05:30pm 29.9 33.7 27.3 86

06/04:30pm 30.3 34.0 27.1 83

06/03:30pm 30.6 34.1 27.4 83

06/03:00pm 30.6 33.9 27.2 82

06/02:30pm 30.5 33.8 27.1 82

06/01:30pm 30.3 33.9 27.5 85

06/12:30pm 30.5 33.9 27.3 83

06/12:00pm 30.3 34.2 26.9 82

06/11:30am 30.7 34.7 27.1 81

06/10:30am 30.5 33.2 26.2 78

06/09:30am 29.5 32.0 25.9 81

06/09:00am 28.3 31.2 25.9 87

06/08:30am 27.5 30.8 27.2 98

06/07:40am 27.6 29.7 26.5 94

06/06:00am 27.1 30.9 26.8 98

06/03:00am 29.4 31.7 25.6 80

06/12:00am 29.0 33.0 27.0 89

05/10:30pm 29.9 32.9 26.7 83

05/09:30pm 29.9 32.4 26.5 82

05/09:00pm 29.9 32.4 26.5 82

05/08:30pm 29.7 32.7 26.7 84

05/07:30pm 29.6 32.2 26.6 84

05/06:30pm 29.8 33 27.0 85

05/06:00pm 29.9 32.7 26.9 84

05/05:30pm 30.0 32.1 27.0 84

05/04:31pm 29.6 31.9 27.4 88

05/04:30pm 29.5 31.9 27.5 89

05/03:30pm 30.6 32.9 27.4 83

05/03:00pm 28.3 29.5 26.5 90

05/02:30pm 30.6 32.1 27.6 84

05/01:47pm 30.2 33.1 27.6 86

05/01:30pm 29.0 29.3 26.4 86

05/01:29pm 29.2 28.6 26.2 84

05/12:48pm 30.1 32.4 27.3 85

05/12:30pm 29.8 32.3 27.6 88

05/12:00pm 29.4 33.6 29.4 100

05/11:30am 31.2 34.3 29.0 88

05/10:53am 30.1 31.1 26.0 78

05/10:30am 29.9 30.5 25.4 77

[Tyrone]

Hot and dry here. DP's not so bad. Around 14C-18C depending on where you are. 33C today.

I see Cape Don's RH dropped to 77%. Quick turn the reticulation on.

[ariscott]

Missed out on a couple of storm today... one to the north and one to the south . But, it is probably better since things do need to dry out a little before the next big thing. They are talking about more stuff coming next week about Wednesday...

Well, at least I could get my washing done and take photos around the garden...

Regards, Ari

[Tyrone]

The heat goes on over here. A bit of a cooler change on Sunday Monday. Tomorrow will be great 19-32C and humid. It's been humid the last couple of days too. The palms are growing like mad.

Forecast for Saturday

A sunny and humid day. Light E'ly winds shifting moderate to fresh W/SW'ly by

late morning.

Precis: Sunny. Humid.

City: Min 19 Max 32

Mandurah: Min 21 Max 30

UV Alert: 8:10 am to 4:40 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 13 [Extreme]

Fire Danger: Coastal Plain: HIGH

Hills: HIGH

Sunday Morning cloud. Min 16 Max 29

Monday Mostly sunny. Min 15 Max 27

Tuesday Sunny. Min 15 Max 31

Wednesday Sunny. Min 18 Max 37

Thursday Sunny. Min 20 Max 37

Friday Sunny. Min 21 Max 35

[Miccles]

Hot dry day yesterday, but towards dusk the clouds rolled in. The result was a humid night.....with the cicada's going mad.

Today is cloudless, very warm, but the sea breeze helps.

Next few days in Melbourne: 34C, 33C, 41C. I feel the hottest weather is yet to arrive... that's usually last week of January through February.

Providing I can keep the water up to them, the palms are roaring along...the 9' tall queens are growing over 1" per night at the moment.

If any Americans/Europeans wish to come over and help me water through summer - please let me know!

Regards

Michael.

[ariscott]

We must've got your weather forecast in one of the TV, Michael... because it was in the 20's and all of a sudden, you get this high 30's and 41deg days... I said to Scott, there was no way it was Darwin... as it was supposed to be sunny . Anyway, I hope everything will be ok with the hot day without humidity... if my memory serves me correctly, it was pretty awful!!

Regards, Ari

[Miccles]

Nasy nasty weather forecast for Victoria tomorrow:

"Extreme Fire Danger [75-99] is forecast for the following Victorian districts:

Mallee, North Central, Central, Western

Maximum temperatures around 44 deg C, relative humidity down to 8% and winds

averaging 45 km/h are expected. CFA and DSE advise that some fires will be

unpredictable, uncontrollable and fast moving."

Not good at all...

Regards

Michael.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

yuck

we are going to be 36c down here !

[Miccles]

It isn't just the effects of cold weather than some palms need to be protected from........

With the advent of 40C+ temps tomorrow, coupled with hot drying winds, I have decided to be proactive.

The memories of the blistering heat of last February are still fresh in my mind, and many of my palms still bear the scars of the 4 day frying they received then. Many were lucky to live. Some didn't....but compared to others, I was lucky.

As such, I have tried to cover some of the palms that would fare worst.

1. Small Pritchardia Hillebrandii.... this was knocked around last February, so I didn't wan't to put him through it again....

Edited January 10, 2010 by Miccles

[Miccles]

And totally covered now.

[Miccles]

Along the side of my house I have a decent sized Cyphophoenix Nucele and Laccospadix Australasica.... the C.Nucele was burning a little from the morning sun it had taken this summer already......and I don't want it looking ugly.

[Miccles]

And here they are....hopefully protected ! (L.Australasica in foreground).....

(In the background you can see a little Hedyscepe with a workbench over him.......... and a very crisped Euterpe Edulis......this Euterpe only gets sun from 8am-midday...... but it is enough to really knock it around in its 1st year. There is a little Euterpe next to it {out of shot} which was badly burnt last summer, but takes the sun like a champ this year)

[Miccles]

And finally, my little Gaussia Maya seedling.......... only gets early morning and late afternoon sun...but hey...I'm not taking any chances.

[Miccles]

All covered........

So whilst those in Florida are shielding their palms from the ravages of Mother Nature and keeping a close eye on the temperature, I hope it brings some comfort - that on the other side of the globe, a fellow palm-nut is doing exactly the same thing !!!

Regards

Michael.

[amazondk]

Nasy nasty weather forecast for Victoria tomorrow:

"Extreme Fire Danger [75-99] is forecast for the following Victorian districts:

Mallee, North Central, Central, Western

Maximum temperatures around 44 deg C, relative humidity down to 8% and winds

averaging 45 km/h are expected. CFA and DSE advise that some fires will be

unpredictable, uncontrollable and fast moving."

Not good at all...

Regards

Michael.

Michael,

That is way too hot and dry.

dk

[Miccles]

[ariscott]

Good luck, Michael...

Regards, Ari

[Tyrone]

I hope all goes well for you Michael. Hopefully you can keep the water up to things. Those sheets are going to help a lot.

We're in a cool spell tomorrow going down to 24C, but we're back into the 30's again on Tuesday gradually getting hotter until Sat 39C and Sun 42C. We're averaging 18.3C to 33.5C for Jan so far. It's been hot.

It's ironic that Florida is covering everything from the cold, and you're covering everything from the heat. Why can't it be somewhere in the middle for all of us?

Best regards

Tyrone

[ariscott]

It has been very nice on the weekend... 82mm on Saturday and 58mm yesterday. I wasn't trying to rub it in... . Just grateful...

Unfortunately, the drain collapse on Saturday, so we ended up spending yesterday fixing it all up, just in time for the 58mm storm.

Regards, Ari

[Tyrone]

Here comes some blazing consistent heat.

UV Alert: 8:20 am to 4:20 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 11 [Extreme]

Fire Danger: Coastal Plain: HIGH

Hills: HIGH

Wednesday Sunny. Min 15 Max 35

Thursday Sunny. Min 19 Max 35

Friday Sunny. Min 18 Max 33

Saturday Very hot. Sunny. Min 19 Max 39

Sunday Very hot. Sunny. Min 21 Max 42

Monday Late change. Min 23 Max 37

Best regards

Tyrone

[Tyrone]

How did your garden go today in the mid 40's Michael? Did everything breeze through with your covers?

Best regards

Tyrone

[Miccles]

How did your garden go today in the mid 40's Michael? Did everything breeze through with your covers?

Best regards

Tyrone

Hi Tyrone....... yes... it was a nasty nasty day.... I watered everything thoroughly the night before and also yesterday morning. I got home to see all my 3' Cordylines colourless and melted.....

My Brahea's, Sabals, Livistona Mariae and Foxtails loved it though.

What amazed me was my decent sized Listona Australis (4' tall) had some damaged leaves.... it will sail through no probs, but I was surprised it was damaged, particularly as it has been through this sort of thing before. My big Livistona Chinensis looks VERY dry and some of the older leaves are a "cooked olive/brown" colour.... but again, should be ok after the huke soakings I gave it.My decent sized R.Rivularis took a hit, just like last Feb...so now it has burnt leaves from two harsh summers.... on some trees you can tell their age by counting the rings on the cut trunk. You can count the age of some of my palms my counting the layers of burnt leaves....

The shadecloth worked amazingly well.....the C.Nucele and L.Australasica were totally unfazed, as was the P.Hillebrandii and the little G.Maya I covered with a towel.......I reckon I saved it's life by doing that. The auto timer for the watering system in the backyard worked well...no damage to report there.

I am heading off to Jakarta in a few days time...luckily the forecast is for 20-28C for most of while I am away....hope it stays that way. I hate going away at this time of year because of the chance of weather like yesterday.

Regards

Michael

[Tyrone]

Glad to hear that most things did OK.

Were they Cordyline australis that burnt badly. Burgundy Spire and Red Fountain are the ones which hold there colour in fullsun and extreme heat here.

It sounds like you're better set up for this kind of event now.

Were going for some hot weather from Sat on. 39 Sat, 42 Sun, 40 Mon, 37 Tue.

Is rain on the way for you.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Miccles]

No rain forecast until Sunday/Monday....weatherzone is saying a 30% chance of 10-20mm here on Monday...no doubt that will change to 1-5mm by Sunday evening...(typical)

The Cordylines that burnt were "Electric pink" and "Choc Mint"...two newer lines...with striking 2-tone colour.....

Really hanging out for a decent summer storm... the cool change that has come through now has brought no rain with it.

Regards

Michael.

Edited January 12, 2010 by Miccles

[Tyrone]

No rain forecast until Sunday/Monday....weatherzone is saying a 30% chance of 10-20mm here on Monday...no doubt that will change to 1-5mm by Sunday evening...(typical)

The Cordylines that burnt were "Electric pink" and "Choc Mint"...two newer lines...with striking 2-tone colour.....

Really hanging out for a decent summer storm... the cool change that has come through now has brought no rain with it.

Regards

Michael.

Electric Pink is really a part shade one in Perth. They turn whitish in extreme heat.

We haven't had rain since Nov 20. A nice big storm with 20mm of rain would be awesome at the moment.

I hope you get some rain and get some runoff into your tanks.

Best regards

Tyrone

[ariscott]

Not a good day yesterday... Palmerston got 70mm and we got 11.7mm??? Oh well, at least it is still wet and I don't have to water...

Monsoon trough is here, very weak though... I hope we get some more today...

Regards, Ari

[peachy]

The week of rain we had may not as well have happened, the ground has cracked open again and I have lost more plants in the last week than I did in the heat wave before exmouse. My 2.30 metre Clinostigma samoense has burnt a bit, most of the others look okay still. I had to spend a few days in bed thanks to the damned MS and my spine working in tandem to put me on the deck. Even the sabals wilted in those few days......unreal. Neighbourhood cats have been coming in at night and trying to murder each other. Last night they knocked a plant stand flying and smashed my beloved little lepidorrhacis, which has bravely survived all the heat too. I could have spat. But being a lady I only turned the air blue with feline oriented adjectives. I am going to rent some trap cages next week and take any I catch to the pound. Enough is enough. I think the heat has taken out my Calyptrocalyx pauciflorus too that took me ages to find. At least we can use the sprinklers at night now which is a real boon. All the germinated seeds I potted up survived amazingly, didnt lose any. In fact some of them have quadrupled in height in the last couple of weeks. Had a bit of strong winds some days and I have big fronds from the queens and the royals all over the driveway that I am still too feeble to budge. (and the wedding is now definately off so I get no more help from that quarter) This morning I woke up to find that Ralf has pierced his eye and he is in hospital after having emergency surgery today. Its horrible having one of my babies in pain. He should be able to come home tomorrow if all is well. The vet wasnt sure who was the patient, the poor little fluffy or the hysterical old bat !! Desperately need rain soon but the forecasts have not been very promising.

Peachy

[BS Man about Palms]

Peachy, Hope you fare OK. You seem to lead the life of a TV show!

[Tyrone]

Peachy, hang in there. I know a few people with MS and the heat can be too much to take sometimes. Just do what you can.

I've been doing work on a clients reticulation and had to dig the entire mainline up by hand (30m) which was in solid clay. I thought about you digging that trench, because you're always talking about your rock hard ground. I needed a mattock which put lovely big holes down the pipe, and I'm still stuffed. In the end we got a small excavator in and it was tilting at a 45 degree angle because the ground was so hard. I don't know how you manage a garden in clay like you do. Give me sand any day. At least with sand the holes drain away quick when the pipe bursts.

Here's our forecast.

Forecast for Thursday

A sunny day. Light to moderate E/NE winds becoming fresh S/SW'ly in the

afternoon.

Precis: Sunny.

City: Max 35

Mandurah: Max 31

UV Alert: 8:20 am to 4:30 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 12 [Extreme]

Fire Danger: Coastal Plain: VERY HIGH

Hills: VERY HIGH

Friday Sunny. Min 18 Max 33

Saturday Sunny. Windy morning. Min 17 Max 39

Sunday Sunny. Very hot. Min 20 Max 42

Monday Partly cloudy. Min 24 Max 37

Tuesday Partly cloudy. Min 19 Max 30

Wednesday Sunny. Min 17 Max 32

Best regards

Tyrone