For some, Florida drought is getting very "extreme"

[D. Morrowii]

9 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Thus far, just over 0.75 inches of rain overnight.  Would gladly take more since this time of year often turns the yard into a desert.

Not to shabby! Most of it is drying up by the time it gets over here unfortunately. 

[kinzyjr]

52 minutes ago, D. Morrowii said:

Not to shabby! Most of it is drying up by the time it gets over here unfortunately. 

Keep your fingers crossed.  ~50% for today and tomorrow.

[SubTropicRay]

A paltry .47" here after 2-3" were expected earlier this week.  It's dissapointing.

[D. Morrowii]

.20 here…

[flplantguy]

This latest line is no joke. I just got almost an inch and a half in 30 minutes and my shell driveway is scatttered about and eroded away. That never happened last year all year with the aborted rainy season, but this winter has acted like a cold version with a lot of rain and clouds. If your in the path today in tampa be aware.

[kinzyjr]

Just over 0.25 inches, but hoping for more the rest of tonight and tomorrow.

[SubTropicRay]

Got a VERY unexpected 1.50" of rain yesterday.  For once, the rainfall prediction center got it wrong.  

[flplantguy]

Slightly over 2.6 inches total, the highest single rain event total since fall 2022 with Nicole.  Im glad we left 2023 behind, crossing my fingers for it to keep up!  Going into spring any amount is welcome.

[SubTropicRay]

Just for the record 

[SubTropicRay]

Got an unexpected 1 inch of rain yesterday.  Now we're playing with house money 🙃

[kinzyjr]

Ended up getting an inch and a half of rain right before dark.  Perfect timing and a lot of help with the new plantings.

[D. Morrowii]

Just under 1/2 here, I’ll take it!

[SubTropicRay]

[Jimbean]

I had less than a tenth of an inch yesterday

[kinzyjr]

9 hours ago, Jimbean said:

I had less than a tenth of an inch yesterday

Seems like the trend has reversed, with the Atlantic side drier than the gulf coast now.

[SubTropicRay]

Not sure how a 20 inch + (500 mm) rain deficit has been erased by the modest El Niño rains but we're officially off the drought index.  We'll keep tracking because barely off means the dry season could put us right back on.

 

[kinzyjr]

6 hours ago, SubTropicRay said:

Not sure how a 20 inch + (500 mm) rain deficit has been erased by the modest El Niño rains but we're officially off the drought index.  We'll keep tracking because barely off means the dry season could put us right back on.

Got ~half an inch of rain today.  That should help as we coast toward summer.

[SubTropicRay]

.75" of unexpected rain today.  I'll take it. 😲

[flplantguy]

My new drain pipe worked perfectly. Got an inch of intense rainfall and no erosion so a good rain event for me and no damage.  In april too so thats nice.

[SubTropicRay]

What the .......?  This area got at least 1000 inches of rain last year 🙃

 

[Looking Glass]

Here it’s dry as a bone.  Grass is drying up despite frequent irrigation.  Some palms are not thrilled.  I just hand watered all the palms deeply, and am right now running irrigation over that.  Super dry sand all the way down here.   We need a decent soak pretty bad.  Water bill ain’t gonna be pretty this month, and nothing on the horizon for now.  

I call this time of year, “The Starving Time”.  Usually around now I start wishing I planted more Caribbean/Cuban and native palms as they tolerate the dry spells well.  

[flplantguy]

Theres our awful soil moisture retention showing up.  The state would be very different with clay soil, everyone would still be swimming there!  Looks like the pattern switched but with april and spring in full swing hopefully the subtle signs of rainy season will be showing up soon.  My yard is green for the first time all last year from this past winter, and i have good new growth on the trees that never grew last year with the drought. I thought i would lose things that now are pushing almost a foot of new tip growth.

[kinzyjr]

It looks like there is some chance of rain near @flplantguy and my location, a little less chance for @SubTropicRay, and nothing but hot sun for @Looking Glass in the forecast for Monday. 

Lakeland (KLAL):

Brooksville (KBKV):

South Tampa (KTPF):

Ft. Lauderdale (KFLL):

The top couple inches of soil here are a bit dry where exposed, but a few inches down there is moisture available for the plants.  The photo below is of some soil from an area I de-sodded as part of a regrade project last weekend.  Notice the top is bone dry, but turning it over with a rake shows there is still moisture present:

 

 

[SubTropicRay]

Nada except for what came from the hose this weekend.  I was surprised at how dry things are despite me staying on the watering drill.  The lower humidity feels great but can be lethal for the plants when it gets warm.  

[D. Morrowii]

Same here looked like we might get some but no luck that round. The water bill is ticking up! 

[Looking Glass]

Please let us catch some of the West to East shotgun blast of showers today.  Nothing makes things yellow like irrigating every other day with pH=9 South Florida municipal water, combined with the deep, down dryness.  
 

[kinzyjr]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:06 AM, Looking Glass said:

I call this time of year, “The Starving Time”.  Usually around now I start wishing I planted more Caribbean/Cuban and native palms as they tolerate the dry spells well.  

That's a good way to put it!  Any scrap of liquid you can glean out of the sky between now and rainy season helps.  Nothing showing on the long range forecast as far as serious rain chances.  The cool front managed to drop just enough water to put leopard spots on the car - nothing impactful as far as the garden goes.  Did you ever get any showers down there?

[Looking Glass]

15 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

That's a good way to put it!  Any scrap of liquid you can glean out of the sky between now and rainy season helps.  Nothing showing on the long range forecast as far as serious rain chances.  The cool front managed to drop just enough water to put leopard spots on the car - nothing impactful as far as the garden goes.  Did you ever get any showers down there?

It didn’t materialize yesterday here.  We got a brief shower, not enough to make a puddle.   Woke up to the lawn all shriveled up begging for a drink, which I had to provide.  

[Palmarum]

On 4/22/2024 at 9:57 AM, Looking Glass said:

Please let us catch some of the West to East shotgun blast of showers today.  ... 

I got lucky. I caught a good 20-minute downpour as that mass moved to the east. Enough to keep things moist until about noon today. 

Ryan

[SubTropicRay]

It's April so no big surprises but things are getting pretty parched on the west central coast.  While I'm enjoying the extended spring and not having touched 90F yet, the lower humidity is drying the soil quickly.

[Palmarum]

4 hours ago, SubTropicRay said:

It's April so no big surprises but things are getting pretty parched on the west central coast.  While I'm enjoying the extended spring and not having touched 90F yet, the lower humidity is drying the soil quickly.

The low humidity with the dry heat and a constant breeze is good for people, but it's the worst combination for containerized tropical plants. I can watch the trifecta at work browning leaf tips. I have had to water seedlings constantly, just to watch the water evaporate in front of my eyes. 

Ryan

[SubTropicRay]

And it took less than a couple of weeks (my April 11th post) for my prediction to come true.....

[D. Morrowii]

Great now you got me in it! 🙂

[flplantguy]

I have started hand watering a few native plants in the yard, it turns out i have a native threatened species growing in the sand from the dusturbance from building.  Only in the back where no soil was moved or added, about 8 individuals of gulf coast lupine are popping up. Really neat fuzzy greyish paddle like leaves and the flowers in photos look showy.  I would love to get a good colony going and maybe give some to others that can sustain them.  Those are added to the others getting water every afternoon after work, growth is speeding up rapidly and they appreciate the attention.  I really hope we have a good rainy season with sea breeze storms and random pop ups, and not the other way we all dread.

[Looking Glass]

29 minutes ago, flplantguy said:

I have started hand watering a few native plants in the yard, it turns out i have a native threatened species growing in the sand from the dusturbance from building.  Only in the back where no soil was moved or added, about 8 individuals of gulf coast lupine are popping up. Really neat fuzzy greyish paddle like leaves and the flowers in photos look showy.  I would love to get a good colony going and maybe give some to others that can sustain them.  Those are added to the others getting water every afternoon after work, growth is speeding up rapidly and they appreciate the attention.  I really hope we have a good rainy season with sea breeze storms and random pop ups, and not the other way we all dread.

I just looked this up.  Cool plant.  Get those seeding.  

[Jimbean]

The occasional rain from the Ocean 

[Eric in Orlando]

On 4/25/2024 at 9:11 PM, flplantguy said:

I have started hand watering a few native plants in the yard, it turns out i have a native threatened species growing in the sand from the dusturbance from building.  Only in the back where no soil was moved or added, about 8 individuals of gulf coast lupine are popping up. Really neat fuzzy greyish paddle like leaves and the flowers in photos look showy.  I would love to get a good colony going and maybe give some to others that can sustain them.  Those are added to the others getting water every afternoon after work, growth is speeding up rapidly and they appreciate the attention.  I really hope we have a good rainy season with sea breeze storms and random pop ups, and not the other way we all dread.

WOW, that is awesome you have native Lupines coming up in your yard! Don't try to transplant them, they absolutely hate any root disturbance.

I'm jealous!

 

 

[flplantguy]

2 hours ago, Eric in Orlando said:

WOW, that is awesome you have native Lupines coming up in your yard! Don't try to transplant them, they absolutely hate any root disturbance.

I'm jealous!

 

 

I did hefty research before i went out to look at them and i think they are the Central Florida type population (Lupinus westianus var. aridorum). I cant wait for flowers and seeds, i found another big one this weekend pulling weeds (i have to crawl to do it so it so i can keep a close eye and im glad i did) and a few more seedlings.  Now the challenge is not trying to take care of them too much lol.  I will try to get some seeds saved to bring to places with the appropriate sand gardens that don't have any now.  Of all the discoveries in the yard this one im the most excited about for some reason.

[Silas_Sancona]

On 4/25/2024 at 6:11 PM, flplantguy said:

I have started hand watering a few native plants in the yard, it turns out i have a native threatened species growing in the sand from the dusturbance from building.  Only in the back where no soil was moved or added, about 8 individuals of gulf coast lupine are popping up. Really neat fuzzy greyish paddle like leaves and the flowers in photos look showy.  I would love to get a good colony going and maybe give some to others that can sustain them.  Those are added to the others getting water every afternoon after work, growth is speeding up rapidly and they appreciate the attention.  I really hope we have a good rainy season with sea breeze storms and random pop ups, and not the other way we all dread.

Interested in seeing pictures of the plants, esp. when they flower .. Curious to see if they're legit  L. westianus  which has no current observations from that part of FL., or one of the two sps, L. diffusus, and L. pilosior  that are documented from that area / have seen w/ my own eyes in your general area..  Neat plants regardless.













Most folks not already familiar w/ " Eastern " Lupinus sps  would easily confuse them w/ Thermopsis.

[flplantguy]

I will upload a closeup of one later and again when it blooms so it can be IDed correctly.  Seeing your attachments i think its pilosior which would make sense.  I did not find that as an option when i looked the first time but it is the local speices and fits the description better in form.