Drought - Hah

[bentalphanerd]

Ok I know I shouldn't complain...but is it ever going to stop raining?
I lost about 2 kg of ripe Siam this week & about 1/2 kg of Habs over the last few weeks. The just turned soggy & brown on the plant...some of the habs look like they exploded.
The last 2 days i've had earthworms evacuating out of the sodden yard & trying to get in the house...what the hell is that :shocked:

I know we need it, the dams are still only up to 25% full, but hey when you start losing peppers it's gone too far.

[AlabamaJack]

That's what happened to me last year Bent...we got the 5th highest all time rainfall record since they have been keeping records...over 50"...and that is a lot here in North Texas

[cheezydemon]

WOW. We have had the worst 2 years for a lack of rain out of the last 3 years. Great for peppers, Hell on everything else.

Real climate change will manifest itself when the native grasses and other plants can no longer survive, and more southerly varieties migrate in. I just can't wait to live on the coast without ever moving! (lol)

[bentalphanerd]

We were in real danger of having to truck in water for the whole city a few months ago. Our dams were built to save us from the regular floods rather than drought. The last few weeks has helped a lot but severe water restrictions still apply.
Still I have managed to get 5 or 6 kilos of nice pods so far, if we get a few weeks of nice warm weather I'll double that before it cools off & everything goes dormant.
Those earthworms have got me spooked though.

[AlabamaJack]

I don't know much about Australia, but it seems Fort Worth (and Texas in general) is similar. There are zero naturally occuring lakes (large) totally in Texas. The only one that is natural is Caddo lake on the Texas/Louisiana line. All our water supply comes from either wells or Corps of Engineer lakes. I have been here for 19 years and have seen the swings both ways from water over the spillways to lakes 8-9 meters low. All teh lakes are at full pool right now...or close to it...

[wordwiz]

It's a build-up to 12/21/12!

Cincy had like the third driest summer on record in 07, as well as the secopnd or third hottest summer.

Just wait until the Milky Way's black hole, sun and earth all align.

(Disclaimer - this idea is science [fiction?]based on Mayan and Chinese calendars and other things that may or may not be realistic.)

Mike

[AlabamaJack]

Well, I have lived a good life and am happy as a camper...

[rainbowberry]

Two weeks ago if I wanted to use the main road to get out of the village I'd of had to swum it.

[stillmanz]

Its been hammering down all day here... the garden is a disgrace... Its alive and doing well but theres weeds and plants have fallen over and need to be staked theres a garden bed that needs to be turned and some devils tongues need to go in tommorrow ... and I don't want to go near it.
Too humid and I'm gettin lazier and lazier...
out source out source out source ....
All my friends grow my chillis now
lol

Mick

[tony05]

raining here too.

So much the water is welling up on my neighbours fence and washing mud into my pool......again!

i dont have chillis rotting from warer but i do have chocolate habanero eating lady bugs!!!!! I found one all eaten on the side and went looking for the culprit. I cought it in the act on a half grown pod. I squuzed it gently and let it die slow. I then steakes it on a toothpic to ward off any other hungry laydbeetles.

My wite told me i would have bad luck...... i said.... not me, just the ladybugs!!!!

Hopefully the rain will clear up and only come dowm over the dams where we all need it!

cheers

PS.... if i ever get my hands on the Elnino fella ....!

[stillmanz]

or his girl friend lanina

[bentalphanerd]

tony05 are you sure that ladybug wasn't eating the critter that was eating your plants....they're good for that.

Had some pictures on the news from the other side of my suburb :shocked: Say it's going to rain all night and tomorrow.

o.k torch, mobile phone, beer, cajohns 10...im set :D

[bentalphanerd]

Just remembering that one of the THP members who lives out here 'BobsYourUncle' predicted months ago that the drought would break over christmas.
Bobs, if you're out there...get a lotto ticket in mate ;)

[chilehunter]

its good to hear you aussies are getting the well needed rain, & not so good news about the chile crop being affected by too much rain. but in your predicament I'd say bring more rain & just move the chiles inside until the rainy days are over, thats if you have them in containers.


in my area we get rain springtime, then summer is hot & dry with not much rain, then fall we get the rain. seems like this for several years now, we get the rain to late to help out the crops (farmers) then the rain comes to late but the weathermen would say something like well our totals of rain for the season so far are normal :rolleyes:

I'd never move away from this area (around the great lakes) water is the source of life. being from the state of 10,000 lakes, water is not hard to find here :lol:


wordwiz - whats the deal with 12/21/12 is that when life on earth will no longer exsist ?

[ring sting]

For the non-Aussies, it is worth remembering that our country is similar in size to the continental USA or Canada. Whilst we are lucky that it is raining here in coastal Queensland (none of it in the greater Brisbane water storage catchment), much of the country is still (ahem, excuse the term) rooted.

That said, I'm glad my tank's full, the yard has some green stuff growing out of the dirt ( i think it's weeds, not lawn)



I lost about 2 kg of ripe Siam this week & about 1/2 kg of Habs over the last few weeks. The just turned soggy & brown on the plant...some of the habs look like they exploded.

Bent, (please excuse my ignorance)
Is this from the humidity, the plants sucked up too much moisture, or from heavy rain drops? Would moving them out of the rain (if potted) have helped?

[Omri]

Gah, sounds awful.
The last few days were kinda dry, and I like it. a lot of place nearby are actually covered with snow, so I consider myself lucky.

[wordwiz]

chilihunter,

On December 21, 2012, the earth, sun and a black hole are supposed to align. According to the ancient Mayans, chinese and several prognosticators, including Nostradomus, this will mean the end of the world. Supposedly, the gravitation pull will be reversed, causing the earth to spin on its axis. The poles become the equator and the equator the poles. This owuld lead to massive flooding, drought, freezing, thawing, etc.

Not that I believe it, but I may wait until the 22nd to do my Christmas shopping or pay bills that are due on the 21st!

Mike

[chilehunter]

oh, but it'll all be ok because the moon wasnt aligned with it all :lol:
I'd fear a comet or meteorite hitting earth more than that theory, but then I'd be on the equator & could grow some great chiles :lol:

[GrumpyBear]

chilihunter,

On December 21, 2012, the earth, sun and a black hole are supposed to align. According to the ancient Mayans, chinese and several prognosticators, including Nostradomus, this will mean the end of the world. Supposedly, the gravitation pull will be reversed, causing the earth to spin on its axis. The poles become the equator and the equator the poles. This owuld lead to massive flooding, drought, freezing, thawing, etc.

Not that I believe it, but I may wait until the 22nd to do my Christmas shopping or pay bills that are due on the 21st!

Mike

sweet, i won't have to pay off my student loan...

[BobsYourUncle]

Just remembering that one of the THP members who lives out here 'BobsYourUncle' predicted months ago that the drought would break over christmas.
Bobs, if you're out there...get a lotto ticket in mate ;)

To be fair, it's not broken yet... although things are looking alright at the moment.

I know I haven't been around much lately, I've been spending a fair amount of time down on the Gold Coast (you think it's been raining where you are? It's been crazy down there). Uni has been keeping me busy too the last few weeks, no undergrads just means I actually have to do my work instead of theirs ;)

[bentalphanerd]

that Hinze dam never even looked like going dry...thats why they're putting a pipe through now.
Haven't had any rain here for 4 hours and when I walk in the yard water seeps up around my feet. Looks like all the new drainage is working that they put in around here. Can still walk in the park down the road where the rest of my suburb used to be before the '74 floods.

[tony05]

Ahhhh the lady bug eating the chilli eating critters!

Good theory... i waways cought ladybugs and let them go. I found it on my chilli and picked ot off and the hole in the pod was directly under its mouth. It was chowing down on nothing other than a half grown chocolate habanero so it died a suitable death!

I now exterminate them on sight.

Still raining here........ i have pumped my pool out twice so far and there is 4 inched forcast for tomorrow. Ive tipped 2 inches out of the rain guage yesterday and 3 inches today. All the plants in pots have been put in a rain shelteres spot to let them dry out a bit.

cheers

[POTAWIE]

You must have weird Aussie ladybugs if they are eating your pods.

[cheezydemon]

Two weeks ago if I wanted to use the main road to get out of the village I'd of had to swum it.

Would that be the munchkin village?;)

[bentalphanerd]

At least some things are enjoying all the water.
Just noticed one of my pumpkin vines has jumped the fence and climbed a neighbours tree. Its up about 20' in the air.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5294/pumpkinvg2.th.jpg (http://img405.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pumpkinvg2.jpg)

[DevilDuck]

You must have weird Aussie ladybugs if they are eating your pods.

They're probably poisonous too!! :lol:

[BobsYourUncle]

Still raining... I think we've had over 50mm (2 inches) so far today...

They're probably poisonous too!! :lol:

A friend of a friend of mine lost a small dog to a swarm of them once ;)

[bentalphanerd]

Still raining... I think we've had over 50mm (2 inches) so far today...

Just said on the news the dams are up to 30% woohoo....and going to rain all night again


They're probably poisonous too!! :lol:
A friend of a friend of mine lost a small dog to a swarm of them once ;)
I find that a little hard to believe Bobs....


....everyone knows they prefer cattle.

[stillmanz]

30% i'm gonna have a long shower hell I'm gonna let it run first to warm the room up. lol

seriously though my nanna was at somerset visiting friends yesterday and said they had the spillover gate open man that hasn't happened in about 7 years.

[bentalphanerd]

They're saying wivanhoe got 9 months rain so far this week. I'm starting to dream of a hydro set-up

[tony05]

it had 6 inch long claws.......fangs spitting venom and great nashin teeth!!!!!!

oh wait.... that was the wife hehe

my orange habs are splitting around the top as they ripen from all the water so they get picked and frozen as soon as they ripen.

more rain to come too

cheers

[chilehunter]

Just said on the news the dams are up to 30% woohoo



the dams are only 30% full WOW I didnt know you guys are in that dyer need of water :shocked:

oh yea sorry for going off subject but bent your sami's (sp?) (orange chiles) I saw some orange chiles that sort of look like them, I dont know if you found out their true name or not yet, but in one of my books they call them " phrik leuang" rare outside of thailand. just thought I'd mention it & maybe help findout the name of them or maybe not if you already know ?

[bentalphanerd]

June '06 was last time we had this much water in them.

[bentalphanerd]

the dams are only 30% full WOW I didnt know you guys are in that dyer need of water :shocked:

oh yea sorry for going off subject but bent your sami's (sp?) (orange chiles) I saw some orange chiles that sort of look like them, I dont know if you found out their true name or not yet, but in one of my books they call them " phrik leuang" rare outside of thailand. just thought I'd mention it & maybe help findout the name of them or maybe not if you already know ?

Thanks chilehunter. I found a blog with a picture although they didn't mention the name. I sent a message & asked.
They do look very orange compared to my very yellow ones, also mine range in size to almost 3 times those.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1758/1988/400/chilies.jpg

[chilehunter]

oh, ok I just didnt know what size your sami (sp?) was but I thought they were orange not yellow. I'm just trying to help you find the true name of the chile IF the name you call it is not the real name (I remember you asking what it was before) so I just put that name out there that might give you another name to check out.

[Omri]

Just call 'em "Yellow Bents". :lol:

[bentalphanerd]

Closest I ever got was the Thai Dragon but they're red. So I called them Thai Golden Dragon :lol: It's one of the great mysteries of chillidom. Also one of my favourite plants.
One day someone will know what it is.

[chilehunter]

One day someone will know what it is.


what you gonna do when they say " yea I KNOW what that chile is! its a "Bent Siam" !! :shocked::doh::lol:

[stillmanz]

a link to bents chilli no pic though under siam chilli
http://www.united-nurseries.com.au/p_veg_chilli.htm

[bentalphanerd]

what you gonna do when they say " yea I KNOW what that chile is! its a "Bent Siam" !! :shocked::doh::lol:

Charge em a dollar for saying it of course ;)


a link to bents chilli no pic though under siam chilli
http://www.united-nurseries.com.au/p_veg_chilli.htm

Wow...I was starting to think I even dreamed up the Siam thing but there it is (and the internet is never wrong)
The Indo-Chinese reference is interesting maybe its not from Thailand after all at least not in recent history.


Thunder lightning fire & brimstone here this afternoon. Thunder that made the windows rattle. How you other aussies coping?

[stillmanz]

wet here. backyard is an under water paridise chillis in ground now starting to look sad. weeds however look very happy.

[bentalphanerd]

Dams at 34% :shocked: put on 4% overnight. Somerset is almost in flood.

I got about 1/2" of water over the whole yard, pumpkin vines are trying to take over the world. Some of the leaves on them are 1 M across :lol:

[stillmanz]

Somersets is full. with run off to come.... wivenhoe has got more than they say in it too.
They just tellin us its low still so we don't go on a shower rampage lol. We still need level 5 restrictions because the infrastructures not there, I just wish they wouldn't tell us lies like we are children that can't be trusted were in a drought yes but the dam region is gonna flood thats going to be hard to explain ... Toogoolawah, Esk and Moore flooded in, but dams still at 30 percent... lol .

[bentalphanerd]

I dunno man http://www.seqwater.com.au/content/standard.asp?name=DamOperationsandMaintenance

[AlabamaJack]

Bent/Stillmanz...how much average rainfall per year do you guys get?

[stillmanz]

I'm not sure about yearly rainfall AJ but that link bent put up is agood place to start.

My dad lives at Toogoolawah thats smack between Somerset and Wivenhoe. they all under. You gotta remember Wivenhoe hasn't ever reallybeen full its there in case anothe 1974 flood comes along. If they are opening the gates at somerset whch they are thats more than 70%
and then you got a day or two run off plus whatever falls from here to then thats alot of water.
Hpefully it keeps rainin though just not neccessarily at my house forat least a day or two.lol

[bentalphanerd]

I went around wivenhoe a year or so ago & they were doubling the size of the wall then. Also travelled around where they're going to put that new one in up at the Mary River. That thing is going to be monstrous.

AJ it depends what you mean by average. Last 10 years are very different to the previous 100.

[stillmanz]

It has to be, they let 1000 people move to the south east every week for the last 5 years with no end in site, no wonder our dams went dry...and only now we think infastructure could be a problem.. We need some sort of border defences maybe a wall..protection and exclusion from the maurauding southerners. (excluding BB and tony05 naturally) lol