It got to 36.4° C in England yesterday and expected to beat that today. The Met office on the news last night, stated that the UK must expect temperatures of 40° C in future Summers. My first thoughts were, 'how are maples going to survive this'. They can cope with the cold when they are dormant, but not extreme heat. Will they adapt?? Probably not!!!! Oh well, we have seen this coming and have been warned for some decades.
It will be a big change, but they'll probably be fine. After all, it gets quite hot in Japan, and in the US NY-Southern New England it is routinely near 40C. sometimes even over. The JMs love it, because they get lots of summer rain (as in Japan) and the soil is pretty ideal in most places. JMs thrive in the US Carolinas and Georgia, where it's even hotter. Of course folks grow them in the CA central valley, even Texas and Australia, though they have to take some special measures. I guess our bigger problems will be warm winters and late spring frosts, as we have frequently discussed. Each subsequent frost weakens the tree, and after 5 years of serial spring frosts it does begin to take a toll. I suspect some of this years losses are connected to that. Well here the sun is just coming out now, we've had a blessed overcast morning with even a few spatters of rain. We had a thunderstorm during the night, we were on the edge of it but still got 4mm of rain, which is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. The forecast for today has been lowered to 33C , and we're looking at that as a high over the next several days. Still the sun and dry are difficult for some trees, I noticed last night an established Populus szechuanica has completely wilted, in spite of getting a deep 400l watering less than a week ago. Several maples have already completely shed their leaves from this episode.
The trouble here and in Europe is that the heat does seem to go on longer these days and more importantly unlike Japan we are not getting enough Summer rain. I have always thought that Zone 9b was the limit for maples. I'm 8b and some of mine are struggling year on year. My 30 year old Osakasuki is the first to show severe signs of problems with the heat and lack of rain this year. I dont think I will have any leaves left for the wonderful Autumn show this one gives. I agree totally with Emery about the warmer Winters, in the South of England a hard Winter frost is now very rare. Complete sleep for my trees seems to be for January only these days. The late Spring frosts are catching my Katsura every year now, but it's hanging on in there atm. Time will tell!!! Sorry to hear about your Populus szechuanica Emery. Quite soul destroying this season for you in Normandie. Hopefully it's not long term damage. And several maples with leaf drop already, you did say you were having a bad maple year, let's hope it's not in 2021.
Power is finally back! 10 am , 75 F, 24 C, 94% humidity, cloudy skies. Overall a good day for this time of year. Humidity fluctuates between 80 and 100% these days.
Larger maples are handling the summer heat well, small seedlings not so much. My no watering approach is probably not the best when it comes to young plants, but there are plenty of survivors.
@Nik, beautiful sunrise. Glad your power is back, haven't heard from D @LoverOfMaples yet on how he is coping. Saw the storm on the news. Looked pretty scary!! That humidity is tropical, an atmosphere of total saturation. Wow.
Well it's been a scorcher here today, but not as hot as yesterday in the end. But everywhere is so dry the heathland in Surrey England is on fire. Now the wildlife really suffer, very often caused by irresponsible people having BBQ's or throwing down a cigarette in tinder box conditions. Urghhhhh it does make me so angry.
According to the weather forecast, today will be the hottest day of the year for my location. It was 36°C on Friday in my garden, so could well be a 39°C today. Nothing like J @zfrittz 45.8 ° C , so as @AlainK Alain says still a bit of a 'lightweight', lol. But still too hot for me and my maples.
I have just been reading the New Scientist Magazine and found this quote very interesting from the end of 2019 Met office records:- 'That wasn’t the only temperature high seen in 2019, with a new winter record of 21.2°C set on 26 February, at Kew Gardens in London, the first time 20°C has been reached in the UK in a winter month'. 'No cold temperature records were set last year, the report said'. It was mentioned in this thread about our trees not being able to sleep properly, the evidence is now there to support this. If this continues we will have weakend trees year on year. For many many years in the UK I have protected my pots with bubble wrap. This will now change unless there is a significant downward spiral in Winter temperatures. But I don't think that will be the case. I cannot change anything planted in my garden, so these will have to fend for themselves. I do live in a frost pocket, so that always keeps mine asleep more than my friends trees, that wake up at least a month before mine every year. Obviously in West Yorkshire things are a little different, as ROEBUCK has informed us. I am also looking at more shade trees for these hot Summers, rather than maples now, I have 150 cultivars and as ROEBUCK said on the cheering ourselves up with maples thread, he has enough reds etc etc etc. I do also think, it is now time to consider more about how the climate is changing that affects our trees and especially in these very hot dry Summers, than looking to buy another. Alain and Emery have raised this more than once how the drought in France is affecting their trees. "Worst year for Maples" I think Emery said. Important to listen !!! Please don't quote my last paragraph to me at a later date regarding buying more JM, because I know I will succumb to buying yet another one. 'I CANNOT HELP MYSELF'. Lol. Anyway, I thought I would share this and my personal thoughts on the future of our wonderful trees.
I hope, that I will get ripe figs and pomegranates from my own garden soon. This winter was promising, there was mostly above the freezing point outside almost all the winter, but the spring was chilly and the summer last only for a few weeks (yesterday it made a short come back, but will vanish again before the middle of the next week). So send me some summer heat, I am not against the warmth. My figs, pomegranates, melons, okras, sweet potatoes, peanuts, grapes etc need it!
Okra in Estonia, that seems unrealistic, but perhaps soon possible... did you have any success in the past with it? Just curious..
I’ve always seen them as another Hibiscus plant. Beautiful flowers, the okra itself I think is best pickled. But that is just me.
This year it was so cold in the spring, that I only planted some okras into my melon tent and did not try grow them outdoors. Usually I got some okra harvest from the tent as early as in the middle of the July, but this year the summer has been rather cold also and they are not even flowering yet today, on August 9. Not a single flower so far. I always replace all the soil for okras, and mix a new, always the same components, so it is not the soil to blame.
Record temperatures all over the world this year and last, it is amazing that anybody can plan their crops properly. Regarding Okra, my eldest daughter who is a vegetarian, follows this recipe. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/okra_curry_68708
Thanks, Acerholic! I will try this recipe, as soon as I'll get some pods. I usually just stir fry these or use in soups and salads.
Another hot day here in the UK, but now with thunderstorms and possible 80mm of rain. No sign of it atm, not a cloud in the sky. Will try my best to get some photos of the storm, if and when it arrives.
Black clouds just before sunset yseterday, I could the typical grey "shredded curtains" of showers of rain in the distance, then thunder end lightnings. And no rain. Blue "milky" sky at the moment.
From one extreme to anothe here in the UK Flash flooding leaves town underwater as heatwave triggers heavy thunderstorms