Drought

Discussion in 'Maples' started by katsura, Jan 29, 2009.

  1. katsura

    katsura Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Novato, California
    This winter has been very dry so far and after 2 previous dry years
    our water district is likely to make 30-50% mandatory reductions.
    Most of my maples are in pots so I would like the advice of forum
    colleagues who have faced water restrictions and/or the sound advice
    of those who can empathize with our plight in California.
    I assume burying my bigger plants where possible would reduce watering
    since they would be in the cooler ground. I could mulch on top of the soil.
    Last year in preparation for possible drought I put a layer of mulch on the
    top of my soil in many of the pots.
    I have many many cultivars in 1 gallon pots which I have begun to arrange
    around the trunk of larger potted trees so that when I water the 1 gal pots
    any excess water will flow into the bigger pot below.
    I assume I can buy reduced flow watering nozzles because I hand water
    my plants with a hose.
    I would welcome any other suggestions on how to cut down 30-50% on
    water use while keeping my trees alive this summer. It does not rain 1 drop
    at my house from April thru October and temps average 70's, 80's and 90's
    for most of those 7-8 months.
    Thanks.
     
  2. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    Hello katsura, That is what I do, Mulching is a huge plus. I actually sink my pots into wood shavings so under a tree plus the wood shavings/ chips etc the pots stay cool the run off water gets caught in the mulch and the sheltering trees get the benefit.

    We have been in a 12 year drought. Last 3 days have been a 150 year record of 43C+ and more to come. We have been on very strict water retrictions for at least 2 years. I use a lot of grey water [washing machine, bath etc] as well as tank water to supplament and so far so good.

    Polysyrene boxes may not look good but they hold water and with a bit of shaving in there and pots sunk in a little water goes a long way.. I also use root barrier circles sunk into the soil with good soil mix in them and plant stuff in those. The root barrier helps hold the water while the open bottom allowes roots to spread deep into the soil.

    Liz
     
  3. NJACER

    NJACER Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Location:
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    Katsura and Liz,

    Although we had not had that severe a drought in NJ we did have water restrictions for a about two to three years back. Like you have already stated mulching helped a lot and I also found that switching the type of mulch made a big difference. I used cedar mulch prior to this and found that often the water would just run off the mulch, I switched to a triple shreaded hardwood and it held the water better and was much less expensive. I also would place my small one gal pot on my larger pots so that when watered the excess would flow down to the larger pots. Plastic trays under the pots will retain the run off water if avaialble.

    I did some checking a this time and found a material used in the trade called Terra Sorb that I think you mix with your soil to hold the water. I hope the link below works from A.M. Leonard.

    http://www.amleo.com/index/item.cgi?cmd=view&Words=5hgm

    Maybe we will hear from some of the maple folks in the Atlanta area. I know from the 2007 meeting that they have been dealing with this for some time.

    Good luck,

    Ed
     
  4. alex66

    alex66 Rising Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    sand!river sand,is good for preserve good humidity..
    ps pant,pant ..i send you ;-)) two days ago!
    ciaoo
     
  5. Gomero

    Gomero Well-Known Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    I agree with the advice given on mulching and all that.

    In 2003 we had a terrible drought in France coupled with record breaking high temps (I recall that more than 35000 people died that summer in France due to that). The government put out a list of uses of water that were forbidden and, among them, a stringent ban of watering gardens. However there were no restrictions on showers and, since I normally take 24 showers a day, by taking only one I was able to reuse the 200 gallons I saved for watering the maples (To save time I draw those gallons directly from garden hose ;o)))

    Gomero
     
  6. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Victoria Australia [cool temperate]
    We are down to 155 liters per person per day. Out of this I need toilet water, shower water for my garden and my animals. There is NO room for excess showers.

    I live near one of our water storage dams and in 25 years I have not seen it overflow. These days the level is very low so much so there are now weeds growing along the high water marks. Each year this tide mark is lower.

    So look after your water because your drought may come again. Ours has not stopped.

    Liz
     
  7. Kaitain4

    Kaitain4 Well-Known Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Location:
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    As we have seen in the past few years here in the South, no one is immune from drought - not even areas that normally get a lot of precipitation. The drought in Georgia, the Carolinas, Florida and eastern Tennessee was appalling. There were some rural communities that literally ran out of water, and the Army had to haul water in with tanker-trucks just to keep people alive and the towns from economic collapse.

    I'm in the country, so I have to have a well. Its fairly deep and has never failed to date. The water quality is good, so I am very fortunate. Have any of you considered a well as a back-up source of water?


    Liz - what is the gov't down there going to do? 12 years is unbelievable! Have they considered ocean water de-salination?

    Regards,
     
  8. paxi

    paxi Active Member

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    Location:
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    Is a rain barrel a possible option?
     
  9. Kaitain4

    Kaitain4 Well-Known Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Depends on the size of the rain barrel!! LOL!
     
  10. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    Yes we are getting desal plant. Huge carry on re conservation but it is going ahead. We get govt discount for rain water tanks. (they come in all shapes and sizes including a bladder for under the house. (no basements here) Some can be built into walls for smaller properties. Good underground water for drinking is not common except in the rich sand belt areas by the sea. There is bore water in some places. They are working on gathering a whole lot more waste water for recycling too. All the irrigation channels are being lined and covered and there are some inland pipes being laid from one area to another but that too is causing problems as the areas from where that water is being piped is also low. I think it will become a two way system depending on where the water is most plentiful. Years ago they spoke about a pipe line from the northen monsoonal belt to the south. Sounds like a great idea but expensive and the distance is the same as going from one end of US to the other. But it takes time. Meanwhile we are learning to be quiet clever and resourceful. Oh I should mention there is also a huge artesian basin in inland Australia that has had open bores running for 100 years. I think they were being shut off to. We are reliant on a low chain of mountains (hills) down out east coast to gather the water for this artesian basin. If rain is low there is no ground water to be gathered. I think there is also some changes happening in methods of broad acre farming as we loose so much top soil each year. Also our soils are old and missing important trace elements. Reforestation is also happening. We have lost a lot of tree cover in 200 years of settlement. There is also a rising soil salinity problem and currently our large inland river system is under a huge pressure of drought and farm water use. (Murray Darling)

    Two maps of vegetation pre settlement by Europeansand circa 1997

    http://www.anra.gov.au/topics/vegetation/extent/index.html

    http://www.abc.net.au/landline/stories/s116302.htm

    River system

    http://www.nativefish.asn.au/ozrivers.html

    The Murray darling basin marked in dark green is under huge stress often a string of waterholes.

    http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=993&page=0
    Artesian basin
    Liz
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2009
  11. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    Paxi a rain barrel or water tank is a very useful thing to have to water animals, pots or here many ar connected to toilet flushing and even laundries. It is amazing how much water a good tin toof can catch. Tiles ar also ok. However I belive tar/pitch roofing material is used in some places. That water might not be suitable.

    Liz
     
  12. K Baron

    K Baron Well-Known Member

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    Location:
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    I hate to be the devils advocate here, passing most of the replies, as the key to planing in a drought zone, such as interior Australia (having been there, try growing a garden with no water in Coober Pedy) is planting only drought tolerant plants.. there is no point in sending a plant to its demise for the lack of water...this water 'situation' may only worsen over the decades... You may wish to rethink what it is that can survive and even flourish in your magnificent but drought stricken state (country).Do not purchase plants that cannot establish themselves after a year... that is my rule of thumb...I wish that I could send you our abundant water supply...
     
  13. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    No i don't. I have slowly been changing my landscape. I am fortunate I have deep volcanic soil so tree roots will go down a long way once established. I also get some good moisture as I am about 30 KM as crow flies from the 2 bays Melbourne sits on as well as that I am elevated so normaly a bit cooler up here. I inherited some azalea and rhodos as well as hydrangea but as the years have gone on I just mulch and they have to survive. Meanwhile I work on saving my natural grasses around the paddock perimeters as well as the natural bush vegetation. I noticed today my treeferns (old) have shrivelled their fronds in the last 3 daysof heat. Hopefully they willre shoot. I would grow rocks in Cooper Pedy that is HOT and baren I am tropical by comparison. :)

    Liz
     
  14. Gomero

    Gomero Well-Known Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Location:
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    Liz,

    When you say 155 liters/person/day, is that an allocation metered by the water companies?

    I trust everybody understood the double humorist meaning of my post above, now more seriously, here is my view.

    Managing scarce water is certainly not new and many areas of the world have known this for centuries. When I was a little boy living in Southern Spain ( a particularly dry region) water scarcity was managed by cutting water supply for up to 20 hours a day. At that time, even though we lived under Franco's dictatorship, we were free to use the scarce water we were allocated as we deemed most useful; no authority told us not to do this and that.

    Today I am surprised, and shocked to see that, in seemingly democratic countries like UK or France, citizens accept without dissent restrictions to their freedom to choose how to use the water which is allocated to them in times of drought.

    Of course if there is not enough water, consumption has to decrease. This could be done in many different ways including up front educating the public on how to minimize consumption. In addition, today, technology allows for intelligent rationing without using the brute force approach of my childhood. Intelligent water meters are capable of monitoring household consumption and, when the allocated daily volume is reached, water could be turned off to that household or, better, any additional use could be charged dissuasive rates. What happened in France in the summer 2003, when police would patrol suburbia to verify that plants were well dying and grass brown was a shameful time in my life. I did not live under the Nazis but I could argue that there are similarities (including encouraging neighbors to become informers)

    If we do not react, next government will tell us what we can and cannot do with the electricity or with our cars. Here, in Europe, there is an insidious encroaching of personal freedoms from governments, always with good excuses, without any particular reaction from the citizens.

    Gomero
     
  15. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    No it is voluntary and people are really working hard to do it. HOWEVER today it came out on a talk back radio program that we ar hosting the "Presiden'ts cup" golf tournament and apparently they have been allocated scags of fresh drinking water to make the place pristine. They claim the recycled water was not doing the job??????????????????

    People were pretty upset. Apparently th Grand prix nd the major football /cricket field also get this allocation. I must admit it makes me want to waste a little water to wash my dust down.

    Liz
     
  16. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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  17. katsura

    katsura Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    Thanks to all my forum colleagues - especially Liz (good luck down there!) - for their informative
    posts. I have been active digging into the ground some larger maples etc, and I have my water
    district's conservation officer and assistant visiting my yard this Tuesday for advice. He likes the
    fact I hand water by hose with a shut off valve because he said that is the most efficient use of
    water. I will be adding much mulch as well. I am looking for low-flow water wands which will auto-
    matically reduce water use but have not found any altho my local hardware man sold me a water flow reducer plug which fits inside the water want head. I can enlarge the aperture hole to adjust
    flow to meet whatever % mandatory restriction they finally put in. I will test the device by timing
    how long it takes me to fill a 1 gal watering can.
    Will keep colleagues informed as I learn more.
     
  18. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    Keep up the good work katsura,
    As i sit and write this it is approx 45C the sky is a brassy grey from smoke from near by fires and the weather is trying to force a cool change through. The wind has turned slightly from a persistent north wind (straight out of central Australia) to a south westerly. It is lofting allover the place as the front is trying to come through. Any minute now there should be a dramatic drop in temperature (usually 10 to 15 C) Hope those of you that are cold are holding up. Spring and for me autumn will soon be here.

    Liz
     
  19. katsura

    katsura Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    Liz,
    That is terrible news about your wild fires.
    The loss of life is tragic beyond measure.
    All of us on this forum sympathize with our Australian friends.
    I had no idea temps got to 45C where you live.
    Be careful, my friend.
    Mike
     
  20. alex66

    alex66 Rising Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    Yes i'm read this news too
    my solidarity Australian friends!
    soliderieta'da noi italiani anche.
    ciao
     
  21. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Victoria Australia [cool temperate]
    Thanks on behalf of all here for your best wishes. It actualy went to 46.5 I think it was our hottest recorded for Melbourne in 150 years or so of record keeping. It was a dynamite keg just waiting. The drought makes it worse as the soil practicaly burns and with the winds it flies ahead of the fire front igniting fires miles away. One town had no warning. One minute it was 25 km away on a ridge approximatly 10 minutes later it was roaring up the main street like an express train. Much cooler now back to 17 C and I have a wooly on (jumper, pullover)

    Liz
     
  22. katsura

    katsura Active Member 10 Years

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    WOW, Liz, that is frightening indeed.
    Thank God the temperatures have broken.
    We will all be remembering our Aussie friends in our best wishes & prayers.
    Good luck. Be safe.
    Mike
     
  23. alex66

    alex66 Rising Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    kiss!!
     

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