Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Cold weather forecast




Another shot of Arctic air possible this weekend.
Areas east of  the Cascades and the typically vulnerable
locations impacted by Fraser & Columbia River outflows
are likely to get SNOW and strong WINDS this weekend.
The pattern may last into early next week. REPEAT snow
event for patrons in Bellingham/Lynden looking more and
more probable. Strong wind event possible in NW WA &
Columbia Gorge. Portland, north Willamette Valley, SW
WA may also get in on the action this time around.
-Rufus
http://www.ovs.com/weather_cafe.htm

Rainy

The next 10 days will be depressing, kind of.
looks like temps with the lows in the low 40
 and highs in the high 50's.

Rain slated for 30-80% chance of rain.  More
snow in the mountains and water in the reservoirs.

The most recent rip to Kosovo, their water reservoir
 is over half empty and no rain in sight.  Hopefully
 this weekend the weather will change the their
reservoirs will fill, like in Oregon.


Kosovo is a doing a really good job of growing apples
in high density orchards.  They needed a few hints on
how to grow their apples better.


Monday, February 24, 2014

Weather

Well the nice, t-shirt spring was short lasted.
Not even enough sun  to get a slight sun burn,
booooooo.

Back to the on again, on again showers and rain. 
Which is good as the more rain, the more snow
and the more snow, the less drought we will have. 
This is true being as we still have some of February,
 March, April and May which can be moist.

I predict ( which means I will be wrong) that we
 will have enough rain to fill the reservoirs this spring.

Most plants are definitely showing that spring is just
around the corner and early.

GArlicd - just about right
Maple buds - ready to burst, early
Plum/prune and peach trees - will bloom soon 3-4 weeks
ahead of schedule.

Lots of azalea and rhodies blooms have fallen off due to
the cold December.

Blueberries - so close.

I saw leaf tissue on a hazelnut tree.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Weekend

A marvelous weekend in Lane County, Oregon.

Nice and warm and SUNNY.

Plants are growing.  Daffi's and tulips,
 blooming are near blooming.

Cleanup all of the broken branches.

Soil is still very wet, wait to till until drier.

Cover with tarp and let soil dry.

Peas can be planted very soon.

Lots of leave and flower bud freeze damage.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Cruddy weather

Maples pushing buds.
Garlic - still dong well.
Do dormant copper or lime sulfur

Spray dormant oil if you had scale,
 mites or aphids.

Finish pruning tree fruits and berries,
ASAP.

Cut up broken branches.  Eugene and
 Springfield had massive broken branches.

Start indoor seeds.

Prune/plums on the coast blooming.
Cherries - pushing and green tips
showing.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Surviving

Power is slowly coming back on in the Eugene,
Springfield, and Lane County area.

The south east US is being hammered again with ice
 and snow.

Westside of Oregon, strong winds, so watch out of
 the branches that  are still stuck in the trees from
 last weekends storm.

More rain in the forecast.

Looking at the Oregon pass cameras, we
still need a lot more snow.

Spring IS coming.  Garlic made it through the
December freeze and the ice and snow of pass
weekend.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Stormy weekend

This weekend has been really bad;  6 inches of
snow;  then several inches of ice; which brought
down a  ton of limbs and branches around western
Oregon.  Specifically a lot of branches in Eugene
and Springfield, Oregon and surrounding communities. 
Lots of people have been or were out of power for days.

Clean up the broken branches.  Where the branch broke,
cut back to the collar or area where the branch
 meets another branch.  Or call a CERTIFIED arborist. 
Just because someone has a chain saw does not mean
they know how to cut  broken branches. 

This does not need to be done immediately, you can wait.

Also there are tons of plants that look like they have
been burned - they have.   With the December cold and now
this past weekend with the ice.  Just wait and see how
bad the bushes, tree limbs, berries and hazelnuts have
been damaged.  Time will tell.

Even burned leaves will be able to provide energy
to the plant.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

ice and trees

Saturday AM, Feb. 8, 9:00am

The ice in Springfield, OR. is bringing down
maple and tulip branches - big ones.  If it continues
to be icy rain, expect more branches to come down.

I moved my car/truck from under the trees.

Maple trees buds are almost 1/4 in size.  This icy,
cold may affect and damage a lot of tree and bush
buds.  Time will tell how bad the weather will effect
the trees, shrubs and plant materials.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Plants

I have knocked the snow and ice off of my
plants, especially boxwood, arborvitae, azalea,
camellia and any other plants with leaves that
would collect the snow and ice.

Cold weather



Friday February 7
Another couple days of challenging winter wx 
in store for the PNW.  Inches more on the way 
later today (except for areas south of Eugene; it's
already warmed, so rain today). Saturday may 
also bring on snow and then, hopefully, by Sunday 
or Monday, enough warmer air aloft will finally 
push out the burly cold air and get all of us out of 
ice box.  Next week has multiple storm systems 
in the region.   A few inches of RAIN likely by next 
weekend, with plenty of needed mountain snow. 
The weekend of Feb 15,16 may start out on the dry 
side, but by Sunday the strongest storm of the series
 is modeled to slam into the area. Lots of heavy rain, 
feet of snow in the mountains. It will turn colder 
after the front passes, so don't be surprised to see 
snow in the foothills, coast range, and maybe even 
flakes mixed at the surface, esp Monday, Feb 17.  
 http://www.ovs.com/weather_cafe.htm

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Snow

Looks like we will be out of the snow and
cold in a day or two.
The weather will the cold but the snow will
help to prevent more leaf or bud damage.

If the snow gets over 4 inches, remove it from
boxwood, rhodies, arborvitae or thin
branched plants.  Also remove excessive snow
from cold frames and greenhouses.

Be aware - Last snow we got a lot snow mold and brown
spots from the lawn being under the snow
for a week or more.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Cold Again




Monday, February 3, 2014
Rufus at the WxCafe® is boldly mentioning wind chill,
Arctic air, and snow for his prognostication this week.
http://www.ovs.com/weather_cafe.htm

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Nice weather

Looks like more nice weather, a bit cold but
nice weather for the next 10 days.  The next
few days highs of 50 and lows or 33, followed
5 days later with rain and temps dropping  or a
high of 30 and lows of16 degrees.  Forecast
shows a continued up and down in temps and
 sun v/s rain.

Continue pruning.  The OSU Lane County Extension
web site has four rose pruning classes scheduled,
followed a more tree fruit pruning classes followed
by rhodie pruning..


Feb. 19 - Tree fruit class - learn about ow to grow
common tree fruits in the Willamette valley.
 Call 541 344-5859.