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Observed precipitation reports. 2008

6K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  Tom G. Laury 
#1 ·
#5 ·
Started in raining yesterday afternoon just as I was finishing putting on feeders.Grabbed the wet gate handle of the fence and got Zapped. Got into the pickup, and turned on the wipers.Thats when I realized the rubber had baked off over the summer.:doh:
Anyway its been raining steady here. Hoped it would water the almonds further south.
 
#8 ·
OK, someone please tell me the Chowchilla/Merced area got some of that rain my yahoo weather watch said it was going to get this week. If so, has it, is it raining enough to do any good, even short term?
Our first load will be heading out that way early next week, with the rest to follow over the next week/10 days.
Last year was horrible dry, hoping this year is better.
Sheri
 
#13 ·
What good is the rain?

:shhhh:Some of the best almond contracts, for the bees, are near areas that have wildflowers in bloom pror to and throughout the almond bloom!
The rainfall also influence your management decisions for making divides after the almonds.

A lot of the almond orchards have zero forage for the bees in the orchard floor.
The following plants use to be aboundant:
1.0 Red and white stem filaree. (Blooms early and has a high sugar content with red pollen.
2.0 Miners lettuce.
3.0 Fiddelneck

January - February willow bloom for building bees and if you are lucky near the bees when they are pollenating the almonds.

Regards,
Ernie
 
#14 ·
Moisture

Here in Fresno this morning it is a little wet and warm. Not a lot of rain but certainly enough to GERMINATE lots of annuals. This is important later. If mustard, filaree, fiddleneck, etc., can get up out of the ground before it gets cold they can begin blooming prior to Feb. 10. Should get the grasses up too helping out the cattlemen who have been hurt badly by the drought. If you look at a map of Cal and draw a line from Merced to Yosemite the precipitation is much greater North and less the further South you go. In general.
 
#15 ·
Build up

I use to live In a little town called Desert Center in Southern California (about mid way between BLYTHE & INDIO)This area is where we got started beekeeping and there were what we was told a tree called Ironwood trees it was some times covered with big masses of mistletoe that bloomed in the latter part of January to the best of my memory which was a great build up they would build comb and even sealed some honey. but that has been 38 years ago have also seen a carpet of flowers with a good shower in what seemed as a matter of a few days after a rain.
 
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