Wet Forest - Formerly Known as Dry Forest

Boyd

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Jul 31, 2004
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Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
Still nothing here, 79 degrees and 80% humidity right now without a breath of air moving. Still some activity in PA, looks like most will miss me but might get a little rain.
 

Boyd

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Jul 31, 2004
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Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
Nothing at all here, interesting to see that Atlantic County was pretty much dry. There were a few wet spots but for the most part, that storm didn't do much for the Pines.

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Boyd

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Jul 31, 2004
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Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
This is the current NWS projection for Erin, which shows a less than 5% chance of winds greater than 39 mph for New Jersey

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And yet, I've seen some news reports suggesting that we could have winds as high as 50 to 60 mph. I suppose it wouldn't take much of a shift in the storm track to bring us more severe results, the wind field is very close to NJ.

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[edit] I see we now have a PDF briefing, hot off the presses and they are predicting some higher winds...

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Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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I can’t check my rain amount as I took the weather station down because it was hooked to my shed and I got a new shed yesterday. I have to buy a few things to reinstall the station.
We finally have the weather station back up on the new shed. It is interesting that by removing it and putting it back up, we had .6 inches of rain even though it was stored in the shed. I guess we disturbed something inside of it.
With that said, today’s rain started here at 3:36AM and we have had .12 inches so far.
 
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bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
15,176
5,606
Pines; Bamber area
True, Cape May flora is looking like early October. Withering away. New Jersey's growth season is, in general, a furious and brief affair with the sun.

April: peek-a-boo buds, little leaves, with a couple flowering gems to see. Sunlight is harsh with no leaves.

May: Ramping up, green leaves unfurling, some herbs flowering too. Feeling good about what's to come.

June: Green flush everywhere, we are really into the rapid growth now. Many nice flowers. Get out there while the temp is still okay.

July: Rampant growth and maturity; survey the good stuff before they fully mature if you can bear the heat and humidity and flies.

Aug: Late boomers coming up, composites coming in at months end; asters, goldenrods and others.

Sept: A noticeable fading out, not much more to see, but sedges mature. Late seed ticks and the last of the flies bothersome early on.

Oct: Growth seems to stop and reverse. Some bright flowers linger, making it worthwhile to be out. Colors lovely, but melancholy sets in.
 

Boyd

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Jul 31, 2004
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Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
One thing that stands to me this summer is the lack of understory growth (is that the right word? I mean the stuff beneath the trees). I have almost a mile of little trails on my property and usually need to trim them back once or twice each summer. Haven't trimmed anything at all this year, except a random piece of greenbriar in a couple spots. I also use a string trimmer on the grassy parts of the trails where chiggers like to hide. Didn't do that at all this year, the grass never grew.

Same goes for the yard. Mowed once at the beginning of summer just to mulch up the leaves, there was no high grass. Mowed a second time in August, still pretty much the same, left-over dead leaves but very little high grass or weeds. An increasing amount of my yard has become moss - which is great. But the moss doesn't seem to be doing very well this summer either.

Everything seemed fine in the spring/early summer, the laurel had nice blossoms, the oaks and maples have dense leaves, acorns are coming down now. But stuff closer to the ground just hasn't grown much - from the lack of rain (I guess). It's not drying out or withering, what's there looks fine. It just hasn't grown as much as usual.
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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acorns are coming down now.
As for acorns, I was watching a video which said that oak trees know when an acorn is bad and will drop it with the top on it. If you find one on the ground with the top on, it most likely has been invaded by a parasite. You can remove the top and see the hole they make. When the acorn falls by itself it is more than likely good. Fifty percent of acorns can be bad on most trees.
 
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bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
15,176
5,606
Pines; Bamber area
One thing that stands to me this summer is the lack of understory growth (is that the right word? I mean the stuff beneath the trees). I have almost a mile of little trails on my property and usually need to trim them back once or twice each summer. Haven't trimmed anything at all this year, except a random piece of greenbriar in a couple spots. I also use a string trimmer on the grassy parts of the trails where chiggers like to hide. Didn't do that at all this year, the grass never grew.

Same goes for the yard. Mowed once at the beginning of summer just to mulch up the leaves, there was no high grass. Mowed a second time in August, still pretty much the same, left-over dead leaves but very little high grass or weeds. An increasing amount of my yard has become moss - which is great. But the moss doesn't seem to be doing very well this summer either.

Everything seemed fine in the spring/early summer, the laurel had nice blossoms, the oaks and maples have dense leaves, acorns are coming down now. But stuff closer to the ground just hasn't grown much - from the lack of rain (I guess). It's not drying out or withering, what's there looks fine. It just hasn't grown as much as usual.
Interesting question. I have seen a lot of vegetation, so what you have is unusual. Deer? Or maybe you have sandy droughty soil and it sucked up all the rain and didn't save any for the plants.
 
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Boyd

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Jul 31, 2004
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Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
Interesting question. I have seen a lot of vegetation, so what you have is unusual.

From the radar I've watched this summer, these storms have been very localized. There's frequently been heavy rain within a couple miles while it was dry here. I think it's just been very dry at my place, combined with a long hot spell. Hopefully we'll get a little rain this time, but so far it's all West of me.

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Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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So far we have had .79 inches in two days. And .23 just since midnight. And it is still raining.
 
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