moi621 (imported) wrote: Fri May 02, 2014 2:31 pm Another Hot Hot Hot Day, although the feeling of dropping temperatures is in the air. Not by the numbers, F.

I have two kinds of Redwood Trees

Yes, there are two genera and species commonly called redwood; Sequoia sempervivens is the Coast Redwood (sometimes called a California Redwood) which is the tallest living tree; the other species, Sequoiadendron giganteum, commonly called the Sierra redwood or giant redwood, is the largest living organism.

moi621 (imported) wrote: Fri May 02, 2014 2:31 pm One from Redwood National Park in Humboldt County that will be the tallest living thing.

One from Sequoia National Park that will be the oldest living thing, as taught in the fifties. Ignore Bristle Cone Pine.

No, do not ignore the Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva); one specimen, named Methuselah, is over 4800 years old as verified by tree-ring counts of core samples. Better to ignore the outdated and superseded stuff you learned in the fifties. It is not worth the brain capacity to retain such useless material.

You still do not have a coastal redwood; there is no such thing. It doesn't even belong to the category of mythical beings like unicorns and compassionate conservatives.

Actually, as I recall, it has been determined that some fungi specimens beat the giant redwoods for size.

The largest living organism ever found has been discovered in an ancient American forest.

The Armillaria ostoyae, popularly known as the honey mushroom, started from a single spore too small to see without a microscope. It has been spreading its black shoestring filaments, called rhizomorphs, through the forest for an estimated 2,400 years, killing trees as it grows. It now covers 2,200 acres (880 hectares) of the Malheur National Forest, in eastern Oregon.

The outline of the giant fungus stretches 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometres) across, and it extends an average of three feet (one metre) into the ground. It covers an area as big as 1,665 football fields.

The discovery came after Catherine Parks, a scientist at the Pacific Northwest Research Station in La Grande, Oregon, in 1998 heard about a big tree die-off from root rot in the forest east of Prairie City.

Using aerial photos, Ms Parks staked out an area of dying trees and collected root samples from 112. She identified the fungus through DNA testing. Then, by comparing cultures of the fungus grown from the 112 samples, she determined that 61 were from the same organism, meaning a single fungus had grown bigger than anything anyone had ever described before.

On the surface, the only evidence of the fungus are clumps of golden mushrooms that pop up in the autumn with the rain. "They are edible, but they don't taste the best," said Tina Dreisbach, a botanist and mycologist with the US Forest Service in Corvallis, Oregon. "I would put lots of butter and garlic on them."

Digging into the roots of an affected tree, something that looks like white latex paint can be seen. These are mats of mycelium, which draw water and carbohydrates from the tree to feed the fungus and interfere with the tree's absorption of water and nutrients. The long rhizomorphs that stretch into the soil invade tree roots through a combination of pressure and enzyme action.

In 1992, another Armillaria ostoyae was found in Washington state covering 1,500 acres, near Mount Adams, making it the largest known organism at the time.

"We just decided to go out looking for one bigger than the last claim," said Gregory Filip, associate professor of integrated forest protection at Oregon State University, and an expert in Armillaria. "There hasn't been anything measured with any scientific technique that has shown any plant or animal to be larger than this."

He said scientists want to learn to control Armillaria because it kills trees, but they also realise it has served a purpose in nature for millions of years.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 10278.html

That's one hell of a mushroom!

Today it topped out at 92. Can't wait for summer when it gets hot.

River

Spring is HERE!!! Topped out at about 70 today. Luv it here...

Much colder today it only got up to 85. I hate cold weather.

River

It is cooling down here too.

Low 70's.

High 60's on Monday & all week.

Ah the sixties.

Years and Temperature.

Picked one strawberry and it tasted like Strawberry. Amazing.

It had more strawberry flavor than the fresh, field grown ones sold locally.

The Boysenberries are ripening and some root stocks are coming up on my nasty neighbor's property.

I keep my vines off his side but, if he grows his own

My Sugar Peas/Sweet Shelling Peas, except the shells are sweeter than the large, Sweet Pea, are finishing.

5 vines produces a handful or three of pea pods and now seem to be yellowing. Not producing more flowers & pods.

Around here y'gotta grow them in early spring. But hungry birds attack the young plants.

The asparagus field in its first year is a trip. Looks like alternating generations like polyps and medusea.

The back yard peach trees are slowly waking up and blossoming. Very, very slowly.

The weaker branches of the front yard one are stressed with the growing fruit. I consider thinning it but, is that the way?

Moi

It has been a lovely period of cool days with highs in the upper 60's.

Tomorrow it is suppose to be in the 80's then up into the 90's for the rest of the week.

Triple digits inland.

Before the wicked Santa Anna (Anna according to some) Devil Winds come up, I am

hydrating by landscaping with lots and lots of imported water.

transward (imported) wrote: Sun Sep 22, 2013 3:31 pm [quote="moi621 (imported)" ti

me=1289551140]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ana_winds
[/quote]


The heat is not in the wind initially. It is created by "compression" as it blows down slope.

Touch a cat, see a spark.

It looks like it is going to be a "bad one", or irritating.

Stay tuned for further reports.

I believe the EA :hearthrobLand is due for a turbulent Mother's Day.

What did they do to Piss Off The Great Mother so ? Maybe it was not believing in The Great Mother.

Moi

Be sure to watch the Great Mother's descent in Time Square at Midnight everywhere on all the major networks.

WAs a wonderful cool day here only got to 86.

River

It is much the same here except the number is 46. --FLO--