Richard

The rain yesterday and today was great from my viewpoint -- another week of labor-free watering for my potted nursery stock. I'm also glad it stopped: Tony gets to walk his dog and I have a chance to get some outdoor chores done without getting soaked.

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sunfish

Tomorrow
Clear 58 | 45 °F
Clear

The dog will like that.

harveyc

Leaves range from looking pretty bad on some varieties to pretty good on others. Overall, I'd say California Gold looks better than it appears in the photo below. Texas Star is behind California Gold and not visible in the photo but looks very good.





1. Veinte Cohol
2. Senorita (tall)
3. Hy Brazilian
4. California Gold
5. Unknown Indian (not Harjaray)
6. Ae Ae (collapsing!)
7. San Jose (in two photos)
8. Praying Hands
9. Mystery “Busy Bee”
10. Unknown (Orinoco?)

There are others in the photo but they're just obscured too much to bother mentioning.

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sunfish

they look PRETTY GOOD

harveyc

I can't say for sure if my banana garden has had frost or not. I stood on the garage roof to take the first photo and it's had heavy frost on it 10 times so far this year. I've moved most of my bananas over closer to my pool in hopes that it will serve as a heat bank and aid them (sure seems to help the Senorita which is leaning over the pool). With the pool to the south and the redwood trees to the west and my house to the east, that might keep the area slightly warmer. Some plants still look pretty bad, though. The Ensete muarelii is just on the other side of the palm and is looking pretty bad and my Ae Ae is real bad. The Dwarf Namwah and Raja puri also look worse than I had expected. My variegated Tanee (sp?) doesn't look to swift either and I need to dig up a pup of that as a backup and move it into my greenhouse. My Namwah (tall) is looking pretty good.

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momoese

You either have a nice micro climate or weak frost! They don't look bad at all for 8 frosts!

harveyc

That's 10 frosts! We had frost on 11/8 and 11/9 and then in 8 of the past 9 days. Each time the roof of my house had a solid blanket of frost. Most mornings were 32F or higher but we got down to 29.4F one morning last week.

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harveyc

BTW, somebody else should be growing these Indian bananas I've got as I don't know if they will take the winter here and I don't know what they are. They might be pretty good!

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harveyc

I think I want to get a weather station. I've seen mixed reviews on the ones that run in the low 100s. The Davis ones seem really nice.... and expensive. Any personal experiences from others here?

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sunfish

Cold

sunfish

Your forecast lows are the same as mine yet when I check your morning temps. they are higher ? Does it warm up that fast where you are ?
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Nicolas Naranja

Still having this weird weather pattern of lows in the upper 60s and highs in the mid-upper 70s with an east wind and passing light showers. Totally bizarre for this time of year. It is quite comfortable though.

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Some people go bananas, I went plantains.

harveyc

Frost #11

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momoese

I think it warms faster due to the channeling of the ocean air to our neighborhood via the Santa Monica freeway and the slight valley it runs along. We are 7 miles to the ocean. The freeway makes a bend north just below our neighborhood and wraps around it bringing an ocean breeze. At least that what I've always thought!

momoese

Something weird going on there Harvey. It only takes one frost here to wipe out all my leaves. Big Tony just lost his leaves to one frost. He's located in the Valley somewhere.

harveyc

Maybe because they are "hardened off" here with cold weather preceding the frosts. I think if a banana is growing vigorously and hit with a frost it's probably more likely to see damage. I took a photo of my garage roof this morning. My garage is unheated. My house didn't have frost on the roof that I could see (the attic is insulated but not very well).

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momoese

Hmm, interesting theory!

sunfish

I've had frost here enough to kill back some clover,grasses

harveyc

It's a little more than a theory, though I don't know if it applies to bananas. On fruit and nut trees, they can suffer significant damage if the encounter freezing weather when they are not dormant. The phloem will freeze and cells rupture. Damage to my leaves are very apparent but just don't show up very well in those photos. I'll try to take more.

The frosty weather results in leaves dropping off of my chestnuts and pomegranates which means I'll soon get busy pruning. One year we had fierce winds and rains that blew over some chestnut trees as they hadn't dropped off their leaves yet. That certainly won't be a problem this year.

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Richard

They call me Mr. Frost

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