sunfish

lorax

Cool! Manicata or mixta, Tony?

It's actually kinda sorta raining here and abou 25 C, which overjoys me to no end. Maybe our year's average precipiation will come up to 3 cm!

sunfish

Tripartita mollissima plenty of flowers but even with hand pollinating it no fruit set?

lorax

Hmmm. Are you selfing it or crossing?

sunfish

Selfing it and trying to root some cuttings.

lorax

That might be your problem. Most banana-type passionfruits are self-sterile. Try crossing it with Manicata if you've got blooms on both vines.

sunfish

Thanks

sunfish

Feels like 65f

harveyc

Cool and rainy here

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sbl

We finally had a frost here--got down to about 33 or 34 while I was gone.

lorax

35 degrees C and sunny. There's not even any trace of last night's drizzle.

Dean W.

70 degrees F here.

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island cassie

Cold here - 73f/23c and pouring with rain - 9.5 inches in 15 hours. Sheesh!

sbl

Was it you or Lorax that was way below normal in rainfall? We are way above and headed for more!

sunfish

lorax

SBL, it was me. In fact, since the drought is continuing, we're still on electricity rationing across the country. (This may sound like a non-sequitur, but Ecuador is 100% hydroelectric) This is going to end in tears - the highland farmers were unable to get the potato, corn, barley, quinoa, and "cool weather" vegetable crops in, and the coastal farmers lost the year's second cycle of rice. About the only thing doing well cropwise this year is Amazon bananas and fruits. The price of staple foods is already going up.

sbl

Wow! 100% hydroelectric! I am guessing that this is typical of El Nino pattern--is it? That is bad news about the farmers--it is tough enough when they get a crop, but to not even get to plant is really a disaster for them.

I was just up in north MS and the excess rain there rotted soybeans and cotton on the stalk--many fields are left totally unharvested. However, rice and corn did OK there.

Richard

Coldest night so far this season, it was 33 F just before dawn.

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Back in business at plantsthatproduce.com

justjoan

MAJOR SNOW STORM HEADED HERE, MIGHT BE SPENDING CHRISTMAS AT WORK!!! BAH HUMBUG

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Friends are the siblings God never gave you

lorax

SBL - it's typical of El Niño, but this year is the most severe drought in at least 40 years. A milder one 10 years ago caused widespead malnutrition problems, and led to the government's policy of stockpiling rice and other grains. Thanks to that, we won't have widespread starvation issues, but the price of food is really skyrocketing. I used to pay $25 for a 50-lb sack of potatoes, and the price on Monday when I went to the market was upwards of $40, and bidding wars were starting over what little there was. Ecuador is a food-sovereign nation, which is usually a good thing, but this year it's biting us.

And yeah, we're 100% hydro. Four large dams provide all the power for the country. Paute (on the coast) and Cuenca (in the south sierra) are currently dry - there hasn't been enough rain to feed the rivers they're on. San Francisco, on the upper Rio Pastaza, has permanent silt issues, and the dam in Ibarra is running on very low reservoir. It's so bad that we're buying excess power from Peru at this point - where we used to sell them ours! Everybody in the country is praying for rain, even those in areas that traditionally flood in the rainy season - they're dry as well.

Today in Ambato, it looks like it will hit 40 C with sustained 30 kph winds. All we need now is for Tungurahua to start erupting again!