Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[jinman]

After a change to some dry clothes and a shot of nerve medicine (Scotch) she was good to go.
Charlie

Sounds like cheap 'therapy' to me, Charlie.:thumbsup: I'm glad you got some nice rain and not too much wind. When it came over here, it had winds of about 35 mph, but the storm strength seemed to build as it went across the DFW metro-mess. Gosh! It was nice sleeping with the windows open and the wet grass covered by dew this morning is super. I'm sorry you have the hassle of the tree down. Be careful getting it off your driveway.

 

[foreman Etexas]

We got enough to wet the deck barely

 

[dave1949]

This rain vs hose well water comparison is a way to goof-off on a rainy day. :laughing:

One reason given, is the extra nitrogen rain water takes from the air as nitric acid which becomes available to plants as nitrogen. But this seems to depend on ozone formation in lightning. We get a lot of rain with no associated lightning, so that can't be the total answer. On the other hand, there is ozone present as a pollutant and natural occurrence without lightning.

Why is rain water better than tap water for plants

Tap water contains a lot of Ca-ions and Mg-ions: good for human bones, but not too good for a plant if used in excess. However, plants like Nitrogen very much! And that's where the rain water comes in.
Our atmosphere consists of about 21% Oxygen and 78% Nitrogen, but plants can't take it in through the atmosphere. They need nitrates. If lightning strikes through the atmosphere, it gives the oxygen and nitrogen molecules enough energy to form nitrates, which are NO3-ions. These ions react with the water and form a weak solution of nitric acid. The plants then take it up, via the water.


Then there is the hydrogen peroxide reasoning, and even the claim that rain water can be simulated by adding hydrogen peroxide to the hose water!

The Many Benefits of Hydrogen Peroxide By Dr. David G. Williams

If any substance is interesting, it's hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide should really be called hydrogen dioxide. Its chemical formula is H2O2. It contains one more atom of oxygen that does water (H20). By now everyone's aware of the ozone layer that surrounds the earth. Ozone consists of three atoms of oxygen (03). This protective layer of ozone is created when ultraviolet light from the sun splits an atmospheric oxygen molecule (02) into two single, unstable oxygen atoms. These single molecules combine with others to form ozone (03). Ozone isn't very stable. In fact, it will quickly give up that extra atom of oxygen to falling rainwater to form hydrogen peroxide (H202). (Bear with me: all this chemistry mumbo jumbo I'm going through actually will help you understand the importance of hydrogen peroxide.)

Helps Plants
It is this hydrogen peroxide in rainwater that makes it so much more effective than tap water when given to plants. With the increased levels of atmospheric pollution, however, greater amounts of H202 react with air-borne toxins and never reach the ground. To compensate for this, many farmers have been increasing crop yields by spraying them with diluted hydrogen peroxide (5 to 16 ounces of 35% mixed with 20 gallons of water per acre). You can achieve the same beneficial effect with your house plants by adding 1 ounce of 3% hydrogen peroxide (or 16 drops of 35% solution) to every quart of water you give your plants. (It can also be made into an excellent safe insecticide. Simply spray your plants with 8 ounces of 3% peroxide mixed with 8 ounces of white sugar and one gallon of water.)


Hydrogen Peroxide for Boosting Plant Growth | eHow

Watering your plants with hydrogen peroxide mixed with water will free up and add oxygen in the soil. This allows the roots to take up additional nutrients and water to feed to the plant, boosting the plant's growth. Two tsp. of food grade hydrogen peroxide mixed with 1 gallon of water used at every watering, or every other watering, increases the plant's strength and health. For hydroponic growing, use the same equation for your water grow tank. The hydrogen peroxide adds the extra oxygen atom to the grow water, something that some hydroponically grown plants have difficulty accessing.

 

[Western]

Charlie, y'all been needing some rain! Just tell the boss lady the tree was your "deal" and it's fire wood for next year! You "was" going to cut it up until it started raining:thumbsup:

Couple of thoughts on well water. Allot of wells in Texas have high amounts of Calcium and other minerals, and what about back East where they have that "acid rain", how does their well water seem to effect plants? May also be vegetation selection, most garden plants aren't native to here and maybe they are effected more by our dryness and heat? I have no real idea, but I can tell a difference in the lawn grass and garden plants when it comes to water type.

 

[dave1949]

Charlie, y'all been needing some rain! Just tell the boss lady the tree was your "deal" and it's fire wood for next year! You "was" going to cut it up until it started raining:thumbsup:

Couple of thoughts on well water. Allot of wells in Texas have high amounts of Calcium and other minerals, and what about back East where they have that "acid rain", how does their well water seem to effect plants? May also be vegetation selection, most garden plants aren't native to here and maybe they are effected more by our dryness and heat? I have no real idea, but I can tell a difference in the lawn grass and garden plants when it comes to water type.

Good point Dennis, most of what we plant in the garden isn't native, and it's not nearly as tolerant of overly wet or dry conditions.

One of the main problems with acid rain, besides lowering the pH of rain and cloud moisture (trees at higher elevations can be shrouded in cloud mist often), is that it frees aluminum in surface water, which is toxic to fish. It also messes up the soil nutrients for plants. It's bad stuff.

 

[Western]

Dave, it's been a long while since I was back East, 1960's we lived outside Hagerstown MD, for my dads job at the time. I dont recall the term "acid" rain back then, heck I think they where still eating fish caught in the rivers around NY:laughing:

I have "heard" acid rain can strip paints, kill plants and just eat at metals?? That may all be rumor, I dont know. They may be something to that, but I bet allot of blame goes to the rain and misses some of the chemicals used on roads there in the winter, like salts?

 

[dave1949]

Dave, it's been a long while since I was back East, 1960's we lived outside Hagerstown MD, for my dads job at the time. I dont recall the term "acid" rain back then, heck I think they where still eating fish caught in the rivers around NY:laughing:

I have "heard" acid rain can strip paints, kill plants and just eat at metals?? That may all be rumor, I dont know. They may be something to that, but I bet allot of blame goes to the rain and misses some of the chemicals used on roads there in the winter, like salts?

Awareness of acid rain goes way back:

Acid rain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The corrosive effect of polluted, acidic city air on limestone and marble was noted in the 17th century by John Evelyn, who remarked upon the poor condition of the Arundel marbles. Since the Industrial Revolution, emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere have increased. In 1852, Robert Angus Smith was the first to show the relationship between acid rain and atmospheric pollution in Manchester, England.

Though acidic rain was discovered in 1853, it was not until the late 1960s that scientists began widely observing and studying the phenomenon. The term "acid rain" was coined in 1872 by Robert Angus Smith. Canadian Harold Harvey was among the first to research a "dead" lake. Public awareness of acid rain in the U.S increased in the 1970s after The New York Times published reports from the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire of the myriad deleterious environmental effects shown to result from it.



The car manufacturers have done quite a bit to fix the rusting issues. It's not nearly as bad as it was in the 60's and 70's. I think the stuff they spread on the roads has changed too.

The Wikipedia article describes the effects of acid rain fairly completely. In this area we experience more of a stunting effect on tree growth rates than outright die offs. I have seen ridges in the Blue Ridge Mtns. that are covered with dead standing trees that supposedly was caused by acid rain. Plus the lakes here are overly acidic, and the fish are contaminated with mercury to point that pregnant women shouldn't eat them, and everybody else should limit their locally caught fish meals.

Most of the acid rain and mercury are attributed to coal-fired power plants in the Midwest. That's the general source of wind flow here.

 

[houstonscott]

Just looked over fences looks like wind took down or spilt a large juniper tree, now laying on a fence of mine. Didn't seem that bad yesterday. Time to break out chain saw.

HS

 

[pacerron]

Hey Dave,
You forgot to mention peroxide is great for boiling ear wax loose for us old guys that have to wear hearing aids

 

[Bird]

Hey Dave,
You forgot to mention peroxide is great for boiling ear wax loose for us old guys that have to wear hearing aids

Are you kidding? I hadn't heard of that method of ear wax removal before, so I don't know whether you're serious or joking.