Drought in East Texas

High heat over the recent summers and lack of rainfall is killing off the
Virginia Pine trees we planted back in 1986. These were recommended for East
Texas for Christmas tree farms and also for wildlife as they retain thick
limb cover providing a better windbreak than the Slash and or Loblolly
yellow pines..

So far we have lost 23 of these this size and larger, up to 18 inches (46
CM) in diameter at the stump. We are running these through a large tree
chipper, blowing them out over the bulbs for a “mulch”. We still are in
extreme “fire danger” so absolutely no burning is allowed, either pile up
these dead trees, creating a bigger fire danger or chip them up and spread
them out!

The scary part is the local native loblolly pines are also being killed this
summer. Lack of rain allows the various Pine Bark Beetles to weaken the
trees due to lack of flowing sap and then the various species of Flat Head
Borers follow up and kill the pines as they chew through the sap wood.

Across the creek I have lost another 38 large Second Generation Select
Loblolly pines that we planted in 1987<1988. These are a LOT taller pine
tree in a shorter amount of growing time.

We grow some of our daffodils in our front yard where the chipper is. Notice
how short the lawn is. We ONLY mowed TWICE this year once in early May when
the daffodils all dried up early and then once in August to mow off the
persimmon tree sprouts. NEVER seen such a lack of weed and or grass growth.

Farmers and ranchers CANNOT keep their livestock fenced in!!! That is my
office computer and for the last two weeks herds of cattle have been busting
through fences and coming into town. This one (and two others) were eating
lirope, but they are eating trees, bushes and even junipers of our
neighbors.

One of these broke off my main water line yesterday and I had to switch
water valves around at 5 AM to get water to my house for some coffee:-))
Late last night two police cars herded the cattle from up the street and ran
them down my driveway, down into the lower daffodil fields:-(((

There is really NOTHING for the cattle to eat in my yard but there is less
grass in their pastures. This has been going on EVERY DAY for two weeks now.
At least we are getting a LOT of free cow manure!

We got one inch of rain last week and some of the Oxblood lilies are still
trying to bloom. November and about half of them have not gotten enough rain
to bloom! Normally they bloom in late August or early September when we get
a couple of inches of rainfall.

The USA is having record snowfall this week, parts of the country are having
floods, we are having a drought so there MUST be a Daffodil show somewhere
locally this next week!!! Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas

1 comment for “Drought in East Texas

  1. I, too, must comment on the record-busting drought in east Texas and western Louisiana. Along the route between Houston and Lufkin one sees thousands of dead loblolly pine from US 59. It actually looks like poison was dropped from planes. The entire region is being devastated. An astounding number of dead oaks are also present, particularly on the western edges of properties facing an open area. The largest trees are being hit hardest. I have lost at least 5 loblolly pines of mixed sizes down by the very dry lakebed. My hoses simply do not go that far. I have watered forest trees steadily since mid-March including up to 12 hours per day on weekends. You cannot take a region adapted for 50+ inches per year and suddenly switch to 15 or so inches of rain without grave consequences. The rains simply stopped summer of 2010. I had no weeds grow over my bulbs. Spring flowering was horrible and will be even worse this coming year. The drought is unprecedented. I remember t
    hinking that it was really dry last year this time. The temps soared all summer as the humidity was more like that of southern Utah. Water systems, marinas, realtors, etc are all suffering. Toledo Bend is famous for fishing and now boats can’t even launch. I am losing well-established bald cypress, and have given up on shrubs. I am seeing odd resin streaks on my surviving pines from beetles. I’ll plant bulbs when it rains…..Annette Parker from the desert of LA

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