Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for novices and addicts - Jan 2013, 5 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Remember when I said at least I wouldn't be around for the next 100 year heatwave? Well I was wrong; very wrong as this afternoon was even hotter than the last one the previous week. It was then 47 degrees C out in the yard in the shade and today it was 50 + degrees in the same spot. It was so unbelievably hot that I couldn't even move my ute into the yard as the door handle was so hot I couldn't open it.

The same thermometer I used last week went off the scale (50 degrees C) (see pic 1) and the red liquid is still stuck at the very top and has now left it looking like a dotted line – in other words it's “buggered.”

It was 47 in the main shade house even after I had previously soaked all the plants and damped down the floor and under the benches this morning so I'm just dreading what I'll see in a week or two when the damage becomes more evident.

The plants I was so proud of having saved from last week's effort will no doubt die this time as they would have already been under stress and even though I watered and damped down this morning and did the same again late this afternoon and will hit them all with Seasol in the morning, I expect I'm flogging a dead horse as there's just so much you can do, and I feel that I've done all I can.

As usual I'll finish with some pictures, but this time they tell the story of the heatwave. First is Pic 1 showing the thermometer stuck above 50. The next four show what happened to some Neo's in the garden, almost completely cooked. Fortunately they were just seedling culls so no real value, but more work to replace them nevertheless.

All the best, Nev.

P.S. On a positive note, my computer is still working OK in this heat.