Texas Heat!

[ustmd]

107 degrees and 22% humidity in Denton, according to the NWS. I guess all towns are required to have a drought contingency plan and I noticed the beginning of ours went into effect July 14:


In other words, no restrictions at all; just ask folks to reduce and conserve.:laughing:

Down here, we are already at stage 2 and they are talking about going to stage 3:

Restriction / Watering Schedule
Manville Water Supply Corporation has upgraded to Stage II Mandatory Watering Restrictions effective immediately.

All customers must follow the schedule below for watering outside.

Residential Watering schedule;
Odd addresses -Weds. &/or Sat.
Even addresses - Thurs. &/or Sun.

Commercial & Multifamily Watering schedule;
All addresses Tues. &/or Friday

No operation of irrigation systems or hose-end sprinklers between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Hand watering is allowed anytime.

July 1, 2011 Manville will be strictly enforcing this watering restriction.

1st violation - written or verbal notice

additional violations - disconnection of service until the next business day and a $60 re-connect fee must be paid before service will be restored.

 

[Bird]

Here in Oregon we have a 3 month drought every summer, though not as hot as Texas. If you want to keep your grass green with a minimum of water, give it a shot of nitrogen and let it grow about 4" tall. Set your lawnmower way up.

I haven't gone quite that tall, but I may on the next mowing. Last mowing I set it at 3.5" and this is the first year I've let it get that tall. And I do have the fertilizer on hand; just haven't decided whether to apply it or wait until the possibility of rain.

 

[jimrs]

I saw a news article yesterday that the dry weather would continue through next year. I don't think we can last until 2013. I live on a lake that they drained in 2010 to kill some plant that was taking over the lake. They closed the gates last Jan and the lake has not filled to date. We did have a foot of water in the boat house, down 4 foot, but it has dropped to less than 6 inches. I know when we moved here we got lots of rain in the winter and early spring but for the last three years we have gotten a lot less.

 

[pacerron]

I haven't gone quite that tall, but I may on the next mowing. Last mowing I set it at 3.5" and this is the first year I've let it get that tall. And I do have the fertilizer on hand; just haven't decided whether to apply it or wait until the possibility of rain.

Bird,
High grass is good, but don't fertilize it!
Connect Utilities &raquo 10 Ways to Save Your Yard in a Drought

Ron

 

[Western]

I cut my Bermuda a little taller than normal. I know northern grasses are bit different than our Southern grass.

Bird, I fertilized about a month ago and watered it in real good, I am a little Leary to add to it now as it takes so much water right now to soak, add the clay content and it really takes a while to soak down good.

I used and impulse sprinkler last week and let it run for an hour. I had a deep dish cooking pan I put out until I got to 1" of water in it. I dig down in one spot with my post hole diggers and found moisture at only about 2-3". I should have checked it again the next day after it was fully absorbed. I think If I continue watering, it will be long soaking and then wait, If my roots aren't being force to go deep, I'm just Pi$$&&*^ in the wind. IMO

 

[Bird]

I'm not at all sure it's a good idea to fertilize in this heat, but I just finished doing it. I've got the sprinklers and hoses hooked up to turn on the water late this evening. I'll turn them off before I got to bed tonight and back on before daylight in the morning.

 

[pacerron]

I haven't gone quite that tall, but I may on the next mowing. Last mowing I set it at 3.5" and this is the first year I've let it get that tall. And I do have the fertilizer on hand; just haven't decided whether to apply it or wait until the possibility of rain.

Bird,
This might be a good time for some mid-season maintenance of the mowing equipment down there since the grass isn't going to need mowing for a while.
If you have a cool place to work....
With that I'll segue into my Woods RM990-3 problem I was concerned about the other day. I made a post about it under Parts/Repair but only 1 hit. You guys have over 11,000 hits on Texas heat so far and climbing fast. So far I have found that the growling noise is coming from one of the blade spindles.
It has a little slop, but not much if I wiggle the pulley. I remember as a kid tightening spindle nuts on car front wheels and driving with no further problem from the bearings. If I can figure out how to push the top bearing down a little on the shaft and get the tapered split spindle center piece to hold it there, that and a little grease may fix it. You can see in my pics that the dimensions match, but the pulley has to end up level with the other belt pulleys, as well... If not there's always the replacement of bearing cones and race's to fall back on.
Do any of you guys have any experience with shaft bearings on mower spindles?
Ron

 

[Western]

Bird, at least the grasshoppers will like the Green grass, they are having a "play day" in my yard

Ever try a soaker hose?, I haven't except on trees, I wonder if it would just leave green strips where the hose was? I know they aren't cheap either..

 

[Bird]

Ron, fortunately my equipment doesn't need any maintenance work right now, and I've replaced on mower deck spindle a few years ago on a Cub Cadet lawn tractor but have never done any other work on them.

Dennis, I've seen a few grasshoppers here, but not many so far. I've seen more cicadas, and of course lots of mole tunnels. I've used some soaker hoses, but never had much luck with them. Three or four years ago, I put some around the house, just to water around the foundation to prevent foundation damage, but after a year or so, I threw them in the garbage.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Ron, my guess is you need to pull that bearing with a puller as it might be pressed on. One of the bearings is dry or going bad more than likely.

I read an article on the Little Nina and it said the first one had subsided but a 2nd one is taking its place. Also said to expect another year of drought. Llano and Robert Lee townships are already almost out of water. Last big drought happened when only 7 million lived here. Now, 25 million. San Angelo lake was 5400 acres now dry.

Texas drought may persist for another year | Bryan/College Station, Texas - The Eagle

Nation in debt, euro nations in debt, stock market a roller coaster, no water...I'd recommend you folks keep your prayers in order. I was looking for a drop of good news and then they shut NASA down pretty much.