BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Hmmmm, could get interesting overnight here in the Moapa Valley. If the rain keeps up the Muddy River could flood. Last time it did, I believe it was in 05, it went 1/2 mile wide. Pretty impressive when you consider how dinky it normally is, and how far down it is. Luckily I knew about the previous floods, and scoped out higher ground when I moved here. Normally we have flash floods here in the desert washes, but an actual flood is not that common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larzz Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Sounds like you are in a good area. West of you all the hills are moving to the valleys! My area is high and dry. A little white right now though. I bet you are glad you don't live up in the Red River Valley. There are expecting major flooding again this sprig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dablacksmith Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 ya this series of storms is really inpressive ! i wont be able to go to the shop till it quits .they have a tornado watch on right now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted January 22, 2010 Author Share Posted January 22, 2010 Yeah, when I lived in CA I learned that you don't buy a house on,or below,the edge of anything. Rivers are nice to view, and visit, but not meant to live next to. Those edges sooner, or later, move the top to the bottom, and rivers have a nasty habit of getting deeper at times. I moved to Southern Nevada to get away from cold, wet winters. It is nice here for so much of the year that I really can't complain about 4" of rain a year. The flooding here happens with 1" of rain, not like other places where it takes multiple inches to flood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McCoy Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Biggundoctor, Rained in Vegas almost all night and day ... had snow and sleet in the western part of town at around 3:30 pm for about 30-45 minutes ... my back yard is flooding and will have to move the tortoises in the AM ... more of the same for tomorrow they say. Funny, when it all stops, I can go out back to my steel pile and see what rust really looks like. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fe-Wood Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Thats nothing- Today I measured the rain since December... 11" Glad all my property is up on hills Tonight....Its snowing AND I had a great day at the forge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Fairly gentle rain but lots of wind out here. Yearly rainfall total is around 4 hundredths to 2 tenths of an inch so far (depending on which weather station you use) Last year 5.68 inches *TOTAL*. They just finished putting a bridge in over the local arroyo that was washing out the low water crossing pretty badly when we did see a gullywasher. I was hoping to see it in use this morning; but only puddles, (so far). When we had the odd wet year we found that our house is on a slight rise and the waters went around us nicely---did tear out the neighbors fence, railroad ties make great battering rams in a flood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dablacksmith Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 well last night we heard a loud noise .... looked this morning to see this ... real windy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 Too bad about the saguaro. You can stuff it back in the ground, and see if it will reroot. I have a bunch of cacti that I have either found dumped, or was given parts of, that I just tossed in the ground that are doing great now. Just remember to orient it back to North, so it doesn't get sunburnt. Saguaros do not really do well here in Southern NV, too dry even for them. This corner is the driest spot in the U.S. Looks like we avoided a flood here. There was enough of a gap between the fronts that the Muddy was able to handle the flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dablacksmith Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Too bad about the saguaro. You can stuff it back in the ground, and see if it will reroot. I have a bunch of cacti that I have either found dumped, or was given parts of, that I just tossed in the ground that are doing great now. Just remember to orient it back to North, so it doesn't get sunburnt. Saguaros do not really do well here in Southern NV, too dry even for them. This corner is the driest spot in the U.S. Looks like we avoided a flood here. There was enough of a gap between the fronts that the Muddy was able to handle the flow. cant put it back cause it broke the root in half also way too heavy...it was 52 ft long ...we cut it up and are letting it dry out before hauling it to the dump (they charge by the ton).. were hopeing there is enuf root to sprout a new bud but it probably wont.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 Some cacti will reroot after falling over, prickly pear for one. They will send roots out from all over, not just the base. Too bad you had to cut it up, I have seen saguaro "skeletons" for sale. You may want to look into this, but you might be able to get one of the cut sections to sprout. Depending on how long you let the cut pieces set, they may sprout on their own. Cacti are pretty persistent. Well the sun is finally out, which means I have some work to do draining water, and checking for damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fe-Wood Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 sad about the cactus On the re-root, nothing ventured, nothing gained.... If you are going to let it dry out anyway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Up here where I am, Cave Creek, we got as near as I can tell, near 6" of rain. I was afraid I might loose some trees. The roots don't go too deep because of caliche soil, so when soil is soaked a little bit of wind will bring them down. I had to dig my big Sulcata tortoise out as his tunnel/den system collapsed on top of him, what a mess. Up north, Flagstaff, they got a lot of snow, 4 to 5 feet of the stuff. This has been a good storm for our reservoirs. What I get a kick out of is the folk from back East that come out here, build a fancy house, then wonder why it washed away when it rained. Well you asked them if they would have built it there in a river flood plain back home and they get all p.o.'ed at you and say no. Just because it only gets really wet every ten years don't mean it's a good place to build a house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 dablacksmith, I have had some success rooting the arms. Put them in a place out of the sun and rain. Now if there are no splits or cracks in the arms you are doing OK. If there are you will need to treat them will sulphur. I usually get some soil sulphur and grind it up but there is a product called Bordeaux powder that has sulphur in it that I have also used. It keeps bacteria from getting in there and starting rot. On one occasion I had sections of Saguaro root while letting them dry before taking to the landfill, very rare. You need to let the ends callous over, so make sure the ends have a coat of sulphur or just trust your luck,like I said it's very rare. If the growing tip of the cactus is not split, rare, it too can be rooted. Treat as I have already described. Good luck with your attempts. By the way it takes about two years before you will know if you are successful or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted January 26, 2010 Author Share Posted January 26, 2010 I would like a clarification on how big the saguaro was. You posted 52' is that correct? or was it 25'? Never saw one that was that tall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dablacksmith Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 I would like a clarification on how big the saguaro was. You posted 52' is that correct? or was it 25'? Never saw one that was that tall. it was 52 ft and it split in a couple places when it went down... it was a REAL BIG seguaro with a clump of 5 or more arms... it took out the iron fence like it was aluminum ... to give you a idea the main upright was heavy wall 2x2 square tube set in concrete .. the cross bars (top and bottom) were 1 x !/2 solid strap with 1/2 sq upright stringers .. i might have tried to root one of the arms if we hadnt cut um up ... its ok we have a few more around ....kinda glad it didnt fall on a car...wow are they heavy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragons lair Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 Glad it didn't fall on your shop or you. If the weight don't get ya the spines will. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted January 26, 2010 Author Share Posted January 26, 2010 I know what smaller (12'-16') saguaros cost around here. One that size with that many arms would be pretty expensive. Probably at least a couple of hundred years old. Kinda sad to see it drop like that. The third largest redwood toppled a few years ago, and on it's side it was still 17' tall.Lots of history over that many years. I read a story about a guy who shot a saguaro with a shotgun. It ended up falling on him, which killed him. They are mostly water when alive, and at 8# per gallon that adds up really fast. Do you get any fruit on yours? I know the native Americans harvest the fruit to make a syrup with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dablacksmith Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 I know what smaller (12'-16') saguaros cost around here. One that size with that many arms would be pretty expensive. Probably at least a couple of hundred years old. Kinda sad to see it drop like that. The third largest redwood toppled a few years ago, and on it's side it was still 17' tall.Lots of history over that many years. I read a story about a guy who shot a saguaro with a shotgun. It ended up falling on him, which killed him. They are mostly water when alive, and at 8# per gallon that adds up really fast. Do you get any fruit on yours? I know the native Americans harvest the fruit to make a syrup with. it has had fruit on it a few times we just left um to nature tho (didnt know how to harvest and use um) we have another one close to the same size ..that redwood is one of the reasons the old timers (before chainsaws) said you could never log all the woods .. can you imagine trying to fell something like that with a bucksaw and a axe! I know they used to but talk about dangerous and hard work!ive heard about people shooting cactus dont quite understand why but i guess its the same as shooting road signs .. well have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted January 27, 2010 Share Posted January 27, 2010 Saguaro fruit is fermented into a sort of wine too by the Native Americans. The seeds are used in salad dressings and used in place of poppy seeds by some avant-garde chefs out here but to me they're just something to catch between my teeth. With Saguaro seeds you get almost 100% germination rates but the bugs, birds and rodents eat most of them so by the time all the seeds that one Saguaro produces over it's life time it is fortunate to have reproduce it's self in the landscape. Rabbits eat most of the young ones, girdle them as they grow, then frost can get them, then storm and lightening. Saguaros are amazing cactus, home to many critters in life and death, nesting area for hawks, owls, woodpeckers, wrens in life and home for water loving insects in death. The wooden skeleton was used by Native Americans for building materials. A truly amazing plant. A little side note here, we got over 6" of rain and more today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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