Early Winter Coming? ...and Food Shortages?

Here in Winnipeg - almost dead center North America - indigenous poplar trees started turning yellow and dropping their leaves about 2 weeks ago. A few days ago we went from a scorching heat wave straight into fall weather (cool days, 7 Celsius at night). We'll warm up again by the weekend no doubt, but the poplar know.

Our spring came about 1 1/2 months early, but it was dry dry dry. Didn't rain once in that month and a half. Then it poured, and flooded.

My tomatoes are bearing okay but the green beans have been dropping their blossoms all along - I'm getting 1 bean for every 20 flowers! The greenhouse guru says it's the weird weather.

Local headlines predict bad crops all round. Food prices have skyrocketed here over the past few years, and there have been food shortages and food riots in other parts of the world. ...I'm wondering what might be coming now...

How is everyone else faring with their weather and crops? Do you think winter will come early this year?

Thanks, sofi

Worst tomatoes ever this year! And this is the year I picked to grow over 100 tomato plants. Out of 8 zuke and squash plants, only 1 squash has grown. Cukes did ok for the first couple weeks, then the plants all dried and withered up. Corn was terrible. My beans are growing at very odd and different pace. One a stem with 2 beans, one will be in the drying stages and the other will be barely mature.

Bad year for gardening for sure.

I'm in Georgia. Georgia didn't have a drought but this area did. Still, I watered everyday, sometimes 2x a day.

Horrible year for tomatoes, cucumbers, ect. HORRID.

My dad - who is 73 and has been gardening his whole life as has a green ARM, gave up.

I had some beans that did well - they grew and grew - but I only had 2 beans on all of them!
My friend in Atlanta had a tomato plant that got 6' tall, but he has only had 2 tomatoes! It was a HUGE plant but it wouldn't produce. Bees?

My peppers, fennel, and basil did well, and the tobacco is going ok. It's been bad.

My feeling is that, though in my region this year it has been very unusually hot and definitely has affected crops, that it is actually fairly rare that a year goes by where we don't have either a hard winter, drought, heat, too much precipitation, too little precipitation, an early spring, a late harvest or some other climate-related anomaly. It seems to me the anomaly would be not having an anomaly.

This is not to negate various severe conditions that exist in places. We had pretty much the worst winter ever recorded last year and I have never lived through a summer with such prolonged heat and drought like this one.

p.s. hey, baby

[edit on Aug 17, 2010 by Hadrian]

I'm convinced they are engineering the weather to create food shortages.

Food shortages give them exactly what they want in terms of a dependent population and civil unrest, both of which allow them to take total control and instigate brutal crackdowns.

The temperature dropped to 4 degrees Celcius two nights in a row now. I'm in Saskatchewan about 400 miles north west from Winnipeg. We didn't get a spring this year, the snow melted really late, frost on the ground until the end of June. Then it started to rain, and rain, and rain.

So this years growing season is just about over at the sixth week.
I think we're going into winter next month, no autumn this year either.
I hope the mosquitoes freeze soon though

I'm in northeast PA and some birch trees have been yellow for at least 2 weeks and acorns have been falling since late July. I even saw an oddball maple tree with some orange leaves last week. It's been hot and dry here this summer and acorns seem to fall a little earlier every year. I don't know what it all means since every winter still has snow and ice and every spring and autumn seem to last shorter and shorter.

I've had/got lots of pollinators in my garden - but pollination is a problem in areas here that spray for mosquitoes...

I'm actually wondering about lingering effects of the Iceland eruptions earlier this year...


IE., from Scientific American
How do volcanoes affect world climate?

Benjamin Franklin made what may have been the first connection between volcanoes and global climate ... He observed that during the summer of 1783, the climate was abnormally cold, both in Europe and back in the U.S. The ground froze early, the first snow stayed on the ground without melting, the winter was more severe than usual, and there seemed to be "a constant fog over all Europe, and [a] great part of North America."

What Benjamin Franklin observed was indeed the result of volcanic activity. An enormous eruption of the Laki fissure system ...in Iceland caused the disruptions. ...the Laki event also produced an ash cloud that may have reached up into the stratosphere. ...The effects, of course, were most severe in Iceland; ultimately, more than 75 percent of Iceland's livestock and 25 percent of its human population died from famine or the toxic impact of the Laki eruption clouds. Consequences were also felt far beyond Iceland. Temperature data from the U.S. indicate that record lows occurred during the winter of 1783-1784. In fact, the temperature decreased about one degree Celsius in the Northern Hemisphere overall. That may not sound like much, but it had enormous effects in terms of food supplies and the survival of people across the Northern Hemisphere.

???

Normal August weather in Texas. Temperatures are around a 100 with lows around 78 and little rain. Our spring growing season ended months ago and we are getting seedlings started ready for the fall growing season.

I haven't seen any signs of a early winter around these parts.

I'm on the Georgia coast and I had a very good crop of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.

Had 4 rows of string beans and only got enough beans for one meal.

I'll be planting turnips, mustard, collards, onions and lettuce in September.

We can grow veggies 11 months out of the year. January is the only month that it is not advisable to plant.

My lemon tree has doubled it's size this year.

Happy gardening to all.

reply to post by dizziedame


Your third sentence had me salivating. I'm the nephew of eight Georgian aunts and the son of one Georgian mom.

Where are you virraszto?

...We might be able to map out the areas affected if everyone posts their general location...?


EDIT TO ADD:

USDA Expects Strong Demand For 2010 Crops

Production of wheat outside of the U.S. is projected at 23.7 billion bushels, 5.8 percent smaller than last year’s production and the smallest in four years. Large year-over-year declines are reported for Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Canada.

Hmmm.




[edit on 17-8-2010 by soficrow]

Garden in Midwest USA

Cucumbers, zucchini, squash, green beans never sprouted. Corn, tomatoes, and peppers thrived. We have had some REALLY hot weather for 2 months. Our weather patterns seen to be reverting back to what they were like 6-10 years ago. The last 5-6 years have been very strange.

reply to post by wcitizen


When it comes to that I plan on killing and eating those in control. Im told human is just like horse.

I'm in SE Mi. Last year, we had a cool summer and my tomatoes didn't even start ripening until September. This year, it's been so hot, most of my tomato plants are down to one main stem with a few tomatoes on them. Kinda like this one.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/40f68d4dab6b.jpg[/atsimg]

Interesting. Garden crops and perennials here are about 1 1/2 months ahead of schedule, while California food crops are running behind about 10 days to 2 weeks due to a cool wet spring and cooler summer temps.

Cool spring, mild summer delay valley crops

Issue Date: August 18, 2010
By Steve Adler

Yolo County vegetable grower Jim Durst had some yield reductions in his asparagus earlier this year, and harvest is running up to two weeks late for his summer vegatables, including tomatoes, melons, squash, pumpkins, zucchini, peppers and cucumbers.

Farmers throughout California’s great Central Valley face a weather-related challenge that they haven’t seen in recent years—the cool, wet spring and subsequent lack of soaring summer temperatures have put virtually all crops behind by 10 days to two weeks.

I live in eastern Missouri and have noticed some tree and shrub varieties already turning color even though it would seem we've had enough rain. It's also been hella hot. My yard plants have taken a beating, also.

I thought I was just imagining things.

reply to post by soficrow


The same thing is happening across North East PA, Poplars and Birches turned yellow as did the wild grapes. Normaly the grapes dont wither untill mid september and the leaves dont turn until mid/late october. It seems though only Birch, Poplar and my huge Forsythia are affected the other tree's and shrubs are just fine.

Could it by some remote chance, that all that chemtrail action have something to do with it? It can ensure that no one will be able to grow their own food, and have no choice but to rely on what guv approves, especially the Gm foods. Hybrids/Gms do not allow their seeds to grow.

If chemtrails (spraying) has something to do with our crops, then think about dieseases, etc happening to our animals/livestock, us and our kids.

Just something to think about.

reply to post by FrancoUn-American


Which trees and shrubs are indigenous?

Indigenous species like Poplar are the ones turning here. Imports don't seem to be that 'tuned.'