Sunday, September 7, 2008

Hanna - A Drought Breaker?

Tropical storm Hanna brought welcome rain to Delaware on Saturday. Was it enough to break the drought? Some areas received just a little over an inch, others close to two inches. Many plants were severely drought stressed before the rain. Most deciduous woody plants will not put out new leaves because it is late in the season. The same goes for many perennial plants. Evergreen species should benefit significantly. Turf should recover but some areas will have thinned out. Nursery and greenhouse growers can breath a sigh of relief for the fall sales season as customers should be looking for plants now that there is some soil moisture (and they will be looking to replace drought damaged plants). The following are rainfall totals for the area.

Blackbird 1.92 inches
Smyrna 1.44 inches
Dover 1.30 inches
Kitts Hummock 1.22 inches
Harrington 1.10 inches
Milford 1.39 inches

Gordon Johnson, Extension Horticulture Agent, UD, Kent County

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