Big winds yesterday

johnp 11/17/2013, 9:00 am

We had quite a wind storm yesterday with a peak gust of 62 mph at our house. It blew over my compost bin and knocked down several limbs. Most of the leaves were already down but there are none left now. The biggest problem was found when I went out this morning. My back and side yards are all fenced for the dogs. We have a total of eight gates in the fence and I can only open one. All the others are stacked with tumble weeds. Some stacks are over six ft. tall and 10 or more ft. deep. Some stacks are on the outside and some on the inside. What to do with them is the problem. It's to windy to burn and to many to pile up. Maybe I'll carry cart loads out on the street and let them find a new place to travel to.

**llama momma** 11/17/2013, 9:21 am

Tumbleweeds, yikes. I was thinking compost material but just read they have thorns.
I've only seen pictures of tumbleweeds. How about this video??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNVcSIZyBuE#t=170

CapeCoddess 11/17/2013, 11:06 am

Holy mackeral!!! Shocked

That video is... beyond remarkable.

Where the on earth are they all going? Where do they end up? There MUST be one heck of a compost pile at the end of the line...
idk

CC

johnp 11/17/2013, 3:19 pm

That video (the start anyway) was just like the drive home yesterday around noon. Our terrain is foothills and not flat so the tumbleweeds would hit in spurts as we went by low spots. The tumbleweeds are very thorny and irritate your skin and I get red spots just from contact. I did get most of them out of my back yard this morning and on to the neighbors. That's not really true, the house is empty and bank owned.

plantoid 11/17/2013, 9:34 pm

I like that vid clip
Even though the tumble weeds have thorns I reckon they'd make brilliant browns if put through a chipper/mulcher . It's ideal dried vegetation minus most of the seeds, just perfect of mixing with the greens.

Lindacol 11/17/2013, 10:01 pm

The tumbleweeds end up piled against any windbreak - fences, walls, buildings, etc They are a pain to deal with. Hard to mash or put thru a shredder as they are so prickly. But the goats ate them and as long as I compost the manure it works well but if I just spread the manure it spreads the seeds.

GWN 11/20/2013, 7:51 pm

what a great video, never seen anything like that.
As aside.... seems that kid may have had a couple too many espressos with lunch though... lol!

audrey.jeanne.roberts 11/21/2013, 5:51 pm

I grew up in Orange County, Southern California when it was named after all the orange groves that grew there. We had tumbleweeds going down our street every time there was wind. Just HATE those dksaofwpoa;n;lva things!

**llama momma** 11/21/2013, 6:03 pm

audrey.jeanne.roberts wrote:I grew up in Orange County, Southern California when it was named after all the orange groves that grew there. We had tumbleweeds going down our street every time there was wind. Just HATE those dksaofwpoa;n;lva things!

I'm sorry I had to laugh so hard at your hatred of those things. My nephew has experienced them out west and Me, never had the experience actually asked him to box up a couple of them so I could display them with other plants in the loft above my front door! Talk about a queer fascination huh!

audrey.jeanne.roberts 11/21/2013, 6:57 pm

I can remember being 4 or 5 and being "chased down" by one of them. If you think those thorns are bad as an adult, imagine when they were as tall as I was, LOL! And that tumbling... it's how they spread their seeds and it is an EXTREMELY efficient method. Even when they are green they do not pluck out of the ground easily.

If I find any, I'll be sure and send them your way Wink

There is one weed I hate worse and that is Bermuda grass... don't EVEN get me talking on that subject Razz

**sanderson** 11/22/2013, 1:39 am

First there was Bermuda, then Bermuda hybrid (putting green with no seeds). Both invasive. Thank goodness for tall Fescue. Doesn't hold up to heavy traffic but at least you don't have to spend spring pulling it out of the flower beds.

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