The grasses have been putting out a great deal of growth since the December rains, they are the lightest, and provide the tender to wick fire. They will bloom soon if it is warm with some rain, and dry in the spring otherwise they may dry in the cold Santa Anas, and not bloom much at all.
I am watching the invasive Fountain grass out here in Eastern San Diego County and it is drying out FAST, in fact it is seeding, and its tops are showing its propensity for early season fire transmission. It looks like miniature purple pampas, until it drys to a cream seed filled spike which looks even more like pampas!
The cheatgrass, the mustard, the filaree... is still green, as is most of everything else. The water table is very high, and the seeps are keeping the chaparral, the oaks and the pine areas very moist. In fact the artesian well on my property is feeding the springs quite readily. The "decadent" chaparral material under the plants is dry, but it is still holding some moisture from the rains. The Engelmann oaks are in their raggedy phase still, common in winter.
If we have more Santa Anas, we are in deep trouble.
I check for moisture content everyday...the chaparral is not yet dry here. It is holding its moisture as it is adapted to the winter Santa Anas, just not frequent ones during winter.
Now the Fountain grass, it is VERY scary stuff, and I still do not know if some of this is actually the buffelgrass.
Our fuel regimes are most commonly A + B, F
Patricia
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