Lupine Season Begins Slowly; Overgrowth Continues To Worsen

 I surveyed the McFarlin's Lupine planting areas this afternoon to see if any seedlings had emerged.

There were four in the first planting area, three in the second planting area and none in the third planting area.

As noted in an earlier post, the third planting area is the most overgrown of the three and definitely needs some work to open it up to encourage germination. The other two need some work, too. but not as much.

Meanwhile weather has also been a factor. Although there was 2.4 inches of rain in January, so far February rainfall has totaled only 0.2 of an inch, though more showers are predicted in the next 24 hours.

Overall, though, the La Nina winter means drier and warmer conditions, which is a stress factor for seedlings, but that is nature and there is nothing that needs to be done. That is because this effort is intended to determine whether this population can survive on its own.

I also picked up a couple of pounds of debris that has been exposed by weather and the recent discing of the fire lanes.

I will check back in a few weeks to see how many more seedlings have emerged.

I will also check out the volunteer areas where the mechanical work awakened an old seed bank. Last year there were no seedlings there., If none emerge this year. it could be a good candidate for a prescribed fire, since that
section was never burned.