Blizzard of leaves that is; my house is ringed by trees and most are live oaks. Live oaks keep their leaves all winter then start shedding about this time of year. The shedding will continue until about the middle of April. New leaves start growing as soon as the old leaves fall. When most of the leaves are dropped a blizzard of pollen follows. The pollen is in the form of strings about an inch long containing small packets of pollen and the ground, streets, cars, pools, and roofs are covered with them - billions or zillions of them. About this same time the pine trees will start shedding pollen as well. The pine pollen is very small particle and kind of a yellowish green color, and it will coat everything giving the entire landscape a yellowish cast. The surface of the pool will be yellowish and there will be a ring of pollen around the pool at the water line. When you backwash the filter the water comes out yellow. If you try to clear off the drive way with a blower it will create a yellow cloud that ends up on you.
All this mess will continue until about the middle of May. From the middle of May to about the middle of June things are very pleasant - no pollen, no leaves falling, and the temperature is not too hot. Then about the middle of June comes the first love bug plague. A love bug is a small winged insect that does not seem to do any harm except for the numbers of them. They constantly mate and fly around joined tail to tail. There are millions and millions of them. When you go outside you have to keep your mouth closed to keep the love bugs out. It's not a good idea to take a drink outside unless you need the extra protein the bugs can provide because they will get in your glass or cup. You have to wash your car almost every day to get the bugs off the bumper and windshield. They are small enough to pass though the screens on the skimmer and the pump inlet basket and end up in the sand filter. When you backwash the filter the first water out is thick with love bugs. This keeps up for about two or three weeks then they all die or go under ground or something - at least they go away until the fall.
When the love bugs come out it signals the start of the hurricane season. Guess that's why I love the Gulf Coast so much - always something to keep your interest up.
All this mess will continue until about the middle of May. From the middle of May to about the middle of June things are very pleasant - no pollen, no leaves falling, and the temperature is not too hot. Then about the middle of June comes the first love bug plague. A love bug is a small winged insect that does not seem to do any harm except for the numbers of them. They constantly mate and fly around joined tail to tail. There are millions and millions of them. When you go outside you have to keep your mouth closed to keep the love bugs out. It's not a good idea to take a drink outside unless you need the extra protein the bugs can provide because they will get in your glass or cup. You have to wash your car almost every day to get the bugs off the bumper and windshield. They are small enough to pass though the screens on the skimmer and the pump inlet basket and end up in the sand filter. When you backwash the filter the first water out is thick with love bugs. This keeps up for about two or three weeks then they all die or go under ground or something - at least they go away until the fall.
When the love bugs come out it signals the start of the hurricane season. Guess that's why I love the Gulf Coast so much - always something to keep your interest up.
