蜜柚直播

Cactus experts report below-average bud and blossom production on saguaros in the Rincon and 蜜柚直播 mountains, with almost no flowering activity at all at some east-side locations.

Though Saguaro National Park doesn鈥檛 actively track cactus flowers across the entire 93,000-acre preserve, the numbers appear to be way down, according to park biologist Don Swann.

鈥淚n some parts of the park, we鈥檙e seeing no sign of reproduction,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he majority of saguaros are not showing any buds or flowers at all in most of the places I鈥檝e looked.鈥�

Researchers have seen sudden drops in flower production like this before, but this one seems different to Swann.

鈥淯sually when there are few flowers, there is a direct link to a climate event, as in 2011 when we had a deep freeze,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his year we think there is a less direct link.鈥�

It鈥檚 鈥減ure speculation,鈥� Swann said, but the lack of flowers could be a response to several years of extremely dry conditions, followed by last year鈥檚 above-average bloom.

鈥淭hey put all their energy into reproduction last year. Now they鈥檙e taking a pause to recoup and recover,鈥� he said.

So what caused all the saguaros to push out so many blossoms in 2021, weeks before the recorded-breaking monsoon storms had even begun?

鈥淲e can鈥檛 be sure,鈥� Swann said. 鈥淲e were joking that maybe they knew that the rains would come.鈥�

Passing the peak

Mark Dimmitt is a 蜜柚直播 horticulturalist who maintains a sprawling collection of unusual plants in his garden and greenhouses on the west side.

He said he spends more time these days checking the ground for rattlesnakes than studying the tops of the giant cactuses in his neighborhood. Anecdotally, though, he has noticed a lot fewer saguaro flowers on the eastern slope of the 蜜柚直播 Mountains, especially compared to last year鈥檚 epic display.

鈥淚t鈥檚 down quite a bit,鈥� said the retired director of natural history at the 蜜柚直播-Sonora Desert Museum. 鈥淎 number of plants in my yard don鈥檛 even have buds yet.鈥�

Some speculate that a lack of winter rain could be to blame, but Dimmitt said that can鈥檛 be the only reason for low production in a given year.

鈥淪aguaros store a lot of water. The ones in the Yuma area can go two years without rain and still flower,鈥� he said.

He鈥檚 not terribly worried about it in any case.

鈥淥ne or two years of low blooming I don鈥檛 think is cause for alarm,鈥� Dimmitt said.

One place the saguaros are blooming 鈥� though in much lower numbers than usual 鈥� is in a scientific plot the park service established on the west side of the 蜜柚直播 Mountains in 2017 to study reproduction by the park鈥檚 namesake cactus.

Swann said the saguaro flowering phenology plot is within a short walk of the park鈥檚 Red Hills Visitor Center and includes 55 of the mature plants.

Each cactus is checked almost daily from the beginning of April through the end of July by science interns and community volunteers, who use giant selfie sticks to take high-resolution photos of the top of every stem.

The goal of the long-term study is to learn more about how saguaros grow and reproduce under different conditions, including those brought on by human-caused climate change.

So far this year, the plot has produced less than a quarter of the flowers researchers have seen there in previous years, and the bloom appears to have reached its peak.

Saguaros generally flower in early May and bear fruit in early summer. Their waxy white blossoms open at night and only stay that way for about half a day 鈥� just long enough, if they鈥檙e lucky, to be cross-pollinated by a bee, bat or bird.

Swann said the cactuses that haven鈥檛 produced buds by now are unlikely to bloom at all this season.

An empty plot

Research ecologist Bill Peachey starts looking for buds on his saguaros in mid April and usually spots his first flower by May 5.

He has scarcely seen a thing this year on the 2-acre patch of desert he鈥檚 been studying near Colossal Cave since 1997.

His scientific plot contains 139 saguaros with 403 individual stems, but so far he has found just four flowers on a single cactus and a handful of buds that were gobbled up by insects before they could develop any further.

鈥淚t鈥檚 pathetic,鈥� he said after his latest trip out there Wednesday morning. 鈥淚鈥檝e never seen it like this.鈥�

During a typical spring, he has to check his plot every other day to keep up with all the flowering activity. He is only making weekly visits this year, because there鈥檚 so little to record.

Peachey said his 鈥渟pies鈥� across the region are reporting similar conditions from north of Phoenix down into Mexico. 鈥淭he only place that I鈥檝e heard of that has even close to a normal bloom is the west side of the 蜜柚直播 Mountains,鈥� he said.

In an average year, the saguaros on Peachey鈥檚 east-side plot produce about 6,500 flowers. In 2021, they cranked out about 12,200, their second highest total in 25 years of recordkeeping. The blossoms were packed in at the tops of the stems and dribbling down the trunks in an unusual, side-blooming display that was also seen throughout much of the plant鈥檚 range.

And that came on the heels of another saguaro surprise: a rare crop of autumn flowers in 2020 that sprang up on scattered cactus around 蜜柚直播. Several researchers, Peachey included, called it the largest offseason bloom they鈥檇 ever seen.

Experts don鈥檛 know why saguaros are acting so weird lately, but Peachey suspects some combination of extreme heat and extended drought could be messing with the plant鈥檚 growth patterns 鈥� something that also influences when, where and how much they flower.

Or maybe they鈥檙e just 鈥渞esting,鈥� he said.

鈥淭hey over-reproduced last year, and they just don鈥檛 have the gas this year,鈥� Peachey said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 get any (winter) rain out there, so they鈥檝e decided to take a break.鈥�

He鈥檚 more worried about what this will mean for the birds, bats, bugs and other critters that rely on the saguaro for nectar or fruit.

鈥淎 whole bunch of them are going to be shortchanged this year,鈥� Peachey said.