u/player000000000000

Ok so yeah. We're going into 2027 with a rapidly developing Super El Niño which may well be the strongest El Niño event ever on record, primarily due to human caused climate change. This could have disastrous effects on food supplies because the El Niño will very likely fuel droughts, flooding, extreme heat, and cyclones all over the planet, including several critical food producing regions.

I'm not going to get too much into how it actually works (mainly because that's not relevant but also because I don't claim to understand it well enough to explain it) but the gist is that El Niño is a climate phenomenon that is caused by changes in winds and sea surface temps over the tropical Pacific Ocean that will effect the atmosphere which in turn will effect global weather patterns for ~18 months (as opposed to the normal 9-12 months) until at least Early 2027. This super El Niño will also likely push Earth's temperature to 1.7-1.8**°C above pre-industrial averages (as opposed to the current 1.44°**C above) which may compound on the super El Niño's effects with the consequences that climate change already brings.

Anyway, the effects. This is pretty straightforward, but basically, flooding and drought are not good for crop yields. Bad crop yields means scarcity and scarcity means high prices. That's the dumbed down version of it but more specifically, drought will affect regions like the Caribbean, Central America, northern South America, much of India, central and southern Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia. Wetter conditions (and likely more flooding and extreme rainfall) may prevail across the southern US, Peru and Ecuador, eastern Africa, and much of the Middle East and Central Asia. Granted, food supply chain shocks due to these events will definitely impact poorer regions of the world disproportionately, possibly pushing millions (~50m to be exact) of people into acute hunger. But for the countries like the US that do get the food, there will be major price shocks that may last well into 2028. And none of this is even including the current price shocks caused by the Iran war and higher fuel/fertilizer prices.

This time, Trump won't have such control over the direction of the economy and with it, his electoral chances. With extreme weather fueled by the super El Niño and the already happening price shocks from the Iran War, I think that 2028 will almost certainly be very painful for Trump and the GOP on affordability, and I think "grocery prices" will be said a lot in 2028. None of these impact are even limited to the US - I'm sure leaders all across the world's democracies will have a difficult time. I think it's also important to recognize that this is probably only going to be the first of many times extreme weather has major electoral implications across the world. With climate change getting ever more extreme, extreme weather and other impacts are sure to have consequences on the economy and practically every other aspect of life.

Anyways, how bad all of this could be for Republicans electorally in 2028 is yet to be seen, but I'm gonna guess pretty bad.

Sources: https://www.severe-weather.eu/long-range-2/super-el-nino-reaching-record-strength-winter-2026-2027-forecast-atmospheric-signal-united-states-canada-europe-fa/

https://www.wri.org/insights/super-el-nino-impacts-explained

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/05/el-nino-could-push-50m-people-acute-hunger-next-year

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/12/super-el-nino-severe-shock-global-food-prices-lasting-into-2028-economists-warn

Found an area in some open space near my house that has quite a bit of plant biodiversity of somewhat obscure native plants, and I noticed that a lot were going to seed so I decided to collect some.

If anyone has any tips on anything I may need to do before sowing and when the best time to sow these seeds is, that is greatly appreciated, as many of these species don’t have a ton of info online since they’re somewhat obscure.

I collected Yellowspine Thistle (Cirsium ochrocentrum), Little Sunflower (Helianthus pumilus), Cut-lead Ironplant (Sideranthus spinulosus), Slimflower Scurfpea (Pediomelum tenuiflorum), Rush Skeletonplant (Lygodesmia juncea), and an unidentified species of False Goldenaster (Heterotheca spp.)

I’d also like to collect seed or propagate other natives I found in the area like Dotted Gayfeather (Liatris punctata), Spreading Buckwheat (Eriogonum effusum), Winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata), and several others.

These Buffalo burs (Solanum rostratum) have been growing on my lawn recently and found out that they were native to my region, so I figured it would be a good idea to transplant them somewhere better. If anyone has any knowledge about transplanting these and any other knowledge about them, that would be nice.

Denver, Colorado, 6a

On a side note, I just mowed my lawn for the first time since 2025 since the grass has been so short due to extreme drought, so I guess that means I participated in No Mow May, June, and almost July haha.

https://x.com/shanegoldmacher/status/2078304568635523129

For context, this is only happening to my 2nd year raspberry stalks, not happening to any first year growth. Last week I fed them some diluted plant tea but they were dying before that. Some of them get soaker hose irrigation and others do not, but I don’t really think water is the issue either.

Any ideas?

I mean, they’re literally losing their structural integrity - the peas in the second pic were climbing on the trellis yesterday but today they’ve fallen. Any hint as to why this is happening?

My watering times are by soaker hose Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and occasionally by hand if I feel like it if that helps.

I got 5 tomato plants about 3-4 weeks ago from O’Tooles’ tomato sale and all are growing great except for this center one which has leaves that are yellowing (some have been for basically the entire time it’s been in the ground) and it appears to have it’s growth stunted. There’s a chance that this was one of the tomatoes suited specifically for pots, but I don’t think so, and that still doesn’t answer the problem of the yellowing leaves. All the other tomato plants around it are growing great, except for this one.

What’s the problem here?

Before any of you guys get on me on Idaho or Kansas or something like that, let me explain some of these races that I think need explaining

Idaho:

Independent candidate Todd Achilles is running a very strong campaign so far compared to the democratic candidate. Jim Risch is unpopular at best and I think democrats are a small enough majority in Idaho that a majority that Achilles doesn't need David Roth to drop out and enough Idahoan democrats with vote for Achilles instead. Plus, there was some internal polling on Achilles' side that showed him 3 points ahead of Risch. Despite this, at this point in the race I don't think there's a quite enough traction for Achilles to flip Idaho, but there's still time. As it stands now, I think Rounds wins by 3-4 points. This race has definitely flown under a lot of people's radars.

Montana:

While it is popular to put Montana as likely or lean R or even Independent flip on this subreddit, I think there's a good chance vote splitting is going to f with the chances of either the democrats or independent candidate Seth Bodnar. I also doubt the democratic candidate will drop out for Seth Bodnar as the frontrunner Reilly Neill seems to dislike Bodnar and I believe has ran several attack campaigns against Bodnar. Plus, another democratic candidate Alani Bankhead has explicitly said she wouldn't drop out for Bodnar out of dislike for him. I think Montana could end up likely R but unlikely to flip because of Neill's unwillingness to drop out. That being said, if she does infact decide to drop out, Bodnar is running a great campaign and could make Montana competitive.

South Dakota:

Yet another independent candidate running a fantastic campaign in north-central US. Brian Bengs ran in 2022 against John Thune as a democrat but lost by 43 points, which isn't exactly the best track record, but Thune is also a strong candidate who has won by similar margins against other democrats in the past. In an interview, Bengs said in an interview that after talking to voter in 2022 during his campaign, he released the democratic brand is tarnished in SD, even when voters agreed with him on most things, so this time he's running as an independent. He has raised nearly 3 times as much as the democrat, Julian Beaudion as of Q1 2026. Mike Rounds is also unpopular at best, similar to Risch and Pete Ricketts. Despite this, I think Bengs still has an uphill battle against Rounds considering potential votesplitting between Beaudion and Bengs. As far as I know, Beaudion hasn't said anything about potentially dropping out, but if he does, this race could get competitive. For now, I think Rounds wins by around 8-9 points with the democrat staying in the race.

Kansas:

Last month, well respected Kansas City pastor Adam Hamilton entered the race for the democratic primary quagmire of 11 candidates. So far there hasn't been any campaign finance or other news since him entering the race, but I suspect he is the favorite to win the primary. If so, Kansas could certainly become competitive as Adam Hamilton is well respected and also a fairly moderate democrat (he previously considered running as an independent and considers himself an "independent-minded democrat"). Plus, Roger Marshall is fairly unpopular which may sway voters to opt for a moderate democrat instead in a state that has been shifting to the left over the last decade. As it stands now, I think Marshall wins by 3-4 points, but that could narrow down as the race goes on.

Maine:

This one doesn't need too much explaining, but Susan Collins has a history of overperforming despite polls, so I think this race could come to a razor thin margin. For now, Platner seems to have the edge but I wouldn't put it against Collins to win.

As for the rest, I don't think they need to much explaining but let me know what you guys think about this prediction!

I still have a bunch of summer squash, cucumber, and bush bean seeds that I need to plant and this was really the only good spot left, but it already has a few milkweeds growing here.
I figure it will be fine, but I came here to ask if there are any benefits or caveats to interplanting these crops with milkweed.

I originally thought the first one was sunflower but I noticed it has serrated leaves on on axis. The second one looks like cucumber but I really don’t know. Third one is coming up around my sweet peas.

Any ideas on what they are are appreciated!

This area of my yard is full of Dame’s Rocket (Hesperis matronalis), and I just found out that it’s a List B invasive in my state of Colorado. Obviously I don’t want an invasive growing in my backyard especially considering it likely originated in a wildflower mix planted some years ago, but it admittedly does look nice in an area that would otherwise be just rock. Of course it’s not as bad as a List A but still bad.

What do I do? Pull it immediately, or is it ok to wait or is it even safely contained in my yard with my fences.

Didn’t end up getting around to posting this until now but after digging up an invasive Tatarian honeysuckle I planted this Regent Serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia). Not looking the best right now but I’m hoping it will look better as it gets established.

I even used an electric wood chipper on the honeysuckle branches to use as mulch just to rub salt in the wound.

This is on what appears to be a piece of metal (not sure what kind) and has been here for a while. I know there’s a pretty good chance that it’s just oxidization but I wanted to get the mold enthusiasts’ opinion especially considering it is still in a fairly moist spot and there’s a lot of built up residue.

I have a suspicion that this is Chokecherry but I want to be sure. It’s been growing very fast and is growing in a shaded area directly adjacent to a siberian elm.

I’ve got four of these invasive Tatarian Honeysuckles (Lonicera tatarica) (two of them might be a different specimen, but surely still invasive) in my yard and I’m on a mission to replace them all with native shrubs/bushes.

I picked up a Regent Serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) from Harlequins in Boulder today and figured this honeysuckle would be a good spot since it’s part shade. Chopped off the top earlier today and plan to turn it into mulch for the serviceberry.

If anyone has tips on how to dig up this root, that would be greatly appreciated.

Found growing near a pine tree. I used Plant Net to identify it and it said it was golden currant (Ribes aureum) but I want to be sure because I was planning on ordering some golden currant seedlings to grow in my yard, but if this is golden currant then I may reconsider.