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My Fig Trees Went Swimming Today...

Knew about a heavy rainfall heading my way for a few days.

So this morning I went up to the roof and got my smallest plants and brought them indoors to protect them from getting too much rain.

At 2 p.m. I went back up to check on the ones that were still outside and what do I see?

The roof was TOTALLY flooded.

There is a gutter drain hole in one corner of the roof, and somehow it got clogged and backed up.

It has gotten clogged before with leaves and debris ( which I have been good at keeping clear )
 but this afternoon was like nothing I ever saw.

it looked like an Olympic swimming pool up there.

In some areas the water was nearly 18 inches high.

Some Fig trees containers were completely submerged in a foot or more of water.  

My heart dropped.

I quickly cleared the drain, and slowly the trees were back above water.

The heavy rain started at 9 and I went up there at 2, so for about 4 hours they could have been underwater.

Hope they will be O.K.
















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I would be more concerned about the roof giving way, than the fig trees getting wet.  But glad you found the problem before anything happened.

this rain keeps up i'm going to build an arc. then collect every type of fig i can manage to find and put aboard. really lucky that the roof didn't cave in, that was a lot of weight. i think the figs will be fine.
                                                                            luke

You need to cut your big toenails.

I appreciate all the concern>


I was worried about the roof caving in while I was up there.

The building is over 125 years old.

But they don't make buildings as strong as they used to.

As I wrote, the drain has clogged before but the most water that pooled was a couple of inches.

Today, it was insane.  it never rained as heavily so quickly.

Not even during Hurricane Irene..

If there is a strainer in the down spot,that is why it is getting clogged.
Take it out,The strainer create a problem too easily,by getting plugged by only a couple of leaves.
I had this problem too,remove the strainer and no more plugging.

Thanks Herman.


I will give it a try.

Never, had a problem before.

Its a large drain, with a large strainer.

It's clogged before, with it was no big deal.

It's rained heavily before but it never, ever flooding the roof.

We just got hit with an incredible amount of water in such a short time.

First time it's ever happen in all the years we owned the building.

hey Nick..if this happens often i would think about a sump pump..just a thought
                  luke

Well, if the roof can support all that water, for sure you now know that the roof can handle a few more fig trees. :-)

Grant
Z5b

Can you go over the pool rules again?


Priests, Nuns and Spirits of Ronnie James Dio get 1/2 off price of admission.

First person with a nail clipper gets in for free.

Fig Leaves are not an accepted form of swimwear.

No diving off the top apartment- Mom's sleeping!





hahahaahahhahahhahhahah
     wondering what the cost is for seasonal pass for the pool? is there a life guard on duty at all times??

And you guys wonder why I worry about hiding
fig related things from my mom.

Can you just imagine the look on her face
If she went up to the roof and saw that?

Worse yet, if all that water came pouring in
into her apt.

THAT IS DIRECTLY ABOVE HER...

Well, it was a good thing you were up there to catch it before it got worse and sat longer. You deserve another fig tree for saving your mom's house :)

Martin,


I recently noticed an interesting thing.

On my this thread 

whereas most viewers/comments only spoke about the figs or the fig rekated items, you made a comment about  " Father "  Damien's feet.


Which I thought was just a bit odd..

I met the man, spent time with the man, hired the man to help with my fig " issues " and did not notice his feet condition.
( guess I had more pressing things on my mind; ( namely a crafty old Italian woman ) 

After you posted that comment, out of mere curiosity I took a look to see what you were referring to.

The real interesting thing is casually, most people including myself would not move their eyes down the photo to look at " Father " Damien's feet.  
He is such a interestingly dressed fellow, that his attire grabs most if not all of one's attention..

You, on the other hand... had to use a Photo Management program ( to blow up the photo to get a really good look at his feet.

Thought that was odd, but I tried to put that creepy little nugget of feet information out of my mind.

Which brings us to this post.

Once again the main or not complete focus of most viewers is the roof, all the water that pooled up there, what type of figs am I growing, how do they look,..etc.
( all factors uncommon enough to inform/interest most viewers )

But with you, not only did you notice - like an Afghanistan Blood Hound I might add -   the only photo  - one tiny thumbnail actually -  not " Hot Linked " you must have really perked up when you read the file name  " Wet feet " that you went out of your way to not only click on it, but once again use a photo management program to enlarge the photo enough to get a really close look at my feet to see the length of my toenails
( they were underneath a foot and a half of water after all.)

Now, don't take this the wrong way. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with your possible infatuation with  feet or toes.

To each his or her own, that's my motto.

Some people have a strange obsession with figs, some with feet, and some both...

Who am I to judge?

In that light, I offer you a tasty picture, one that I am certain you ( and only you ) will deeply appreciate.

Enjoy.


Warning:  extremely graphic photo, unless you're Martin, or like to look at feet, DO NOT click on the photo.




P.S. Martin, you know I love you and am just having fun right?

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If the clogged strainer is on a scupper or directly empties into a gutter, then by all means remove it.  But very bad advice if the drain is connected to piping.  Much easier to clean a few leaves from a strainer than from a pipe 20' down.  You got lucky there Nick.  Most roof structures would not take 18" of water - not designed for that.  However, the builder did better with the structure than he did with the roof.  There should always be a fail safe system to keep that from happening. 

Hi Nick.
I replied in other thread
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?(-Final-Update.-No-Evil-Will-Hex-My-Fig-Trees-Now.-)-This-Is-What-5487919&trail=100

i noticed you reposted the same exact thing in this thread 4 minutes later.

Yes Nick your alright in my book.  ; )

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