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Re: [Market-farming] Somehow we'll make it: Changes due to new USDA zoning map
- From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
- To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Somehow we'll make it: Changes due to new USDA zoning map
- Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2012 12:55:37 -0500
Yes, I know that people growing in the South have crops and growing techniques adapted to that climate; and that the native and naturalized plants that are used to Zones 6, 7, and 8 do of course do well in zones 6, 7, and 8.. For that matter, I know that some people locate in the South specifically for the reason that they wish to gow in that climate. I chose the Northeast because, at the time I made that choice, the Northeast had a climate that suited me personally. And many people have a great deal of investment in varieties that are also suited to that climate -- we grow entirely different grapes than are grown down South, for instance; and this is a major grape growing region, though I personally only have a few. It's exactly spring freezes after insufficient earlier dormancy that are the most worrisome issue in terms of grapes, tree fruits, and similar crops. The predator insects that help with many Southern pests often won't overwinter here, and have to be purchased, at considerable cost, every year, if they're available to us at all. The issue is not only specific farm crops, but the overall ecology of the area we're farming in. We are starting to get Southern pests and Southern pest pressures without, yet, the predators that have adapted to control them. The issue isn't whether we can adapt, if we have to. The issue is how we are best going to. And this is made more difficult by the fact that we're not growing in an established Zone 8 or 7, in the middle of an ecology adapted to that; we're growing in what used to be zone 5 or even 4, in the middle of an ecology that was adapted to those circumstances, and which is likely to throw a wide variety of pest and other problems at us during the time while it's shifting into whatever it's shifting into -- while very likely occasionally deciding to behave briefly again like zone 5, or even 4; so that varieties adapted only to conditions further south can't be trusted here either, at least not yet. -- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 6A now I think Fresh-market organic produce, small scale On Feb 2, 2012, at 4:24 PM, Richard Moyer wrote: Rivka wrote: |
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[Market-farming] Somehow we'll make it: Changes due to new USDA zoning map,
Richard Moyer, 02/02/2012
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Re: [Market-farming] Somehow we'll make it: Changes due to new USDA zoning map,
Road's End Farm, 02/07/2012
- Re: [Market-farming] Somehow we'll make it: Changes due to new USDA zoning map, Carla Maness, 02/08/2012
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Re: [Market-farming] Somehow we'll make it: Changes due to new USDA zoning map,
Road's End Farm, 02/07/2012
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