North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <Lucky.Pittman@murraystate.edu>]

At 07:54 PM 04/18/2001 -0400, Joe Hecksel wrote:
>In the frozen North, early spring N availability due to decaying organic
>material is limited by soil temperature.  Most soil is not biologically
>very active at temperatures below 50F (about 10C).  There is just not
>that much N being freed up from decaying organic sources.  This 50F/10C
>number is a very interesting number.  That is the soil temperature that
>is associated with the start of corn/maize germination, lamb survival
>(per Joe Rook) and the air temp associated with accumulation of degree
>days for fruit trees.  In my neck of the woods, that occurs between
>April 15 and May 1.

Thanks, Joe.
Having grown up in the Deep South, where I can't recall more than a couple 
of snows deeper than 2" in my first 30 years down there (and none persisted 
more than a couple of days), we didn't get much of that "Poor man's 
fertilizer".  Even up here in the frigid northland(southern west-central 
KY! LOL) snows are not too frequent, heavy, or persistent.

The row-crop farmers have been planting corn, here, for better than a 
month. I didn't notice how much, if any, damage the frosts/freezes of the 
past two nights did to the corn I pass on the way to work - some of it's 
close to a foot tall.
However, my hardy kiwis, raspberries, cucumbertree magnolias and newly 
leafing oaks are all sporting wilted black foliage this morning.


Lucky Pittman
USDA Zone 6
Hopkinsville, KY


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