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  • From: <redherring@tnaccess.com>
  • To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Re: thermometers
  • Date: Fri, 24 May 2002 08:47:09 -0500

We had about 3 of those spring type thermometers, and one year Kieran put
the lot into a bucket of ice water and found a range of 4 degrees difference
between them. He set the lot to 32, you can actually change those
thermometers with a needlenose pliers. I'd been working in a nursing home
kitchen where we were having a lot of trouble with food burning in the steam
trays, so I checked the meat thermometer we were using. I stuck it in
boiling water, and in ice water, and the dang thing read 17 degrees too
low!!! No way to set it either, we just had to do our math every time we
used it. I was impressed by whoever said the old alcohol thermometers
changed quicker than the others, I'll have to look around for one of those.
A friend of ours went through 3 hi/lo thermometers before she figured
out they couldn't ALL read wrong, she really was having temps about 10
degrees below the official lows. Her place was at the bottom of 4 small
mountains, and the cold just settled down on her. She had rabbiteye
blueberries freeze out, right here in Tennessee. Had to buy northern
blueberries.
I figure that to really know your local microclimate, a rain gauge and a
thermometer are essential. I don't like where our thermometer is, under
trees and fastened to a shed, so now and then I take it out on a frosty
morning and lay it in the grass in the open. The needle always drops
several degrees, to give an idea of what the garden itself is experiencing.
Did any of you all lose much to frost this last week? Naturally the Nat
Weather Service here never dreamed of frost. I covered plants several
nights, and finally Tuesday night, after my husband had poohpoohed the idea
and sworn the low was supposed to be 42, I didnt' get back out to cover the
zucchini and guess what? It was 34 degrees under a clear still sky....
Only the zucchini was really hurt, I had the beans and peppers covered, and
the tomatoes didn't seem too mind much. The corn had some frozen places on
the leaves. This is the latest frost I can remember here. I poured water
on the zucchini leaves, and it turned to ice, like they had some special
talent for storing cold. Couldn't get them thawed, unlike the tomatoes.
We have friends working construction in NY, they said they were slowed
by snow last week. Did the cold do much damage to fruit crops up there?
Donna




  • [NAFEX] Re: thermometers, redherring, 05/24/2002

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