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nafex - RE: [NAFEX] Hardiness Terms?

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  • From: "Dean Kreutzer" <deankreutzer@hotmail.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: RE: [NAFEX] Hardiness Terms?
  • Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 09:27:44 -0600

In regards to grapes, what do these terms mean in hardiness temperature degree ranges;

moderately hardy
hardy
very hardy

These terms may be used rather loosely in catalogs, but there must be a rather standard definition.

I think any catlalog that used these terms to describe hardiness either did not do enough fact finding or just didn't care enough to print them. The meaning of these terms are highly dependant on where a person is located; where I live I would say that -40F is very hardy, on the east coast it might be -30F, down south it might be -20F or -10F, etc. This is like asking a person how tall they are and getting replies like "Tall/Average/Short".

Where I live, we are pretty much guaranteed -35F every year, yet we have plants like Bartlett pears, and Himrod/Flame Seedless grapes in our retail chain stores with the word "hardy" in their descriptions. I find this very unprofessional and misleading, especially to the general consumer who may not be the wiser.

I would think that most fruiting plants should have at least a USDA or Canada hardiness zone rating that can be applied.

Dean
USDA zone 3

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