North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Dean Kreutzer" <deankreutzer@hotmail.com>]

> 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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