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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Illinois Everbearing Mulberry zone 4 hardy?

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  • From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Illinois Everbearing Mulberry zone 4 hardy?
  • Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:12:32 -0500


The 'Easter Big Freeze Disaster' we experienced down here this year was a
really freak occurrence - and I hope we never see a repeat performance. Not
at all typical of spring frosts/freezes - even the native oaks, hickories,
mulberries - and even butternuts, which are supposed to be zone 2 hardy -
were severely damaged. We'd had several weeks of unseasonably warm weather in
March - with daytime temps into the 80s the last week or so of March,
followed by 4-5 consecutive nights of temps into the low 20s.


It was an unusual event here in Nebraska, too, but not all THAT unusual, I'd say. Wild swings in temperature are very typical on the plains. In particular, we can have shirt-sleeve weather in January or February (snow cover doesn't usually stick around for too long), and hot weather in March or April isn't uncommon. But a hard freeze is still likely until May. (A couple of days ago, it was 32 degrees in western Nebraska. Luckily, it didn't get anywhere near that cold here in the east.)

Here on the plains, I really can't plant anything that breaks dormancy easily, and I'm going to have to work on delaying most of my plants as much as I can. This year was exceptional, true, but I don't think it was such a rare event here as it was for you.

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
The Union of Concerned Scientists says the Bush administration manipulates and suppresses science. The administration points out that the Union of Bought and Paid for Scientists disagrees. - www.fark.com




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