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Post by canadamike on Apr 27, 2011 22:34:50 GMT -5
Joseph, you are intriguing me immensely here...talk about being inventive....this summer, I will go through this post more with a few folks and try to see what kind of juice we can extract from such a great idea.
There might be much more than corn heat units here....lettuce heat units maybe ;D ;D ;D
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Post by toad on May 4, 2011 15:53:23 GMT -5
I like this whole idea. Pesonally I would like some heat units for melon and eggplant, to see, if my backyard breeding is moving forward. That would be great! I need more time, before I can post a figure, but if some are quick at this, my local weather station is Kastrup, Denmark - choose the first option, the airport.
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Post by happyskunk on May 5, 2011 2:54:46 GMT -5
Seriously? Is this data correct? What is with the huge spike in the middle of July? I would think that might negatively affect growth.
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Post by happyskunk on May 5, 2011 3:28:46 GMT -5
I'm not sure why the data I downloaded showed a huge spike. When I go to weather underground this is the data I get for July 04-10.
Kastrup, Denmark
High Low 75F 60F 77F 59F 68F 57F 71F 51F 73F 59F 77F 62F 82F 69F
Lewiston, ID
High Low 78F 48F 77F 55F 82F 49F 91F 54F 96F 57F 99F 61F 95F 63F
Not sure what is wrong but with that spike I was thinking you were getting scorching temps. You can see that week in Lewiston I had about 90 GDD (base 50C) were it somehow came up with 160 GDD for Kastrup?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 5, 2011 4:34:44 GMT -5
I'm not sure why the data I downloaded showed a huge spike. When I go to weather underground this is the data I get for July 04-10. Kastrup, Denmark High Low 75F 60F ((60+75)/2) -50 = 17.5 77F 59F = 18 68F 57F = 12.5 71F 51F = 11 73F 59F = 16 77F 62F = 19.5 82F 69F = 25.5 --------------------- Total = 120 The ~160 was for the following week (starting July 11th)... Date GDD:50F ------------------------------ 2010-07-11 26 2010-07-12 26 2010-07-13 20 2010-07-14 18 2010-07-15 22 2010-07-16 22 2010-07-17 22 ------------------------------ Total = 156 I'm guessing that overnight temperatures in the 70s will do that to you. Sheesh I have to wear a jacket at night, even in August.
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Post by johno on May 5, 2011 9:47:03 GMT -5
I'm guessing that overnight temperatures in the 70s will do that to you. Sheesh I have to wear a jacket at night, even in August. Haha - we set our air conditioner all the way down to 80 degrees in the summer.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on May 5, 2011 10:33:05 GMT -5
happyskunk, nice graph, but i'm assuming you used 50F (10C) base for the graph. Assuming you would want a chart for melons i would think that a base of 60F would be more realistic. That means the growing season for melons is less than that for corn. That link i posted earlier to the GDD calculator seems like it could be really helpful. From what i gather most watermelons probably need about 2000 GDD, and according to the calculator it says that in 2010 i got 1280 GDD and the average based on previous years is about 906 GDD. Based on that information.. it should be possible to grow watermelons here, but it's going to be a tight squeeze until i get some early varieties adapted here. Oh, and i think that spike was probably just an incorrectly input into the spreadsheet. I got a spike like that today when i input for Lewiston, ID. I realized i put in 335 instead of 35. I had to go back and fix mine.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on May 9, 2011 22:39:36 GMT -5
This chart uses a base of 60F which is supposed to be the minimum growing temperature for watermelon. 70F is supposed to be optimal temperature. I think if you cut the graph off at the 20 mark line that that would probably be about 70F, but i'm not sure.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 19, 2011 2:24:49 GMT -5
My first Blacktail Mountain watermelon last year required 874 GDD:10C. Charleston Gray was around 1044. That's a difference of 3 weeks for me. The sweet corns that I have records for varied from 800 to 900 GDD:10C. I did some GDD based calculations to determine when to plant sweet corn this year in order to get a harvest every 7 days (~67 difference in cumulative GDD = ~1 week difference in harvest in my garden.) I'll base the planting schedule on actual growth of the plants, but based on last years weather, I expect to plant on about: May 10th, June 1st, June 14th, June 25th, June 30th. Anything planted later than that is frost-bait. In the graph, the same colored dots represent planting and harvest of one planting. Based on 900 GDD:10C for Astronomy Domine in my garden last year. (80 to 110 calendar days). I made horizontal lines on the graph every 67 GDD so that I could easily visualize when to plant the next batch of corn. Then to see when harvest is expected I just count up 13.4 lines.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 20, 2011 21:00:12 GMT -5
Joseph, you mentioned an effort to take more detailed records. What kinds of things are you planning to record? So I've been taking a notebook out to the field with me. I'm writing what I did, and what I saw.... Maps of where I plant which kind of seed, and what planting method I used. Even how deep. I'm even leaving gaps in rows (and recording it) so that I can plant sibling groups together and be able at harvest time to also record how each sibling group grew. I'm making notes about which trees are leafing out, and which wildflowers are blooming. I'm recording the appearance of bugs, and the damage they cause. I'm recording which weeds are emerging, (morning glory this week) and when the plants are germinating. I'm recording where and when I weed, and sometimes even which tool I used. It's a mess as far as organization goes, just one long text narrative, but it's a start. It would be easier to figure out later if I ordered a loose-leaf notebook with one page per row sorted by how I walk through the garden. Then I could walk, flip page, record, walk to next row, flip page, record, etc. One thing I did last year was walk through the garden regularly and take a photo of each row. I also take a photo about once a week from atop the same fence post.
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Post by grunt on May 21, 2011 0:49:39 GMT -5
Photos being a more precise recording than anything I can write, I label everything that goes in the ground = then when I am documenting anything, I shoot a photo of the label, then the plant. When I change to a new plant, even of the same variety, I shoot the label, then the plant. Initially I started shooting this way to make it easier to label photos later, whether for uploading or my own personal use. Now it becomes my main documentation tool. I do also try to write notes of what has happened through the day, and what is or isn't living up to expectations = but I have a very leaky memory, and often don't have the notebook with me in the garden.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 21, 2011 0:53:09 GMT -5
I didn't get any plugs started, but I managed to put a floating row cover over a patch of freshly planted corn. It has now overtaken the corn that was planted months ago. I have been monitoring the soil temperature: I get about +5 to +7 C temperature increase in the soil by adding a floating row cover to the bed... Unfortunately, there is the slightest bit of a northward slope to the field in the location where I planted the corn. I loose -2 to -5 C compared to a flat spot in the field. Lesson to be learned... Floating row covers would be of better use on a south facing slope, then I get the advantage of the slope AND of the row-cover.
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Post by bunkie on May 21, 2011 9:55:33 GMT -5
i've been reading through this thread and also find it kind of fun and very informative! as keene, i didn't understand all the abreviations. thanks for the exlanations.
i like your taking notes plan joseph. i'd like to keep better track of our plantings and such also. i'm more like dan with the pics! i like your idea dan of pics of the lanels, too!
we've beem experimenting with starting corn in flats the last couple of years. no cells, just a flat filled with soil. they've worked great so far. even one year when the plants got quite tall cause it wouldn't stop raining...the roots were a bit tangles, but once transplanted did fine!
12540dumont, that link about the Vermont farmer was interesting. i tried our corn starts in cells, but found it was easier in flats.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 21, 2011 12:27:35 GMT -5
i tried our corn starts in cells, but found it was easier in flats. I agree. Every spring I transplant corn from one place in the field to other places. They do fine.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 22, 2011 11:21:08 GMT -5
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