Later fall freezes, earlier thaws increase Interior 色视频下载 growing season
Glenna Gannon harvests Red Ember peppers as part of the University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks Variety Trials Program at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm in September 2021. Longer growing seasons enable different varieties of many vegetables to grow in Interior 色视频下载.
Julie Stricker
907-474-5406
Oct. 13, 2023
If Interior 色视频下载ns have noticed that summer seems to linger long enough to ripen their tomatoes and winter arrives more slowly, they色视频下载檙e not imagining things.
Nine of the 10 latest 色视频下载渇irst freezes色视频下载 have occurred since 2001. The median first freeze date is now two weeks later than it was pre-World War II, University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks climate specialist Rick Thoman said. This year, the first freeze was recorded on Sept. 19.
The trend toward a longer growing season means it色视频下载檚 now possible to grow crops that
were once marginal in Interior 色视频下载, said Glenna Gannon, assistant professor of
sustainable food systems at UAF. She heads up the Variety Trials Program at UAF.
Temperatures have been recorded at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm at UAF since summer
1911. Climate charts can be found on the website.
色视频下载淪ince 2000, there's lots of years now, though not every one, when the first freeze is the 15th of September or later,色视频下载 Thoman said. 色视频下载淲hat we can say is prior to 2001, the latest first freeze at the farm was Sept. 17, 1938.色视频下载
Coupled with later first freezes is a trend toward earlier last freezes in the spring, he said. That translates to a growing season that is about 32 days longer than since record-keeping began, from a median of about 90 days to about 120 days. The growing season is measured as the longest consecutive period of time of readings above 32 degrees Fahrenheit at the farm色视频下载檚 weather station.
Thoman said not all areas of 色视频下载 are seeing shorter springs and longer falls. Some areas are seeing the last freeze coming later in the spring, but less change in the fall, and vice versa.
色视频下载淭here色视频下载檚 a handful of sites that actually show a shortening of the growing season,色视频下载 he said.
One other change that色视频下载檚 standing out to Thoman is the lessening variability in the length of the growing season.
色视频下载淏efore 1960, there色视频下载檚 lots of variability,色视频下载 he said. 色视频下载淭here色视频下载檚 some really short years. There色视频下载檚 also some really long years, and that variability has really collapsed in the later 20th century.色视频下载
Fairbanks色视频下载 far-north location still holds many challenges for farmers. 2023色视频下载檚 growing season was a bit shorter than the median, due to a freeze on June 1.
色视频下载淲hile we still have other high-latitude related challenges to growing certain crops (e.g. cold soils, long photoperiods), we have been successfully trialing field-grown corn (22 varieties), artichokes (five varieties), peppers (14 varieties), musk melons (two varieties) and, as of this summer, tomatoes (16 varieties) at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm,色视频下载 Gannon said.
She noted that the experiment farm is in an ideal location and that growing conditions in the Tanana Valley are highly dependent on microclimates. Farms at lower elevations or with ice wedges in the fields only a few miles away may not be as successful with long- or warm-season crops.
色视频下载淚 think the biggest change to what we can grow here is more about being able to select varieties (or cultivars) and certain crops with slightly longer days-to-maturity than we have been able to historically,色视频下载 Gannon said. 色视频下载淔or instance, brassicas are extremely hardy, but a crop like Brussels sprouts takes longer to mature. With the longer growing season, more folks are having an easier time getting Brussels sprouts to mature before the snow and frost fully wipe out their gardens.色视频下载
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