Koppen zones - gauging interest plus goals/structure

[Steph S]

Thanks, Joseph!
After revisiting that map and considering what I've learned about tomatoes that do or don't succeed here and elsewhere, I think the Koppen zone is actually pretty representative of areas that had similar conditions and varieties that did well here.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Steph: It's no wonder that I'm growing the wild tomatoes. They are in the same Koppen Zone as I am. Cold Desert, or from the next closest zone, Hot Desert. In each case, I'm growing them as warm weather annuals.  I'm probably over-watering them...

[Steph S]

That's amazing Joseph!   
I must check out what else is growing in my Koppen zone.

[Garrett Schantz]

I'm in Pennsylvania. Seem to be somewhere between Dfa and Dfb according to the map. Snowfall and everything else can vary greatly year to year. Also ton of hills and steep slopes in my area / state. Still probably worth it to go by zones and everything as well. A good bit of plants could probably adapt well to these different areas.

[Richard Watson]

The way the climate is warming Ive already gone from a Hardiness Zone 8 to 9 in the last 20 years, wonder how long till I could class as 10

[reed]

Richard, you might be falling into the same trap that caught me. As I watched our summers get hotter and drier the last three decades I thought OK, I'll have two garden seasons. One late winter into early summer and one fall in to early winter. This past decade I came to realize that won't work. Our winters this decade have been warm, sometimes with barely a hard freeze at all with one big exception and that is brief snaps of extreme cold, -25 C not out of the question.

This has happened even into spring, one year native trees were fully leaved out, grapes had already set little fruit and looked to be a bumper crop year. Then one night at - 17 C, didn't just ruin the fruits, it killed all but one of the vines. The trees were burned black and never fully recovered that year, some didn't leaf out the next spring. Even super hardy things like rhubarb and horseradish had to start their selves over that year. The day of that - 17 C morning got up to 5 C, next day 20.

I suppose if you wanted to average our temps you could easily demonstrate that we are moving into a warmer climate zone but the plants told me it's a bunch of crap and not to pay any attention to it.

[Jeremy Weiss]

Sort of the same thing here. Over the last few years, the winters have gotten more erratic, swinging from extreme cold to almost summery warmth on a day by day basis.

What is worse, this also persists into spring; ALL of spring. It's gotten to the point where I can't count on there not being a frost dip until practically the end of June (and they can start up again as early as the beginning of September) It makes it HELL to try and grow anything.

[AndrewB]

I added fields to the user profile for Koppen Classification. The field is searchable on the member list at:
http://opensourceplantbreeding.org/forum/index.php?action=mlist;sa=search

I added my zone which is  BWk. I grabbed it off the map at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classification#/media/File:K%C3%B6ppen-Geiger_Climate_Classification_Map.png

I also added a profile field for Plant Hardiness Zone. If using it, please include the system that you are using as well as a number, for example, for my garden "USDA 5".

If you fill out either of the profile fields, then they will show up under your avatar on each post.

I added search functions to the other profile fields (accessed from the member-list link given above), so that you could get a list for example of everyone that said that they are interested in growing garlic, or that grows in sandy soil.

Joseph, thanks for the new feature.

I believe you are not in zone Bkw like you thought. It looks like you may be in Bsk or Dfa (and close to Dfb and Dsa) according to this map:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Utah_map_of_K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classification.svg

It seems there are smaller more detailed maps of each U.S. state. Probably more accurate than the big map.

It looks like i am right on the border between both Dfb and Dfc (and very very close to Dfa).
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classification_maps_of_states_of_the_United_States#/media/File:Colorado_map_of_K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classification.svg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classification_maps_of_states_of_the_United_States

[William Schlegel]

It would make sense to me if Joseph was close to me in zone as our growing conditions seem more similar than different and I Googled myself to be in one of those.

[Fred Comeau]

Not accurate for me, map says either Dfa or Dfb, both of which are humid. It is NOT humid here!