Southwest Michigan has been experiencing extreme cold the last several days, but there’s good news: the high on Wednesday is expected to be 40. But could that harm crops in the region?
MSU Extension grape specialist Mike Reinke tells us a temperature swing like that isn’t necessarily a problem. He says because we had several weeks of gradually declining temperatures, the cold hasn’t been a shock to plants, and the warmth coming up this week won’t harm them.
“Plants require a certain number of hours during this acclimation phase to prepare for winter before warm weather will trigger them to come out and start the spring again,” Reinke said. “And we have not collected enough hours yet to have the plants think it’s spring.”
Reinke says it would need to be warm for a few weeks before there’d be any reaction from the cops. He says the region’s fruits are pretty hearty.
“Even our sensitive fruit crops are tolerant down to say minus five or minus 10 degrees before we would start seeing damage. And if it goes up to 40 degrees for a day or two and then back down, we’re fine.”
Reinke says the cold, snowy winter we’ve been having so far has been quite good for the crops after a few years of relatively dry winters and near droughts during the summer. He tells us this weather is likely recharging the soil with moisture, which will make for healthy fruits later.
