# Autumn preparations, Part I: The Hardiness Zone Map



## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Hey y'all, f'all's coming and with it cooler temperatures and the times to start thinking about bringing our plants indoors. Below are a couple links to various useful links.

Thanks to the our fine friends at the USDA here's a copy of the hardiness zone map.

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/misc/cts/pages/HardinessZone.htm

What that means:

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/hardiness.htm

So, for example, here in Charlotte I'm in zone 7b which has an average minimum winter temperature of 5-10 Farenheit. Even so, our average daytime temperatures are only in the high seventies now and nighttime temps will be falling into the low 60s, high 50s in the near future.

For those of you in Zone 6 or higher now's the time to start bringing your plants indoors at night and taking them back outside again for the day, or leaving them indoors. In preparation for the lower light putting some sort of shade cloth over you greenhouses/coldframes would work well. A week or so of that should have your prize plants ready for growing under PC bulbs.

Best,
Phil


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## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

Good info, Phil

At which climate zone can you begin keeping plants outdoor during the winter?


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Zone 10b or 11. Most natives will go into dormancy or will die off when temps start dropping.


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## AndyL (Jun 5, 2004)

So being in zone 1 or 2A I guess I wont be growing outside this winter 

Andy


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## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

Well...it shows me in zone 9, but this is my weather history. I'm not exactly in San Diego, so I get a few more days of 100+, but it's rare if ever that temps are below freezing.

And here's where you can get it for many major cities.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

If you're growing outside you really don't want your lowest temperature to be lower than 60F to be on the safe side. Any lower than that and the plants start slowing down and/or going into dormancy, if not dying outright. The hardiness zone map is a pretty good analog for day length too, which is another indicator for plants to go dormant or die (if annuals).


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