Maukahound said:... Even still, there is so much more information needed to understand what a plant can take when it's considered borderline. What the Koppen stats show are norms over a period of time, which is practical & necessary information. But when you've sourced something that is rare, or $$$, you don't want to deal with norms.
However, all this info overlaid with experience tells a more complete picture. ...
And let's not meander down the path to Annie's......it's hard to make the return trip.
>> ... so much more information needed to understand what a plant can take when it's considered borderline. ... But when you've sourced something that is rare, or $$$, you don't want to deal with norms.
I totally agree! I only approached that kind of issue from the entry-level position of wondering when to start spring annual crops that aren't very cold-hardy. I started to work towards some rules based on weather stats like
"what date has had no frost 60% of the time over the last 30 years?"
"what date has had no frost 90% of the time over the last 30 years?"
That was going to tell me when to plant my first, slightly otimistic batches, and the second was going to tell me when to plant my second, pessimistic wave.
Well, phooey. That might have worked for mass-less, frictionless, spherical crops, that grow perfectly and rapidly at 32.1 degrees, but die instantly at 29.9 degrees. Ain't no such animal.
Instead, each cultivar I have can stand more or less frost, or needs more or less extra warmth, has daylength fussies, can or can't stand soggy soil ... ad infinitum.
I'm not going to figure that out with statistics unless I develop something like Dr. Watson / Deep Blue to help.
>> all this info overlaid with experience tells a more complete picture
I agree even more strongly.
Knowledge without experience is like a new car without any gasoline.
It's pretty and interesting and has potential and was expensive and difficult to acquire, but usually you can't do anything practical with it. But add a little experience (or gasoline), and it becomes useful.
There's an asymmetry: gaining experience automatically gains knowledge, even if you never crack a book or go online. But all the reading in the world confers 0.00 grams of experience. The classic example of that was the joke about: "Consider a spherical cow."
I wonder if watching YouTube falls in-between book-learning and experience?
