Some wild weather over the past few weeks is expected to have a minimal impact on local plants.
Purdue Extension Agricultural Educator Phil Woolery says the local area experienced some unusually warm weather in February. “That kind of stimulated some plants to start growing early, and the fear is you get them to start growing early and then you get a cold snap like we had,” he says. “In our part of the state, I don’t think it was too bad. I noticed some lilacs and some other plants that started growing.” That means lilac plants could lose some flowers, but the long-term health of the plants should be unaffected.
For the most part, Woolery says potential damage in the local area was limited to household plants, although apple orchards to the north may be affected. However, the southern part of the state fared a bit worse. “They had already had fruit trees flowering,” he explains. “I don’t they think got quite as cold, but the farther the plants progress in their development, the less cold they can tolerate. So up here we just had a little bit of leaves sprouting and they can take more cold than flowers blooming. Down south, they might have lost some fruit production.”
As for commercial farming operations, Woolery says the big crops like corn and soybeans won’t be planted until soil temperatures warm up. In the meantime, farmers may be doing some spring tillage or weed control or terminating cover crops.
However, he says there is one exception. “In February, I noticed some mint farmers were actually planting mint already because mint, they don’t plant seed, they plant these roots which will sprout into the mint plants,” he explains. “So once the soil conditions are right – and it was kind of warm enough then in February – and the mint won’t start growing yet. It’s not going to be emerging until it’s really spring.”
Woolery adds that warm temperatures predicted for this week should stimulate more plant growth. But he encourages residents to be prepared to cover their plants, should frost or freezing temperatures return.
