All Topics  
Growing season

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Growing season
 
 
  Topics Growing season Topic Home

In agriculture
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
, the growing season is the period of each year
Year

A year is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. By extension, this can be applied to any planet: for example, a "Martian year" is the time in which Mars completes its own orbit....
 when crops
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
 can be grown. It is usually determined by climate
Climate

Climate encompasses the temperatures, humidity, atmospheric pressure, winds, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other Meteorology elements in a given region over long periods of time, as opposed to the term weather, which refers to current activity of these same elements....
 and crop selection. Depending on the location, temperature
Temperature

In physics, temperature is a physical property of a Physical system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold; something that feels hotter generally has the greater temperature....
, daylight
Sunlight

Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total spectroscopy of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is Filter ed through the Earth's atmosphere, and the solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon....
 hours (photoperiod), and rainfall, may all be critical environmental factors.

In the northern U.S.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, the growing season usually means the day
Day

A day is a units of measurement of time equivalent to approximately 24 hours. It is not an International System of Units unit but it is accepted for use with SI....
s between last and first frost
Frost

Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from Saturation air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air....
, or approximately the last and first occurrence of 0° C
Celsius

Celsius is a temperature scale that is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death....
 (freezing
Freezing

In physical science, freezing or solidification is the process in which a liquid turns into a solid when cold enough. The Melting point is the temperature at which this happens....
) overnight low temperature.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Growing season'
Start a new discussion about 'Growing season'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


In agriculture
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
, the growing season is the period of each year
Year

A year is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. By extension, this can be applied to any planet: for example, a "Martian year" is the time in which Mars completes its own orbit....
 when crops
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
 can be grown. It is usually determined by climate
Climate

Climate encompasses the temperatures, humidity, atmospheric pressure, winds, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other Meteorology elements in a given region over long periods of time, as opposed to the term weather, which refers to current activity of these same elements....
 and crop selection. Depending on the location, temperature
Temperature

In physics, temperature is a physical property of a Physical system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold; something that feels hotter generally has the greater temperature....
, daylight
Sunlight

Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total spectroscopy of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is Filter ed through the Earth's atmosphere, and the solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon....
 hours (photoperiod), and rainfall, may all be critical environmental factors.

In the northern U.S.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, the growing season usually means the day
Day

A day is a units of measurement of time equivalent to approximately 24 hours. It is not an International System of Units unit but it is accepted for use with SI....
s between last and first frost
Frost

Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from Saturation air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air....
, or approximately the last and first occurrence of 0° C
Celsius

Celsius is a temperature scale that is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death....
 (freezing
Freezing

In physical science, freezing or solidification is the process in which a liquid turns into a solid when cold enough. The Melting point is the temperature at which this happens....
) overnight low temperature. This is roughly May to October.

In much of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, the growing season is defined as the average number of days a year with a 24-hour average temperature of at least 5 °C (6 °C is sometimes used). This is typically from April until October or November, although this varies considerably with latitude
Latitude

Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi gives the location of a place on Earth north or south of the equator. Lines of Latitude are the horizontal lines shown running east-to-west on maps ....
 and altitude
Altitude

Altitude has multiple uses depending on the context in which it is used . As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object....
.

In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, the growing season is defined as starting when the temperature on five consecutive days exceeds 5 °C, and ends after five consecutive days of temperatures below 5 °C. The 1961 to 1990 average season length was 252 days (8.4 months).

In some warm climates (like in the subtropical Savanna
Savanna

A savanna, or savannah, is a tropical, subtropical or temperate woodland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the Canopy does not close....
), the growing season is limited by the availability of water, with little growth in the dry season.

See also

  • Growing degree day
    Growing degree day

    Growing degree days are a heuristic tool in phenology. GDD are used by horticulture and gardeners to predict the date that a flower will bloom or a crop reach maturity....
  • Season
    Season

    A season is one of the major divisions of the year, generally based on yearly periodic changes in weather.Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the Axial tilt....