Western New York is into the growing season, and the temperature plays critical role in what the quality of the season will be. Do you remember the age-old adage about corn?  Knee-high by the Fourth of July. And tomatoes are always going to be a challenge for Western New York, as they need lots of warm air for a quality grow.

How can meteorology give us an advantage for the planting season? It has been used for many years, and it is called a growing degree day. Its meaning can be deriving by a simple statement of how many days, at a certain temperature, it will take for a plant to ripen. It is simply the point that a plant reaches maturity based on the temperature.

This is a simple calculation done on a daily basis as your plant is growing outdoors. To get started, you must know the low temperature and the high temperature for that day. Then you add the two together and divide by two to reach the average temperature. Let us say on this day the average temperature is 60 degrees. Then we compare this to the baseline temperature for the individual plant. For example, corn and tomatoes both have a baseline temperature of 50 degrees. You just subtract 50 from 60 to give you a growing degree day (GDD) of 10. If the average temperature is less than 50, then the GDD is zero.

As the season progresses, you add the number of GDD and keep a running total.  This running total gives you an idea how close you are to the finish line for that particular plant. Total GDD for corn is between 800 – 2,700 and the total GDD for tomatoes is 1,200 – 1,800. 

I am far from being a “green thumb” myself, but this is just one ingredient for having success in the garden.  There are other considerations such as severe weather, insects, fertilizer, rainfall, soil quality the amount of sunshine.  But maybe this is just a starting point to growing the perfect veggies!