Let’s Take Another Look at Hardiness

Abstract

Our knowledge of plant behavior often is advanced materially when some general problem is broken down into specific factors. It seems likely that more rapid progress may be made in the study of winter hardiness, or more particularly cold resistance of woody plants, if a careful analysis of the problem is made to determine what specific factors are involved. A perusal of the numerous contributions on the subject of hardiness in woody fruit plants will reveal that the majority deal only with survival. Over the years these records of survival have been useful, but often they do not explain the difference noted in plant behavior under different conditions. Fortunately some reports have dealt with the effects of specific factors but it is evident that this approach should be used more extensively.