Quote:
Originally Posted by ginger2778
If you haven't had a frost in years then I think your late fall plant out is OK. We haven't had a frost here since 2010, and before that it was literally every year. It is getting warmer. We used to be zone 10a now 10b, and parts just got changed to zone 11, so I think you should go for it, definitely plant out in December. Why not try sowing seeds in early September next year, for a late October plant out, that's what I do, and just have one long season until about late April, but I start a few more seeds around December 1 to stretch the season until June. I think March in any part of peninsular Florida is really too hot already to get much accomplished.
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I went ahead and looked up all of the extreme minimum annual temperatures from the Wunderground weather station to me for the past 10 years:
2017 - 37
2016 - 33
2015 - 33
2014 - 33
2013 - 33
2012 - 33
2011 - 35
2010 - 35
2009 - 32
2008 - 32
I wouldn't say that's enough change or enough years for a trend, but I give it more stock than the USDA's number which takes into account 40 years of data. I think we all know that things aren't exactly the same as they were in 1976. So this new data shows an average annual extreme minimum temperature of 33.6, putting me squarely in Zone 10a, whereas the USDA still has me in 9b (recently upgraded from 9a).
Also, I'll report that there are two plants unaffected - PBTD (seeds from Tatiana) and a store-bought Lemon Boy (post-hurricane replacement).
Is it safe to re-use container media from these plants, or should it be discarded? I would normally discard anyway after a season, but in this case the potting mix has barely been used.