Phenology, Weird Word!

[digitS']

I didn't know this ... and, think I coulda dun better.

Phenology

I mean, it is a great study and body of knowledge. It does relate to climate but also to garden scheduling. @journey11 was just talking about that! Okay, look to your oak or willow trees for answers. Check out the Wooly Worms with @majorcatfish . Maybe we could predict first frost .

Well, maybe not but entomologists use Phenology (big time!) to predict when insects advance through different stages in their seasonal development. No, I'm serious ... and, people who need to know something about honey bees or crop pests are serious too.

The problem with this fairly new word is just shortening "phenomenon" isn't very clever. There are lots of phenomena ... and "phenomenology" is an important idea in the social sciences. Yeah. Now, you are getting some distance from the seasonal changes of living things. Culture and Culture ... hey, maybe we can explore the several meanings of that word ... . Is it time for my coffee??

Steve

 

[journey11]

Oh yeah, definitely something to it. To pay attention, be observative of subtle changes and timing from season to season. Much like the old farmers' almanac, a recording of the rhythm of the seasons. It's far more important to keep your own almanac, if you have time for that, as it would be of value to you in your own micro-climate.

A master beekeeper told us once to split our hives before the apple trees blossom. That the bees are keen to swarm thereafter. Reading the "Little House" series to the kids, part of the story line developed around the prediction of "grasshopper weather", a mild winter foreboding a summer plague of grasshoppers which totally decimated all crops and every green thing. Hot, dry summer...means no swarm of Asian lady beetles for this year. Their food source, the aphids, were not in abundance in the dry leaves of the trees (also very little fall color for us this year.) As a mushroom hunter, I know a light winter with little snow pack will mean a poor morel season. There's a few of these things I make a point to take note of in my day-planner each year and I keep them for several years to refer back to.

We are very late getting frost this year. I usually count on it round about the 20th of October. We're in for a warm spell the next week or so and this will put our first frost on into November. In the decade or so that I've been paying attention and have been intent with my gardening, I don't recall going into November before. Now some parts of WV have already had their first frost, just not here in the mid-Ohio valley. That is where phenology comes in handy, a record of my own little climate here. Even on top of my ridge line (elevation 925'), that first frost date will vary from those who live down in the valley below me.

 

[Larisa]

If the bees can not get to the door of the hive and gets hit on the wall, which means that flowered Cannabis or hops.
If I forgot umbrella at home, the rain will drip inevitably. Interestingly, it Phenology, Murphy's Law or I control the climate?

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Oh, for a moment I though you had said "phrenology" and were trying to read the bumps on the bugs heads!

 

[chefsdreams]

Oh, for a moment I though you had said "phrenology" and were trying to read the bumps on the bugs heads!

HAH!