New cold hardiness risk assessment tool available!

This amazing tool was presented to us at a conference last week, and I thought I'd share it with y'all!

Teams at UW-Madison and Cornell have developed a tool to help predict damage to primary buds during the winter. They've generated a model that predicts the LT_50 (lethal temperature 50%) of a variety of cultivars, pulling data from your local weather stations. Essentially, if the outside temperature hits this LT_50 temperature, you can expect that 50% of your primary buds will have cold damage.

According to team lead Amaya Atucha, they are working on expanding the tool to include LT_10 and LT_90 (10% and 90% damage) values, as well as a bud break predictor!! There are also only 8 cultivars now, but I imagine more might be added in the future. Currently it looks like the majority of the available data points are in the Midwest/East.

How to use:

-Select your cultivar from the drop down

-Find your nearest NEWA station on the map

• look at the generated graph: if the black line (actual minimum temp) is close to or below the red line (LT_50), it is likely you will have severe cold damage to your primary buds

• use this information to plan your pruning, and estimate how many secondary/tertiary buds you may need to be reliant on

I will do my best to answer any questions! Good luck y'all, hopefully your winters haven't been as rough on you as mine has