No Frost Yet?

Well, we were lucky this morning as it did not appear that there was a frost. Th low temperature I saw for Faribault had a low temperature of 34 degrees. In rural areas or low lying areas maybe there was some frost damage bit it does not appear that it was widespread. That means we got lucky for one morning. Can we be lucky for the next 4 mornings? The forecast has cold and potential frost through Tuesday morning.

There is a lot of corn that is just emerging but I am not really worried about the frost. It would burn the leaves off but the growing point is well below the soil surface. The corn would shoot new leaves from the growing point. In a few days you would not know there was a frost. The forecast is predicting a low temperature of 30 degrees. That is not cold enough for the cold air to penetrate the soil down to the growing point.

The growing point on beans is on the top of the plant. You kill the top of the plant and it is dead. Then you would have to replant. However, beans are much more tolerant to cold temperatures before you see damage. When beans are just emerging they can tolerate lower temperatures than corn before seeing frost damage. There are many variables but typically beans can tolerate temperatures down to 27 or 28 degrees before they are damaged by frost.

I have talked with a couple agronomists this morning and they agree about frost damage potential. They said they do not see temperatures in the forecast that would make them be over concerned right now. Lets hope that the actual temperatures are not colder than the forecast. On the other hand maybe they will be a couple degrees warmer and we will not see any frost damage at all?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19Oj4NsSYh9TyOcTOZq0tQTrT88GAUlESFivzLUc9HdA/edit#gid=0