Mild Winter Can Impact Plants Health And Life Cycle

DULUTH, Minn. — The warm, low snow fall winter can impact a plants life cycle and health. One college professor is looking at what these affects are.

Jessica Savage works for the Department of Biology at UMD and studies plants for a living. She says outside plants are used to having winter so, when they don’t get the colder temps, they are thrown off the rest of the year.

This can lead to an early leaf out and flowering in the spring. And in Duluth if it’s too early they can be more susceptible to freezing which can either damage or kill them. But there can be good outcomes as well. Savage says plants that can adjust to the changing weather tend to do better.

“So, if a plant actually produces leaves or flowers early and we don’t have a late frost, it might actually grow more, you might have a larger fruit crop at the end of the season. So, if we don’t have a late frost, we actually might be fine, and this might be a great year for plants. But it just depends on what happens for the rest of the spring,” said Jessica Savage, Associate Professor at the Department of Biology.

And although it can be nice to have a longer growing season. Savage says if you know there is colder weather coming and there is already activity from the buds of your plants to cover them with blankets and insulate them to protect them.