For Release March 18, 2003

AGRI-VIEWS
by Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent

Time. Sixty seconds make a minute, sixty minutes make an hour, 24 hours make a day. For most of us, time is an absolute. Time is valued very very highly. We charge for our expertise and our labor by it. We value timeliness above everything else. If we have a 10:45 appointment and the other person is late, you’d think it was the end of the world. We are a society of clock watchers. For most of us, time is very inelastic. It is an absolute rigid standard.

Much of the rest of the world, and the natural world too for that matter, do not share this same view of time. Time is elastic. Time is a guideline, not a strict rule. One of the first things I was told when I arrived in Africa was that, in America our lives are ruled by the clock but in Africa they laugh at the clock. If we are going to a function that is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. we expect it to start sharply at 8:00. If it doesn’t start at 8:00 then most everyone is getting very restless. We went to a banquet in Senegal that was announced as starting at 8:00. We were there at 8:00, but no one else was. The first course for the meal didn’t arrive until 11:00 p.m. While it seemed odd to us, it was situation normal for all the others.

Deadlines mean nothing to most of the rest of the world. In America we will sacrifice sleep, family time, desired activities just to meet a deadline. A deadline in many parts of the world is a guideline. We would like to have it done by March 31st, but if your brother from far away comes to visit and you need to spend some days with him then April 5th would probably work also. I don’t think that would fly well in the United States. Is either approach right or wrong? Well, what’s right or wrong depends on what’s socially accepted in your society. Each attitude is appropriate in each society but would be considered inappropriate in the other.

This American attitude to the clock and calendar causes problems when it comes to dealing with the natural world as well. Every spring I have a lot of questions come in about various yard and garden tasks. Invariably the homeowner or gardener wants THE date to do this or that task. I’m sure I cause a lot of frustration because I usually won’t give A date. Mother Nature doesn’t work that way.

Is April 1st the right day to apply crabgrass preventer or should it be done on March 15th or April 15th? All three dates may be correct, depending on the year. Last year it may have been March 15th and this year it may be April 15th. It all depends on the winter and what kind of late winter and early spring weather we are having. Ultimately it comes down to how fast the soil warms up so that we have the herbicide in place before the crabgrass seed germinates.

We can look at 50 or 75 years worth of spring temperatures or soil temperatures and come up with an average date. But here’s the real world problem with that. Since 1951, the average date of the last official 32 degree temperature in the spring is April 16. In that same period the earliest that this date has been is March 18 and the latest is May 14. The date where half of the last frost dates are before and half after is April 14. If we do a statistical analysis we find that 68% of the time, the last frost will fall twelve days plus or minus April 16.

Calendars and clocks are basically guides. They will get you close. After that, you have to learn the rules of the society you are dealing with and learn to adapt and follow those rules!

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