>Dear All: > >I wonder what your opinions are about the USDA Climate Zones. I also >wonder why such zones cannot be linked with our zip codes, or postal >zones. Would they not then be better defined? Cheers, John E. Bryan John: ZIP codes won't get it all done re climate, though that kind of max/min, heat unti stuff would be of help to people in other time zones. I've seen citrus and rice "boundary" lines drawn for Yolo County (in CA where Davis is located) that go right through some ZIP codes; I know that apricot and some other fruit trees have narrow zones for optimum performance (although I haven't seen the boundary lines I'm sure they cut out parts of some rural ZIP codes). And the lines defining soil type, which for some of the things I grow would be as important as microclimate, run right through neighboring farms. I have.pure potter's clay over 20 acres,.but a neighbor across the road has some porous mix deposited by eons of slough overflow as well as pure clay. Roy