What EXACTLY does "days to maturity" mean?

[EggsForIHOP]

I mean really...what does it mean?

Is that when something is starting to flower, something is ready to pick and eat, puberty is over and it is nice again?

I don't get it...

On the other hand, our corn has sprouted at least! We have little nubby sprouts of corn in a pool! I was entertained, my husband keeps asking "Did you SEE the corn?" Because he is in charge of watering and can't believe it is growing I think and the kids just came out and looked and said "Are you sure it's not just grass or a weed?" (these silly city kids ) Then they said "when will it start to be corn?" and I figured I would ask about the days to maturity thing because that's all I got to work with here...someone tell me...please

 

[Ridgerunner]

What does "Days to Maturity" mean? Not a whole lot, but some.

It means that in one specific place in the universe, under certain specific conditions, the produce was ready to use in that number of days. The corn was ready to pick, the cabbage had firmed up and was usable, or the first tomato was ripe. If you live somewhere the rainfall is different, the average temperature is different, the amount of sunlight is different. you are on a west facing slope instead of a south facing slope, the ground temperatue is different, last frost or first frost is different, or a whole lot of other things are different, your "Days to Maturity" will be different.

So you ask why do they list "Days to Maturity". It allows you to compare different varieties to maybe find a variety that is more suited to your climate. For instance, if you live where the warm growing days are fairly short and you want to grow sweet potatoes, you should plant the varieties that have a "Days to Maturity" of 90 days instead of 110 days. This does not mean that you will have a harvest in 90 days, but it does mean that you should get a harvest earlier than you would with the 110 day variety. With the 110 days, you may not even get a harvest. There is some value in it.

You'll notice I am using several weasel words like maybe find, of should. It does not always work. Last year I planted a few Golder Cross cabbages, then two weeks later, I planted Copenhagen cabbages. I'm going by memory so I won't mention the "Days to Maturity" of these two varieties, but they are dramatically different, I want to say more than three weeks. My plan was to get some small heads of Golden Cross to eat on, then use the larger heads of Copenhagen for preserving. There should have been more than a month difference in the harvest. Did not work. The Golden Cross was slow and the Copenhagen was early. They both were ready at the same time. I gave away a lot of cabbage.

 

[digitS']

Ridgerunner is entirely correct -- It is something made up entirely of moonbeams and stardust . . . almost, anyway. I used to resent the heck out of it :/ because the days-to-maturity listed for the variety was so entirely removed from the reality of my garden.

Howsomeever . . . EggsForIHOP, you are in the South and the information they hold may apply better for you and your garden !

Lois Hole explained days-to-maturity in her book; I believe the title was "Tomato Favorites." She gardened in Edmonton, Alberta. How's that for northern? Ms. Hole tells us that it is the number of days where the average temperature is 70F, or above. If I remember correctly.

(Since we had only ONE day in June of last year with a daily average of 70 -- I could have planted on the 1st of June and 29 days would have gone uncounted - thru the wisdom of the seed companies !)

Anyway, you will have warmer June days (and any other day of the year I suspect). So, you may be able to count all 30 of them and quite a few in May and, likely, even in April. Counting days-to-maturity for your sweet corn might begin the day the seed was sown in the garden. If you have 80-day corn, you can expect to harvest the first ripe ears, 80, 70+ average temperature days from sowing.

Days-to-maturity for a tomato transplant, may be counted from the day the plant was set out in the garden. Since tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc. are usually started indoors -- the designation is from the time it is transplanted outdoors until the harvesting of the first fruit.

At least, that is how I remember it. And, I hope that I didn't make it confusing.

Steve

 

[patandchickens]

What they said. It means about the same thing as when electric fence chargers say "charges X miles of fence", or items are sold with "lifetime warranty".

Really the only information for you in "days to maturity" is that it allows you to get some guess at how different varieties of a particular kind of plant may compare. So a tomato that is billed as "60 days to maturity" is somewhat likely to give you a harvest somewhat earlier than one that's billed as "90 days to maturity". (Except, not always... because one may deal better with cold or wet or dry conditions than the other... but as a general guideline it is useful)

This won't tell you what you can grow, until you've grown a couple varieties on your property to see how many days to maturity they take IN YOUR ACTUAL GARDEN. (It will be a different # days than in anyone else's garden.)

But then, once you have some experience like that under your belt, you can say "well, when I plant Brandywine tomatoes, I barely get any of them before frost; so I had better pick tomato varieties that catalogs designate as fewer days-to-maturity than they say Brandywine is"

Steve -- enormously as I respect the late Mrs Hole, also Lieutenant Governor of the province for a good while btw , her definition is not how many seed catalogs use the term. Many of them give ACTUAL days to maturity IN THEIR TRIAL GARDENS, which is why you will see different catalogs listing different days to maturity for a given cultivar. (Northern seed houses will find it takes longer to maturity than those located in warmer climates).

Pat

 

[EggsForIHOP]

Thank you! So, it is a GOOD GUESS as to when things will KIND of MAYBE be ready...like the cucumbers said 55 days or some such...so if I don't see cucumbers here by September and I planted them the 1st of April we got an issue and I thinned the cucumbers and left the weeds...or if there is no corn I really did leave the grass....okay...gives me a little time frame to be watching for stuff basically, since I think almost every day since I planted it has been in the 80's at some point....hot? Humid? You got it baby! So...thanks again