Growing season

[arl85]

Hi guys, I'm quite new to the game, but after playing a game with Phoebe on temperate climate, I'd like to start a game in a biome with limited growing season.
I started in a temperate forest (again) but with a Feb-Nov growing season.

Now, I don't fully understand how growing seasons works: I'm at 9th day of november and still I can grow vegetables ("growing season here now"). at 10th of november I see a "not growing - cold season" or something similar.

On wiki I read:

Plants will not grow when the temperature falls below 0C/32F or rises above 59C/138F. The plant's info window will show 'Out of ideal temperature range (not growing)'.

but this is not the message I'm receiving.
not 100% sure (not at home now) but after some days I can grow plants again, even in december ("growing season here now").

is it a bug?
How does growing season work?
is it a period when I cannot grow anything even if temperature is in growable range? Or is the temperature the main factor for growing plants?

[Innese]

Growing seasons are a rough approximation of when the temperatures will be optimal for growing; each plant has a temperature range in which it grows best, a bit of space on either end where it will grow slowly, and then finally a point on either end of the temperature spectrum where the crops will simply die.

So yes, temperature is the main factor in growing plants, which is why in some of the colder regions it can be necessary to build large freezers or greenhouses as the outdoor growing season may only last 2-3 months.

[Shurp]

Since you've brought up growing seasons, I've noticed something odd that might be a bug.  I'm on a map with a Mar - Oct growing season.  But frequently on day 5 in February it will let me plant crops.  Then about 7 February they'll all freeze and die.  And it won't let me plant again until March, even if it warms up before then.  Any idea what this is?

[arl85]

Since you've brought up growing seasons, I've noticed something odd that might be a bug.  I'm on a map with a Mar - Oct growing season.  But frequently on day 5 in February it will let me plant crops.  Then about 7 February they'll all freeze and die.  And it won't let me plant again until March, even if it warms up before then.  Any idea what this is?

I have the same strange behavior; later today I'll try to find in code when the "cold season" message is generated: maybe we could better understand what's going on.

[Panzer]

Thats no bug. Plants grow slower below 10 degrees celsius, and die below 0 degrees. Growing season just means that during that time you can grow outside without having to worry about the temperature dropping below 0 and killing your plants (except cold snap event).
During every other month the temperature may drop below 0 and your crops will die.

[arl85]

I checked in code:
if temperature is > 0 and < 58C then "growing season here now" is displayed, else "Cannot grow - cold season."
Not sure how it manages when temperature is > 58C - from code I found it seems it should display "cold season", but I'm quite sure some other part of code let appear the "out of ideal temperature range (not growing) " message

[TenSaidYes]

Growing seasons are an interesting thing, even in real life. The most important thing to remember, though, is that the temperature can fluctuate quite wildly... even during the 'cold season'... meaning that your plants might technically be able to grow for a day or two when it's warm, only to die immediately afterwards when the cold comes back.

Weather is a very fickle beast.

[Shurp]

Yeah, but I've tried planting during a warm spell in January when it's +5'C outside and I see the "cannot plant, out of growing season" message.

Maybe it's using a daily average or based on the 6am temperature.

[jzero]

well the way i see it. The growing season is just when the ideal time to grow is, and based on the temparature the actual time you can grow could possibly go way past or before when the growing season says. Of course temperature fluctuations don't really allow a full crop during the time before it gets really cold

(this all has probably been said but i am just simplifying it)