This year's winter in Ukraine is marked by abnormally high temperatures, which significantly affects the winter overwintering of winter crops. Under such conditions, the vegetation of some plants has repeatedly resumed and stopped, which threatens their winter hardiness. However, according to Doctor of Agricultural Sciences Serhiy Avramenko, this process does not always have a negative impact.

The main problem of an abnormally warm winter is that the restoration of vegetation can occur at temperatures much lower than normal. According to the scientist, if in previous years a temperature of 5°C was sufficient for this, this year even 0.5°C may be enough to restore vegetation, especially on unfrozen soil.

The risk of damage to crops due to the restoration of vegetation depends on the condition in which the plants went into the winter. The greatest risk of freezing is faced by well-developed crops, especially those that have actively tillered and had more than two shoots of autumn tillering. If the plants are well hardened and have withstood temperatures down to -17°C or even -18°C at the tillering node depth, then the resumption of vegetation in the winter period can be dangerous. This occurs due to the consumption of soluble carbohydrate reserves used during active growth.

On the other hand, the situation is much better for crops that went into the winter unthreshed or even in the seedling phase. Due to the lack of precipitation this year, many plants did not reach full development and did not have a sufficient number of shoots before wintering. However, thanks to the long thaws, these crops began to resume vegetation even in January, and some of them now have from one to three leaves. This process can allow the plants to tiller during the winter period and continue their vegetation already in colder weather in spring.

Scientists explain that even if the temperature drops further, such underdeveloped crops will not suffer as much as well-developed plants. They can survive colder weather, since they have undergone a hardening phase not in autumn, but directly in winter. These crops can also be fertilized during the winter, which will promote their development.

So, although this year's warm winter carries certain risks for winter crops, underdeveloped crops have a better chance of successfully overwintering than well-developed plants. The key factors in this process remain temperature and hardening of plants, as well as timely and correct fertilization if necessary.