I think that data from unusual climates is MOST useful since it will produce data points under circumstances where no one else can do the experiment.
I think the common paradoxical expression "the exception proves the rule" originally meant something more logical. Examining the cases where a general rule does NOT apply tells you a lot about the rule itself, ad how it should have been stated more accurately.
Good old Wikipedia is helpful - that saying came originally from Cicero and meant almost the opposite of how we use it now:
- - "exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis
- - - ("the exception confirms the rule in cases not excepted")
Like, if you say that "Only policemen may beat people up with sticks", you are emphasizing that no one ELSE may beat people up with sticks.
David may be able to figure out that daylength has a big effect, which makes Alaskan Fall an exception.
Or maybe the exception that matters is "and no nights go below 45".
Or maybe what matters most to tomatoes is not exactly the daily mean temperature, but that works out close for most climates. Maybe it is really the # of hours each day spent above 50 that matters. Only an unusual climate or a University growth chamber with heaters and A/C would discover that.
Or, he might find out that Fall in Alaska is not an exception after all, and proves the theory that "degree days over 50F" determines when a crop matures. For example, your Fall may have a lot of days with average temps around 50.
It will be interesting to see how DTM varies in Texas between Spring and Fall crops. Soil temperature? Day length? Or maybe nothing but GDD, pure and simple.
It works the same way in astrophysics: at first they are delighted to discover any kind of rule of thumb like "bigger stars are brighter, bluer and age faster". But then they analyze tons of data with increasing precision and they find some outliers, or classes of exceptions, or the curve is not a straight line. Then they have a grand time over the next 100 years quibbling about all the other things that qualify the basic rule.
In this case, I think the first rule "60 Days To Maturity" is so inaccurate that David has an excellent chance of finding or creating some much-more-useful statistic (perhaps a straight "GDD-above-50F").
