#63 Dec 2022 - Garden Stuff - © Sandy Lang - slang@xtra.co.nz
ACCLIMATISATION (acclimation in USA speak)December/January: Early/mid-summer. The holiday season is upon us. It’s the time our pot plants suffer neglect. What to do? See www.mulchpile.org/3
Uncomfortable? Is it too hot/cold/wet/dry/bright/dark/windy/crowded for you...? You can move if you don’t like it, but plants can’t. Most plants produce many seeds, and most seeds germinate, but few grow to be plants. Where they fall, there they must stay, so there they must adjust to the conditions (acclimatise) or die.
Phenotypic plasticity: Who you are, depends on your genes, but also on your environment. Your ‘genotype’ you got from your parents, and it’s fixed. But your ‘phenotype’ (the sum of your characteristics) reflects your genotype and also your environment. Same with plants. They can adjust (acclimatise) their structures and physiologies to the conditions in which they find themselves – but only within certain limits and only gradually.
Look at the leaves on a large tree. The shaded ones low in the canopy are thinner and larger than those high up in the bright sun. These differences in size and thickness are adjustments made to their leaf structures and physiologies in response to the environment in which they developed – Google phenotypic plasticity wiki Animals (and you and me) do this too, but plants are masters at it.
Hardening: But acclimatisation takes time. The term ‘hardening’ is used to refer to the gradual acclimatisation of a plant from, say, the glasshouse where it was raised, to the garden centre where you bought it, and then to its new life in your house or garden. Light – If you suddenly move a plant from a shady place to a sunny place, its leaves may bleach and die. But move it in stages, a few days in each spot - from shady, to intermediate, to sunny - it will be just fine. But don’t keep moving it about or it will never get a chance to acclimatise properly. Wind – A house plant used to still air may struggle if it suddenly finds itself by an open window. Temperature – In winter, plants are well able to tolerate temperatures that would be low enough to kill them in spring or autumn when they’re acclimatised to warmer conditions. So sudden late frosts (springtime) or sudden early frosts (autumn) are the bane of horticulturists. ___________________________________
ACCLIMATISATION (acclimation in USA speak)December/January: Early/mid-summer. The holiday season is upon us. It’s the time our pot plants suffer neglect. What to do? See www.mulchpile.org/3
Uncomfortable? Is it too hot/cold/wet/dry/bright/dark/windy/crowded for you...? You can move if you don’t like it, but plants can’t. Most plants produce many seeds, and most seeds germinate, but few grow to be plants. Where they fall, there they must stay, so there they must adjust to the conditions (acclimatise) or die.
Phenotypic plasticity: Who you are, depends on your genes, but also on your environment. Your ‘genotype’ you got from your parents, and it’s fixed. But your ‘phenotype’ (the sum of your characteristics) reflects your genotype and also your environment. Same with plants. They can adjust (acclimatise) their structures and physiologies to the conditions in which they find themselves – but only within certain limits and only gradually.
Look at the leaves on a large tree. The shaded ones low in the canopy are thinner and larger than those high up in the bright sun. These differences in size and thickness are adjustments made to their leaf structures and physiologies in response to the environment in which they developed – Google phenotypic plasticity wiki Animals (and you and me) do this too, but plants are masters at it.
Hardening: But acclimatisation takes time. The term ‘hardening’ is used to refer to the gradual acclimatisation of a plant from, say, the glasshouse where it was raised, to the garden centre where you bought it, and then to its new life in your house or garden. Light – If you suddenly move a plant from a shady place to a sunny place, its leaves may bleach and die. But move it in stages, a few days in each spot - from shady, to intermediate, to sunny - it will be just fine. But don’t keep moving it about or it will never get a chance to acclimatise properly. Wind – A house plant used to still air may struggle if it suddenly finds itself by an open window. Temperature – In winter, plants are well able to tolerate temperatures that would be low enough to kill them in spring or autumn when they’re acclimatised to warmer conditions. So sudden late frosts (springtime) or sudden early frosts (autumn) are the bane of horticulturists. ___________________________________