We worked on Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Wassilewskija - which is the miniature wimpy version of A. thaliana. To make matters worse most of what we worked on were temperature sensitive mutants and would begin to wilt shortly after being taken out of the cold growth chamber. Trying to make crosses with those under the dissecting scope was always an adventure. I don't miss it.
Some Clues About Early Budding
- Thread starter deluxestogie
- Start date
Here's a few pics of my unknown "lab" plants. They appear wimpier than standard tobacco in general. These are pretty old and beat up. Any idea roughly what they might be? I'm wondering if maybe they are a type of burley.Tetraploid is double the pleasure, double the fun.
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Of course, many of us have interior house lights shining out our windows, as well as neighbors' (or, gasp! our own) insecurity lights blasting through the night, hitting some plants and not others.
Given that a momentary flash of light occurring after sunset resets a plant's night-length timer, it is truly a wonder that anything at all grows within the long reach of automobile headlamps.
Bob
Given that a momentary flash of light occurring after sunset resets a plant's night-length timer, it is truly a wonder that anything at all grows within the long reach of automobile headlamps.
Bob
I've ruled out cucumbers at any rate
GonzoAcres
Active Member
This is a very astute observation of the issues that arise when growing in greenhouses vs the natural elements, I've worked in the "young plants" nursery business for 13 years now growing the pretty bedding plants and hanging baskets sold in garden centers each spring, the environmental factor you describe in relation to the day/night temperature is literally referred to by greenhouse growers as "The Diff" and is as important as the temperature and light penetration in many cases and many plants have very specific ranges of "Diff" that they have evolved to react too, but its almost never desirable to have a constant temperature day and night, which frankly for the vast majority of greenhouses is nearly impossible to maintain a constant temperature regardless of how hard you try and how much fuel you are willing to throw at it, Daytime temperatures are generally not nearly as important as night time temperatures to plants, the plants I've researched most extensively in this regard are tomatoes and chiles/peppers specifically because they are generally the ones that I wish I could push harder every season regardless of how early I manage to get them planted, even with 400sqft of propagation bench space under heated by a on-demand hot water boiler system which kicks on when the soil temp drops below what ever I have it set to (which is much more similar to a thermostat running off a wet-bulb thermometer due to the probe being subjected to the evaporative cooling effect of the moisture in the soil mix of the trays on the bench) I also have an second internal layer of agribond between the benches and top of greenhouse.
Directly connected to "the diff" you run for the air inside your greenhouse is the actual soil temperature in your trays or pots, which for most plants has much more impact on growth rate than the air temperature of the space they are in. Lots of factors impact soil temperature, which can very as much as 20-30 degrees from the air temperature in a greenhouse space. For instance if you have two identical trays and are growing one in direct contact with the ground in the greenhouse vs another tray elevated on a bench with air circulation underneath of it, the tray on the ground looses alot of its heat to the ground, and takes much longer to equalize the soil temp with the air temp. Soil moisture is also big factor, moist soil retains temperature much better (water has one of the highest thermal storage capacities of all common material in the environment) so its important to water plants early in the day to allow for the maximum amount of time for the sun to heat the water in the soil of the trays and helps maintain a more consistent temperature in the soil through the night due to the heat stored in the moist soil, which is almost always fairly cold coming out of the spigot, here in CO in january and feb tap water temps can be pretty close to freezing which has significant impact on soil temperature, as does "The Diff" you run on your greenhouse thermostat because all heat lost at night takes time to recover in the sun the next day. Tomatoes and chiles both can withstand near freezing temperatures without dying, it is important to understand that in both, and with tobacco being so closely related to tomatoes I have to assume tobacco is likely in the same range, all growth comes to a complete halt at temperatures at and below 50F degrees, they survive just fine from 32-50 degrees, but the energy it takes stop and start growing processes every time they drop below 50F is significant.
This all makes alot of sense when you consider the natural order of the environment, where spring days can be quite warm, but still not trigger things to begin growing due to the soil temperature still being far to low. When growing in greenhouses or inside this can largely be controlled by not watering later in the day, even if the plants look dry, because its cooler they will generally be fine till next morning, always grow trays elevated and not directly on ground, and if you have the means growing on some sort of heated surface does WONDERS, but you still need to run a cooler night time temperature than day time temperature or things begin to stretch without the natural growth regulation of cooler temps to slow things down, when growing out doors the early growth can be greatly accelerated by even the slightest bit of protection to assist in warming the soil where yu have planted or will be planting, this can come in the form of wind breaks near your garden to prevent the wind from cooling soil through evaporation, or placing water jugs around your plants, not over them, but jugs filled with water next to the plants, which take advantage of the thermal capacity of water being warmed during the day and slowly released in close proximity to the desired crops, or simple "low tunnel" setups over your rows with either agribond or greenhouse clear sheeting (make sure you leave the ends open so you dont cook stuff during the day) , and black silage tarps or black plastic "mulch" on the soil surrounding your plants to help hold moisture and absorb heat during the day into the soil.
GonzoAcres
Active Member
Extensive research has been done on this for Cannabis and poinsettia's, interestingly enough I think it was in Elliot Colemans book "Four Seasons Grower" where they discovered its not so much the amount of daylight that plants get that triggers the seasonal changes associated with long days or short days, but more importantly the hours of darkness. This would seem to be the same thing, but I think when they did the research they found that the amount and strength of light wasn't as important as the interruption caused to the period of no light that triggered the response in plants. I think he also coined the term "Persephone Period" which is the period of the year wherever you are that there are less than 10 hours of sun in any given day. In North America its generally late November to the end of January or so.
Persephone Period for Planning Perfect Winter Produce
There are two purposes for fall sowing—to harvest in late fall or winter, or harvest in spring from plants that can overwinter. “Overwintering” means just that, late summer/fall-sowing of cold-hardy/frost-tolerant plants that can endure harsh winter weather and still produce a useable crop. Some...
GonzoAcres
Active Member
Interestingly enough in my prior professional life as a chef we did just that, it does take a little bit longer than 20 minutes at 130F, i think closer to 45 minutes to maintain nearly the perfect soft boiled egg if my memory serves me correctly. When the technology of "sous vide" cooking in precision controlled heated water baths it revolutionized a lot of cooking tasks that were a nightmare, soft boiled and poached eggs being one of them for brunch service, since cooking them the traditional way at high temperatures led to a lot of overcooked eggs being wasted. The nice thing about being able to cook them and hold them at exactly 130f is that's exactly the temperature just below the temp required to congeal Albumen, the protein that makes up egg whites so we could toss them in the water in the shell an hour or two before we opened, hold them at that temp the entire time we were open and every time an eggs Benedict came in we would simply pull one out and crack it like a normal egg over the ham and English muffin, except it came out of the shell already perfectly soft boiled.... absolutely BRILLIANT use of the technology.
But you are absolutely right in terms of plants and accumulated energy, Here's a link to a video of Elliot Coleman discussing winter growing vegetables in Maine, and his discussion about the specific plant requirements associated with plant growth in winter, characterized by the cold and the lack of sunlight, and how to overcome them (in limited groups of plants that will tolerate growing in cold without light)
