Why plants don't get sunburned

[AZS]

Ever wonder why plants don't get sunburned? More protective molecules are being discovered and studied all the time and surely this is just the beginning!

http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2014/acs-presspac-october-29-2014/why-plants-dont-get-sunburn.html

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja5059026

Sinapic acid:

http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/content/dam/sigma-aldrich/structure7/099/mfcd00004401.eps/_jcr_content/renditions/mfcd00004401-medium.png

Sinapoyl Malate

http://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Menu2/Family/FamilyInfo/FamilyInfoImages/SinapoylMalate.png

Edited February 6, 2015 by AZS

[DiscoStu]

my plants get sunburned often

[AZS]

my plants get sunburned often

(move them back inside under the grow light)

Edited February 6, 2015 by AZS

[DiscoStu]

no grow light, just high aussie summer, enough to hammer even the hardiest of plants

[Getafix]

Agreed. I have watched many a cactus in my garden burn in the South Australian summer.

Getafix

no grow light, just high aussie summer, enough to hammer even the hardiest of plants

[Bert&Ernie]

I was gunna say but they do get sunburnt but it's nowhere near as often as humans and other animals do...

[Getafix]

I was gunna say but they do get sunburnt but it's nowhere near as often as humans and other animals do...

Everything is okay up to about 37 degrees celcius. From there into the low 40's shit burns.

[mr b.caapi]

Everything is okay up to about 37 degrees celcius. From there into the low 40's shit burns.

Agreed.

[Bert&Ernie]

Isnt it the uv level that matters and not the temperature?

[Distracted]

According to a book I have the photosensitive cells inside the leaves of cannabis shut down after 38 degrees celcius to stop absorbing light in order to prevent the leaves from burning.

Other leaves turn red to stop absorbing that particular spectrum of light and save the rest of the cells.

Someone more knowledgeable chime in, i don't know enough and would like to know more!

Edited February 6, 2015 by Distracted

[AZS]

Some interesting info.

"Although UV wavelengths are absorbed by leaves and would be capable of driving photosynthesis, such short wavelengths are damaging to biological systems and plants have adapted by developing a chemical sunscreen. "

..."Beyond 700 nm (infrared band) absorption drops to near zero, and forestalls leaf heating from this source of energy. "

Chlorophyll absorption and photosynthetic action spectra

http://plantsinaction.science.uq.edu.au/edition1//?q=node/20#53

[Dreamwalker.]

A little off topic maybe, I think a lot of cacti's natural habitat is in dry forest & shrub land. Often when you see them in their natural habitat the trees have long since been harvested/cleared, the land grazed & the cacti left because they had little value. I recently saw an environmental vid on the fruit harvesting of Mexican Stenocereus. Although there are a lot of plantations now, the wild sten's are still harvested by clearing out the trees....its cause major environmental damage. I read that the saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) were once surrounded by trees ....cut down for fence post long ago.

So I guess they (cacti) had a lot more protection from the sun in the past & may account for the tall columnar forms, popping out in the tree tops...........

Edited February 7, 2015 by Dreamwalker.