Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 20:43:09 EST From: MMiller192@aol.com To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3440$foo@default> Subject: Re: Frog droppings, and highlanders (was nepenthes again)
In a message dated 10/28/1998 1:21:05 PM US Mountain Standard Time,
christer.berglund@amiga.pp.se writes:
<< Any research been done why highland nepenthes need the nighttime
temperature drop (except that it's an adaptation to their natural
habitat)? Does it affect the plants physiology or is it not the temp
drop itself but the result of it, that is increased humidity nighttime,
which the plants need to survive the drier days? >>
I have always heard that the requirement for low night temperature arises from
the fact that chemical reactions go faster in higher temperatures. Plants
photosynthesize in the day and use up what they synthesized at night.
Therefore plants grow better when they are cooler at night because they use
less of what they have photosynthesized. Of course many plants do not need
lower night temperatures. I remember in my plant physiology professor (25
years ago) saying that African violets don't. This would be explained by the
relative rates of the reactions; if the night time reactions are a lot slower
than the daytime reactions, lower night temperatures would not be as
important.
Miles
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