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| I read where on a sunny day that a tomato leaf parallel to the sun might be up to 14 degrees F warmer than the air temperature is. Shaded leaves were near air temperature. Anyone know anything about leaf temperature versus air temperature on a sunny warm day in the summer? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by carolyn137 z4/5 NY (My Page) on Wed, Jul 16, 14 at 18:33
| I know nothing about it and have never even thought of it. The only relevance I can think of is knowing exactly what the airtemp is to be able to think about what an increase in14 Fmight mean. The upper leaf surface has many components that are made of protein and high sustained temps would denature those proteins and essentially kill the leaf. In addition, leaves transpire, as a thermal regulator and I don't know how that is relevant to what you ask. Summary? I don 't know anything about it, never saw what you posted, never thought about it and am not going to think about it now.LOL Also thinking of ALL my tomato friends who grow tomatoes in high heat areas and as long as they have access to water they do just fine and some do use shade cloth, Carolyn |
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| I asked because I know that when air temperature reaches 85 degrees the stoma under the leaves begin to close. By 90 degrees they are closed and photosynthesis essentially shuts down as no CO2 can enter the plant as stoma are closed. Southern growers us shade cloth to lower the air temperature around their plants. A 40% shade cloth can lower the temperature by 10 degrees. Misting can add to that. This allows photosynthesis and thereby tomato growth to continue. With direct sunlight in summer a tomato plant only uses 50% of the light energy available. So with a 40% shade they still get enough light for growth and are yet have a better chance to be cool enough to have their stoma open. The reason I asked about leaf temperature is that I wondered if someone here had an interest in it and knew anything about it and its effect on tomato growth. Think about it Carolyn. It is just another piece to the puzzle of knowing all you can. My puzzle has a lot of pieces missing. |
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