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Bamboo min temp, does include mean wind chill?

20 years ago

When taking into account a bamboo's requirement for minimum temperature, does one take into account wind chill? For example, here in Michigan zone 5, ambient temperature sometimes gets down to 0F in the winter. It only gets down to -10F ambient rarely (once every few years), or -20F if you count windchill sometimes.

Comments (5)

  • 20 years ago

    Subject should say "Does that include wind chill?"

  • 20 years ago

    I like what needmore states on similiar idea
    ". There are many variables that affect bamboos response to winter conditions including extreme temperatures, cold dry winds, prolonged periods of below freezing temperatures, and the 'suddenness' of the cold snap. I have seen bamboo that is generally considered to be hardy to subzero temperatures, exhibit serious leaf damage when temperatures suddenly drop to subfreezing after a period of late fall warmth. How is the gardener supposed to feel when a bamboo listed as hardy to -15F suddenly shows serious leaf damage at +23F? " quote from http://needmorebamboo.com/hardiness.html

    Basically, there are so many factors that the general cold-hardiness factors don't cover.

    "Subject should say "Does that include wind chill?""
    So in short answer, no.

  • 20 years ago

    Wind chill does not effect plants, since they maintain the current ambient temperature much like a rock or some inanimate object. No matter how hard he wind blows, plants maintain the same temperature. Wind chill only effects objects that are warmer than the ambient temperature, like mammals. The wind just causes things to cool down to the ambient temperature faster.
    But the wind can prevent the sun from warming your plants and soil as it might otherwise without the wind blowing.
    Wind dessication is more of a problem to plants, that is, wind tends to pull the moisture out of plants faster than normal.

  • 20 years ago

    I'll agree with both posts above. The actual temperature is what you need to take into consideration, not wind chill, although high winds dry out leaves faster than when there is little or no wind.

    The length of time that a plant is subject to cold temperatures, how much moisture is in the soil, amount of moisture in the air, and location of the plant(including if it is in a pot), all have a lot to do with plant freezer burn.

    A plant protected from cold winds, or planted next to a house where it can get some heat, will do much better than a plant out in the open with no protection.

    Higher altitudes affect plants differently also when it comes to cold weather. Here, the air is thick. 30F here has been described as being equal to 10F up in the mountains of Colorado, a difference in altitude of over a mile, or in other words, 30F here feels like 10F there because of the humidity. The same goes for the heat, in the Summer, 100F here is equal to 120F in dryer climates, but then the same plants usually don't grow in both climates.

    Kt

  • 20 years ago

    Wind does have an strong effect on the cold hardiness displayed by bamboos at subfreezing temperatures, but mainly through its effects on dehydrating the leaves rather than through its chilling effects. If you have two identical bamboo plants exposed to the same low temps, one in a windy location and one protected from wind, the bamboo in the wind will exhibit much more cold damage than the wind sheltered plant. When a bamboo plant is exposed to subfreezing temps, the water in its xylem plumbing system freezes solid and the leaves are limited to the amount of water stored in the cells of the leaves. When they lose this water to evaporation, the leaf dies. Exposure to wind increases the rate of evaporation, especially since bamboo leaves aren't very well adapted to xerophytic conditions. One of the most critical factors determining bamboo cold hardiness is how long the bamboo plants is exposed to subfreezing temps.

    Actually, wind chill does have an effect on living and inanimate objects at ambient temperature if they are wet and the water is evaporating from their surfaces. A swamp cooler is ample evidence of the effects of wind chill on inanimate objects at ambient temperatures. So is a wet/dry bulb sling psychrometer.

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