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amyinowasso

Photosensitivity

I was reading about spinach today from some links I had saved. It seems spinach bolts when daylength reaches 14 hours. For Tulsa this is May 12. A number of cool season crops are sensitive this way and this is why they grow better in the fall when daylength is decreasing. It is actually the length of uninterupted darkness they are sensitive to, rather than daylight, but nightlength is harder to say. I'm sure our heat doesn't help, and my Chinese cabbage bolted ITHINK in response to cold temps this fall. If you want spring spinach you need to plant soon and eat it young. Here is one link Why greens bolt and here is one that talks about priming spinach seeds priming spinach seeds

Comments (8)

  • 10 years ago

    Thank you for those links I was just going to plant some this week.

  • 10 years ago

    Couldnt one make a small hoop house and cover the row with light blocking cloth and create darkness to trick the plants. Lots of work but possibly doable.

  • 10 years ago

    Apparently they use methods like that with flowers in order to have blooms out of season. One of the things I read talked about covering mums to get mid summer blooms. One interesting thing I read was it is uninterupted darkness that the plants respond to. A bright, brief flash after 8 hours is enough to make them think the night is shorter, even if it isn't.

  • 10 years ago

    I have heard that a street light is enough to make spinach bolt, but I don't know if that is true.

  • 10 years ago

    Mike, You probably could but it would be an awful lot of work, and shade cloth is pretty pricey as well. Even then, I suspect the heat would cause bolting anyway so you might only extend your harvest another week or two. In the greenhouse which is covered with 50% shade cloth, lettuce bolts at about the same time that lettuce in the ground bolts, and I have to work a lot harder to keep the greenhouse lettuce cooler since heat builds up in the greenhouse.

    Carol, I think that might be true but haven't tested the theory first-hand to see if it is true. I had to move my moonflower vines from the side yard to the veggie garden after we put up a big security light in the side yard. That light at night was enough to mess up the moonflowers, probably by interrupting their period of darkness, and they bloomed less after the security light was installed. Both my gardens are far enough away from outdoor lighting that it doesn't affect them.

    I used to carry over poinsettia plants from one year to another but in order to make them bloom successfully by Christmas, I did have to ensure they received a certain amount of darkness each night. This was easiest if I put them in the closet and left them in there with no light at night for however long I was supposed to do it. You don't realize how often you open a closet or go into it at night until you are trying not to do it. Nowadays, after the poinsettias are done blooming, they are just composted. Who has time to try to manipulate plant lighting for weeks or months on end?

    Dawn

  • 10 years ago

    Yes, I have seed for a pole bean which comes from Oaxaca, Mexico. The ONLY way I can get seed is to grow it in a bucket and bring it into our sun porch for about 1 month in the fall, to avoid frost. Some Appalachian beans I have grown seem to be either too heat sensitive to produce until fall, or else they too are sensitive to day length. And, I've grown two Tarahumara beans. Neither would flower until the last few days of September. Yet, they are really rugged plants and produce very well by frost.

    Some tropical squash are definitely sensitive to day length. The most common variety grown in Central Mexico (Calabaza Castilla) simply refuses to set fruit, this far North, until it is pretty much too late.

    George

  • 10 years ago

    I have little or nothing to add on this one, so I'm just lurking and learning. Is that learnking? Great topic!