Muy interesante este tema sobre los niveles de calor que pueden soportar las plantas, mi experiencia se basa en un clima tropical húmedo ya que vivo en Panamá. En este país, específicamente Ciudad Capital, las temperaturas alcanzan y superan los 30° Celsius prácticamente todo el año. Sobre el último aspecto mencionado: “As a result, temperatures that don’t harm a plant in the West will often kill it in the East.” tengo algunas preguntas sobre este concepto.
En Panamá sólo hay dos estaciones, una seca (enero~abril) y una lluviosa (mayo~diciembre). En la primera la humedad relativa se mantiene muy alta y las temperaturas sólo llegan a subir a 30-32°C y bajar a 25-26°C (el agua actua como regulador de temperatura). Sin embargo, en la estación seca la temperatura puede subir hasta 36-37°C y bajar a 23-24°C, provocando daños más severos por calor y sequía a algunas plantas. Mi pregunta es que, si este fenómeno ocurre en el Este y en el Oeste de los EEUU? Por ejemplo, si en la Florida que es más húmeda, las temperaturas no se regulan más que en Texas, y por ende, las plantas no deberían sufrir menos daños?

Mi última pregunta es, si la AHS ha determinado que “The choice of 86 degrees as a criterion is based on the fact that this is the temperature at which the rising temperature begins to damage proteins in plant cells”, por qué las plantas originarias del trópico no presentan daños por exceso de calor? ¿Este criterio aplica a todas las plantas?

Gracias de antemano por su atención,

Saludos,

LFer.

If you want to do your gardening ‘bit’ to keep C02 levels down, you need to start thinking more holistically; you could start by turning off turn off those fluorescent lights, unless you’re generating your own carbon-free renewable electricity – in which case, great! Power generation is a major emitter of atmospheric C02. And spare a thought for the oil needed to make the plastic trays to carry the cocopeat pellets (are the pellets themselves in a fine outer wrapper, and what’s that made from?). If the trays are recycled plastic and readily recyclable, then it’s another ‘great’. Gardeners won’t be immune from the effects of ‘peak oil’. A quick look through gardening catalogues here in the UK shows just how addicted to oil the gardening industry is – plastic, plastic, everywhere.

I would question your comment re coir: “Shipped in light, compact bales, bricks, and pellets, it is also inexpensive to transport, and because it is a recycled waste, its production has very little environmental cost.”

Ships are powered by the dirtiest of all fossil fuels and there is evidence to suggest that shipping is responsible for more atmospheric CO2 pollution than aviation, as well as a whole raft of ill-effects on human health.

Please have a look at these:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/13/climatechange.pollution1

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/09/shipping-pollution

It’s easy to grab for the seemingly innocent bits of ‘greener’ gardening, but as gardeners we have to dig much deeper than we are doing, and not accept the spin and greenwash put out by the vested interests controlling the gardening industry around the world. We must be prepared to follow through all the links in the gardening chain and not just hold onto the bits that suit our gardens as well as our consciences. Our thinking needs to be ‘earth-friendly’ at all levels.

The way forward for home garden compost is to localise it, possibly using sustainably-produced wood fibre. The more immediate way for a gardener to reduce their C02 emissions/environmental impact is to choose composts made from green waste (these are improving dramatically here in the UK). These can be used from the bag for say seed sowing (to avoid risk of seedling disease) but could be mixed 50:50 with say leafmould to provide a good potting mix for more established plants. Even those wary of giving up on their peat-based composts should start experimenting.

Every bit helps to reduce the demand for peat-based compost, and so prevents further destruction of peat bogs. Ultimately, it keeps that rather innocuous but climate-changing carbon you talk about where it needs to be – in the ground.

Enjoying the blog!