Eli5, how do plants get sunburnt?
In: 13
You should only water your plants outside after the sun goes down.
The water droplets function as a lens and point the sun rays on the leaf and can burn them.
In hot weather, a plant’s roots may not be able to deliver as much water to the leaves as the leaves transpire (evaporate) water.
The stomata, which are like pores on a leaf surface, open to transpire water, and they open up to 4x wider in heat, and more water is transpired and lost.
Over time, these leaves have less water from the roots and are weakened and then begin to heat up and dry out or bake in the sun.
In a short term heat wave or if you move a plant from indoors to outdoors, plants can get shocked and don’t have time to acclimate to the excess heat.
Some evergreen plant leaves will turn brown red or bronze as a response to limit chlorophyll production in order to slow plant growth to conserve water.
Annuals or deciduous plant leaves typically scorch and dry out completely.
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