Benefits of Starting With Young Plants
Starting with young plants can be a great way to grow something you really love! They’re easier to care for and are more resistant to pests and diseases than seeds.
However, there are several things to consider before making this decision. Some factors include location, space, and startup costs.
1. They’re easier to care for
Young plants are easier to care for than their seedling kin. The key is to keep an eye on the weather, lighting, water and soil. The more you know about what your plant needs to thrive, the better you can ensure its long and happy life.
For example, the best way to ensure your young plants gets a healthy start is to use a good quality potting mix. This is particularly important if you are growing indoors. This will help prevent diseases such as black spot, rot and fungal infection that can quickly kill your crop.
One of the most useful tips is to check your soil to ensure it contains no fungi that can cause damping off. This fungal disease can kill your little sprouts before they are fully formed.
In addition, using a sterilized soil or soilless mix will make sure your young sprouts don’t get any bacterial infections that can result in rot and fungal infection.
For instance, the most successful plants are usually planted in containers made from a good quality potting mix, preferably composted. This will allow for a healthier root system, resulting in faster growth and more robust leaves.
2. They’re more resistant to pests and diseases
Young plants are also more tolerant of heat and cold than older ones. In fact, when the temperature dips below freezing, it’s important to let them acclimate slowly so they don’t suffer severe damage from the cold.
If your plants aren’t accustomed to the cold, you may find that they develop “frost cracks” in their trunks. Luckily, these cracks usually form over time and can be covered by callus tissue.
Plants with thin bark, such as trees and shrubs, are especially susceptible to winter injury. They have a vascular system that is more sensitive to temperature changes than trees with thicker bark, such as conifers.
A recent freeze in Central Texas, which was unlike anything we’ve seen before, caused extensive damage to many young trees. If you have young fruit trees, be sure to keep them healthy and acclimate them slowly before the next freeze.
There are many different types of bacterial diseases that can affect plants. These include fire blight, which is particularly damaging to apples, pears and related varieties in the Midwestern U.S. The bacteria enter the plant through nectarthodes in flowers, causing the leaves and shoot tips to wilt.
Fortunately, there are many resistant cultivars to help manage this problem. In addition, these plants can be resistant to other fungi and insects that might infect them as well.
Breeders focus on resistance in order to provide their customers with a wide range of options for controlling pests and diseases. They also hope to help farmers reduce their need for chemical pesticides and other products, thereby saving them money.
3. They’re more tolerant of heat
If you have any young plants, it’s a good idea to move them away from the sun and into a cooler environment during hot weather. This will help protect them from the wrath of heat waves and ensure that they grow healthy and strong.
The ability to tolerate high temperatures is one of the most important traits in plant development. Several physiological mechanisms such as ubiquitin synthesis, lea proteins, and chloroplast protein synthesis elongation factor (EF-Tu) have been shown to play an important role in high temperature tolerance.
Another key mechanism that is involved in plant responses to high temperature is the synthesis of cytokinins, such as ethylene and acetophenone, which act to promote photosynthesis and reduce stress levels. These cytokinins, along with the hormones ABA and AUX, are known to be key players in photosynthesis and growth.
These factors also play a critical role in developing the reproductive tissues. They can induce heat-sensitive transcription factors in the anther cones that are then passed to the ovary for further development.
Flowering, which is a crucial event in a crop’s development, has been found to be particularly susceptible to heat stress. Studies have demonstrated that bud onset and bud closure are affected significantly by heat stress.
Additionally, the development of the pollen cones is also affected by heat stress. Several studies have been conducted to identify the molecular mechanisms that confer heat tolerance during pollen development.
Various studies have reported that tolerant genotypes are characterized by a higher level of gene modulation intensity in their anther transcriptomes than sensitive ones. This indicates that a greater proportion of the gene transcripts are involved in metabolism and developmental processes in the tolerant genotypes.
4. They’re more resistant to cold
If you’ve ever tried to grow plants in an area with extreme weather, you know that it can be difficult to keep your crops healthy and producing well. This is particularly true in cold climates, where the temperature can plummet suddenly and drastically, causing severe damage to crops.
The key to ensuring that your plants can thrive in cold conditions is figuring out their specific temperature tolerance. Some plants can withstand freezing temperatures without sustaining any damage, while others require protection in the form of a frost blanket or a greenhouse.
Many varieties of lettuce and leafy greens are cold hardy and won’t need a lot of protection from frost in order to produce healthy leaves. These direct sown varieties also tend to be more vigorous than indoor grown or transplanted varieties, which are typically less cold tolerant.
Several types of plant proteins are involved in preventing freezing damage to cells. These proteins are synthesised in response to low temperatures and can change the lipid composition of membranes, helping them to remain fluid at lower temperatures.
These changes are triggered by the production of a plant hormone called abscisic acid. It also triggers a process known as “cold hardening” which involves a shift from saturated to unsaturated fatty acids in the cell membranes of plants.
These unsaturated fatty acids are much more fluid than saturated ones, so they allow their membranes to remain functional at lower temperatures. The increased lipid content in the cell membranes also helps to prevent ice from forming within the cells, a problem that can kill plant tissue. In addition, the increased lipid content allows the plant to use sugars to absorb water during low temperatures. This provides the plant with a source of energy and water during times of stress, such as winter, when the soil is too dry to support plant growth.
5. They’re more resistant to drought
A drought is a period of time when there is less rain than usual in an area. This can happen due to climate change, deforestation, and other factors that affect the water supply.
The severity of droughts can be devastating, and they often have an impact that lasts a long time. They are different from other natural disasters, which typically make a big splash and generate destruction right away.
Droughts can last for weeks, months or years and have a very serious effect on the way plants grow and the people who live in them. They can cause famine, damage to crops and infrastructure, and even death.
Plants have ways to avoid and cope with drought, such as by having a thick waxy layer that keeps the water from evaporating off the leaves or by using their roots to search for water under dry soil. Desert succulents, for example, have large bulbs that store underground water to sustain them during periods of drought.
Some plants can also react to drought by increasing the amount of proline, a naturally occurring amino acid that helps protect against free radicals that are produced during photosynthesis in plants when there isn’t enough water for the plant to thrive.
These changes can help the plants deal with the dry conditions better, but they aren’t as effective as other methods for resisting drought. Other strategies include storing water, avoiding oxidative stress, and increasing antioxidants that can help the cells fight off harmful free radicals.
Because they’re so young, plants that haven’t developed many roots can’t absorb as much water as older, established plants with extensive root systems. Mulching the soil to conserve moisture can also help prevent water loss.
