Bloom - part two: energy, stress & self-regulation

Feb 14

Blooming conditions are not always ideal; they can often include plant -stressors like severe weather events (i.e. windy, rainy, extreme temperatures, etc.) or pest pressures. If your plants aren’t supplied with adequate nutrition and energy they will self-regulate.

Something to keep in mind - when plants self-regulate, it means loss of yield and profit potential. Plant self-regulation happens when there is nutrient and/or energy deficiency. This might be evidenced in incomplete pollination. In reality the plants ran short of time or resources and could not complete the pollination process while the reproductive parts were viable. When self-regulation (premature drop) happens, the plant loses the nutrient energy contained in the fruitlet. This further reduces the amount of nutrient energy available to grow the remaining crop. When the June drop happens later in the year (i.e. April, May, June), all of the energy expended in the previous growing stages further reduces the plants’ available nutrient energy supply.

Ultimately, stress is energy’s Kryptonite; the better you can supply energy, in terms of what the plant needs to complement its current stage of development, the better off you’re going to be. If your field has a history of stress events it could be symptomatic of other underlying problems.

Let’s connect to discuss what these issues are and what the underlying problems of your field might be.

Here’s to your crops’ success!

Start a conversation with Marc