The damage, if any, won’t be noticeable right away. Reduced photosynthesis translates to reduced energy, and weaker plants will display slow growth and diminished vigor.Īdditionally, with prolonged exposure, volatile organic compounds found in smoke can affect leaves and other plant parts and disrupt the ability of plants to take up nutrients. Pollutants and small particulate matter landing on your plants can block sunlight, which is essential for photosynthesis. “There also could be a localized effect, where one garden is covered in ash, and a half-mile away, there’s nothing because that’s the way the wind was moving things around.” “It depends on how close you are,” she said. “When they’re exposed to smoke particles for a short amount of time, plants will bounce back, but a heavy amount of smoke is different than a passing event,” according to Oregon State University Extension community horticulturist Brooke Edmunds, who also is a plant pathologist. But after securing those, you might find your plants need a little help, too. If your area is heavily affected by smoke or ash, the first priorities should, of course, be human, home and pet safety. In the New York City suburbs where I live, the air became smoggy and orange, categorized for a time by monitoring agencies as “hazardous.”ĭuring the worst of it, I wore a mask inside my house and kept my dog mostly indoors.īut my plants stood in the garden with no choice but to breathe the toxic air through the tiny pores in their leaves. this week, a problem all too familiar in many Western states. Smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada drove down air quality across swaths of the Eastern U.S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |