I was transferring 2-week old potted bean seedlings from the nursery to the greenhouse both are at around 22-25 C°. It is around 5 minutes walk , the temperature outside was -10 C°, the sun is shining and the ground has snow. Within 10 minutes in the greenhouse, half of my seedlings were wilting and I had to replace them. Can any plant physiologist tell me if the wilting was due water droplets on the leaves of the seedlings after watering and why some survived the wilting. How do I avoid this scenario in my future experiments?
Supposing your beans were of the genus Phaseolus, it is generally known that these species and varieties are extremely frost sensitive. In my country (NL) we have the rule that these beans 'should not see the sun of May', implicating that even a short spell of night frost will be deadly for them - and it is. Your dead beans simply were frozen, killed by low temperature. If the walk would have been 10 minutes, you might have lost practically alle your plants. Mind, although I was trained as a plant physiologist long ago, this is simple gardener's experience. Next time, pack your plants very well before transport.
Thanks am working on how to pack them well for my next experiment.
This wilting may not be permanent . seedlings can rejuvenate when they will be planted.
Dear Jacinter,
Plant species in germinating phase are sensitive to temperature changes. The seedlings grow quickly and have great energetical output. Temperature change is very stressful factor for them. In your case the temperature difference was 30 ° C !
Best regards, Bozena
Thanks Maurya for giving me hope that they can recover, thanks Sera. I didn't know the seedlings were that sensistive
in our country, we cover all of parts(pot and plant) with newspaper. then we spray water on newspaper. after that we move our pot.
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