In article , Sacha
writes
Malcolm11/4/04 3:53
@inda al.demon.co.uk


In article , Jaques d'Alltrades
writes
The message
from Malcolm contains these words:

Much more likely that late frosts in the spring didn't kill a lot of the
blooms or retard activity of pollinating insects.

But they are just secondary factors. The plant has to have been able to
produce the blooms in the first place, i.e. from its reserves of energy,
before there is anything for frosts or insects to affect.

Not so. When a plant/tree/shrub is badly stressed and 'thinks' it's
dying, it often produces an abundance of bloom.

Interesting. How does it achieve this and have you seen examples?

Yes. Oak trees during the 1976 drought produced masses more acorns than
usual; our Eucryphia amazed us by blooming profusely in January. We
wondered if it was too early or too late - wrong on both counts. It was
dead a couple of months later. The abundance of flower/fruits is to ensure
survival of the species.

Err, I'm not sure I follow you. The acorns produced during the 1976
drought were the result of flowers produced that spring, before the
drought started, which in turn were the result of the oaks having
sufficient energy reserves laid down in summer/autumn 1975 to produce
them. Surely the fact that there were still masses of acorns despite the
drought is evidence that the oaks were coping with the conditions rather
well? If they hadn't been coping, I would have expected them to have
shed the acorns long before they reached maturity.

our Eucryphia amazed us by blooming profusely in January. We
wondered if it was too early or too late - wrong on both counts. It was
dead a couple of months later. The abundance of flower/fruits is to ensure
survival of the species.

I assume you mean January 1977. In which case, could it not have been
that, having got its seasons in a muddle, the plant died within a couple
of months *because* it diverted its energies into flower production at
the wrong time, not that it did so because it "knew" it was dying?

You will often see recommendations to keep plants in pots or situations
where roots are restricted, for example. This is because it causes them to
fruit or flower better. A lot of people recommend such treatment for fig
trees, for example.

That's not quite the same, though, is it? We were discussing the
production of flowers and fruit by wild-living trees, shrubs, etc., not
the artificial conditions forced on them by gardeners who have
discovered that if you restrict root growth you also restrict overall
growth.

--
Malcolm