Is it possible to fool deciduous plants into keeping their leaves durin winter by using grow lights to prolong the "day"?
If so, what kind of lights should I use? At the moment I have two baby plants (about 30-40 mm high) under a single 20W household fluoresent. Should I get one of those 105 watt Envirolites - they seem quite inexpensive and cheap to run too (for about 8 hours per day in winter. (4 hours in the morning and another 4 from late afternoon).
Yes, it should work well. Here in central Florida, trees near street lights generally don't drop their leaves on the light side of the tree. Sycamores particularly (Platanus occidentalis) often go all winter with a branch or two of leaves near the light.
Also, the method is often used by nurserymen in rooting cuttings of maple. If allowed to go deciduous, newly rooted maple cuttings often don't survive the winter. But if lit during the first winter, they come through successfully.
The AOG (accelerated optimal growth) concept for rapidly producing deciduous forest tree seedlings used continuous fluorescent light with plants grown in greenhouses. Here's one of the AOG articles available online:
Wood, B.W. and Hanover, J.W. 1981. Accelerating the growth of black walnut seedlings. Tree Planters' Notes 32(2):35-38.
David R. Hershey
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