Humidity and leaf size

onlyrey

Mame
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Indian Rocks Beach, FL
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I collected two very small Chinese elms, and kept them within a plastic (2 litter coke bottle) for a few weeks. I believe that the high humidity environment (sort of a mini-greenhouse) created by the enclosure kept the size of the leaves small on my two little elms. When I removed the cut 2 liter plastic bottle the leaves of the elms rapidly grew. I took the enclosures off from the two trees at different times, and saw the same effect on both trees after removing the mini-greenhouse.

While looking for an explanation for my observations, I stumbled on this article which I think is very well explained and might explain or debunk my observations (n=2). At the end of the article, the author gives examples of plants (cucumber and tomato) with leaves that grow larger or stay smaller because of high humidity.

http://www.hortnet.co.nz/publications/science/n/neder/humid06.htm

Any comments? Similar or different observations?
 

Attila Soos

Omono
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Very dry air results in smaller leaves. One can see that here in the desert, where most plants have very small leaves, in order to minimize evaporation.
High humidity, on the other hand, leads to large leaves. See tropical jungles, with lush green foliage.

The article that you linked for us confirms the same conclusion.

So, your elms getting smaller leaves is not caused by the high humidity. Humidity alone would have lead to larger leaves. There must be something else that caused your leaves to become smaller, such as root problems and arrested root development.
 
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