After an unusually warm week (temperatures in the 70’s), we have arrived back to our normal February weather (mid 40’s). This past week of warmer weather while favorable for us, had some pretty extreme outcomes for the multiflora rose bushes we are monitoring. On Monday February 26th, it was a lovely 48*F and overcast, however, the multiflora roses didn’t seem to mind. It seemed that the bushes were continuing to have more and more breaking leaf buds between 101 to 1,000!!! In addition about 5% of the breaking leaf buds from the week before have actually started to form the pink and green leaves; while about 25% of the prior leafs had started to increase in size. However, about 5% of both of the bushes still had the older colored leaves clinging to them in an attempt to not fall to the ground. With last years ripened fruits still attached to both bushes (101-1,000 fruits with >95% mature), the bushes are covered in a mix of old and new growth and hopefully new flower buds will appear in the following weeks. (Post by Nicholle Johnson)
0 Comments
This week I monitored our two Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) in the early afternoon. It was a beautiful day! Sunny, clear skies, 72 degrees Fahrenheit, with 0% chance of precipitation. With the unusual warm weather, I noticed more phenophase action than the week before. Both of our plants were showing more breaking leaf buds, between 101-1,000! You can visibly see pink and green tips starting the leaf out. They are not considered increasing leaf size because the leaf hasn't grown enough to unfold or expose the stalk (petiole) or leaf base. Both shrubs also had a few increasing leaf sizes (<25%) where they are showing leaves but not to their full potential. Less than 5% of the canopy cover was full of leaves. One of our shrubs was still showing colored leaves (<5%) from an environmental stressor, which was most likely shock from cold weather. Both shrubs had more than 1,000 fruits present, and all of them were ripe (>95%) that had not dropped from the previous growing season. There are still no flower buds present on either Multiflora rose. Hopefully with the continuing warm weather, more and more leaf buds will break open and we'll have flower buds pop up. (Post by L. Cort)
On the afternoon of February 15, 2018, my teammates and I set out to Radford University's Selu Conservancy to find two Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora) bushes to monitor. The weather was nice; partly cloudy and in the mid 60s. Selu consists of mixed vegetation types among the 400 acres of land. We chose two Multiflora rose bushes along the trail path, on the east side of Selu. The vegetation consisted of mix grassland; a combination of grass and sedge, with an occasional woody shrub and brier patch. There is no canopy cover blocking the two plants from sunlight. We tagged our plants with pink tape and a metal tag to be consistent with using the same two bushes. Every week we'll monitor the plants for changing phenophase types. This week, our two Multiflora rose bushes had very little breaking leaf buds (3-10 on one bush and 11-100 on the other). The leaf bud is considered breaking when the scales are open, allowing a green leaf to slowly emerge, and the stalks of the leaf are not visible. Both bushes showed less than 25% of full leaf size and less than 5% of the canopy was covered in leaves. Both had a few colored leaves (<5%) due to an environmental stressor, most likely shock from cold weather. There were no flower buds present on either plant. Both plants had ripe fruits present that had not dropped from last growing season (one had 11-100 fruits and the other had more than 1,000 fruits).
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2018
Categories |