Why do Plants Begin to Grow in Spring? (2024)

FAQs

Why do Plants Begin to Grow in Spring? ›

Spring brings with it warmer temperatures, which help to thaw the soil and make it more conducive to growth. The warmer weather also brings more sunlight, which is essential for photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert light energy into chemical energy.

Perennial plant seeds come well prepared for spring: these seeds contain the plant embryo and come packed with their first meal of nutrients hat will help it grow in the spring! When conditions allow, after rains bring water and as the weather becomes warmer, the seed will germinate and begin to grow.

The answer lies in their genes. The blooming process is initiated by just one protein! As the days start getting longer, and the number of daylight hours begins to increase, a plant protein called “CONSTANS” (“CO”) is activated within the plant.

Science behind the vernal equinox

We refer it to as the vernal equinox with vernal meaning spring and equinox meaning “equal night and day.” It's the exact time when the sun's direct rays pass over the Earth's equator. The Earth is a sphere, and it takes 365 ¼ days to orbit around the sun.

Leaves turn golden, temperatures shift, new growth springs forth, plants bear fruit, and along with it the colors and impacts of the light streaming through our homes shift too.

Spring brings with it warmer temperatures, which help to thaw the soil and make it more conducive to growth. The warmer weather also brings more sunlight, which is essential for photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert light energy into chemical energy.

There are two ways trees know when to wake up for spring. First, they respond to noticeably warmer days after a stretch of cold temperatures in winter. At the same time, they react to a change in light duration, when shorter nights and longer days of sun exposure, spur new growth and development.

Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis)

Like other springtime bulb plants, their foliage dies back by summer. The "snow" in the name is apt because they are among the earliest bloomers in February or March. Snowdrops are sometimes spotted pushing up through a layer of snow.

From spring to fall is the growing season. The most vigorous growth of plants will be in the summer when the sun is up and out the longest. During winter, the sun is neither as high in the sky, nor in the sky for as long as it is in the summer. For your plants, that means less light.

Warm spring temperatures can be an overriding driver of bud break, to an extent. Growing degree days are the days above a certain minimum temperature threshold. Each species requires a certain number of degree days above their temperature threshold to trigger growth.

What trigger spring? ›

Definition of a Trigger Spring:

A trigger spring is placed behind the trigger of a firearm so that when the trigger is pulled, it'll return to it's original position once the user releases the trigger.

During spring, the axis of the Earth is increasing its tilt relative to the Sun, and the length of daylight rapidly increases for the relevant hemisphere. The hemisphere begins to warm significantly causing new plant growth to “spring forth,” giving the season its name.

Springs occur when water pressure causes a natural flow of groundwater onto the earth's surface. As rainwater enters or "recharges" the aquifer, pressure is placed on the water already present.

As the daylight hours increase during spring/ summer, the new buds have more time to absorb more energy from the sunlight to help them grow. However, when the plants have to transition from winter to spring, plants detect the increase in temperature and this is the signal they use to bloom new flowers/ plants.

During the growing season, the plant stores energy in its roots, bulb or corm (aka rhizome)—the part where the stem and root meet). That energy allows it to go dormant in the winter, much like an animal might hibernate. When conditions like temperature are right the next spring, the plant begins to grow again.

Plants are sensitive to the amount of darkness that occurs each day, which is called a photoperiod. Changes in the photoperiod signal what the season is and what the tree needs to do during that time. Essentially, the photoperiod allows them to tell time.

Plants need to leaf out as early as they can in spring to take full advantage of the growing season. But this involves pumping water into their developing leaves, which reduces the concentration of sugars, salts and organic compounds in their tissues and removes their winter protection from cold.

First, as the days shorten and the cold sets in, many plants become “hardened”. Water is pumped out of plant cells into the roots and any remaining sap, which is a sugary solution, often acts as antifreeze. Broadleaf trees, like maples and oaks, shed their thin, flat leaves each fall to reduce water loss.

If timed carefully, the vegetable gardener can reap the rewards of frost-tolerant spring vegetables—peas, broccoli, kale, arugula, cabbage, spinach, carrots, radishes, scallions, cilantro, and lettuce, to name a few—before even thinking about planting heat-loving crops like tomatoes or peppers.