What happens to a plant if the temperature is too high?

Author: Prof. Izaiah Conn  |  Last update: Monday, August 4, 2025

If extreme heat continues for weeks at a time, plants can actually die from a depletion of their food reserves. High temperatures can also cause severe water loss (desiccation) when transpiration (the process by which leaves release water vapor to the atmosphere) exceeds moisture absorption by the roots.

How does high temperature affect plants?

Heat stress triggers dehydration in plants, which stunts their development. Reduced photosynthetic production is a direct result of heat stress's effect on the leaf relative water content (RWC) and the plant's water potential. Thus, heat stress leads plants to lose water and wilt.

What happens to plants when it's too hot?

Studies have shown that high temperatures can increase the plant's rate of reproductive development, which shortens the time for photosynthesis to contribute to fruit or seed production. Heat stress problems also make the plant more susceptible to pests and other environmental problems.

How does increasing temperature affect plants?

In addition, an increase in temperature speeds up the plant lifecycle so that as the plant matures more quickly, it has less time for photosynthesis, and consequently produces fewer grains and smaller yields. Plants are also on the move in response to warming temperatures.

How do plants respond to high temperature?

Plants respond to heat stress by activating heat shock factors and also other molecular players. In particular, hormones as chemical messengers are involved. Among the hormones that plants produce are the brassinosteroids, which primarily regulate their growth and developments.

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How do plants adapt to extreme heat?

When temperatures rise, they take on a more open posture. Leaves, for example, become more upright. This greatly reduces the direct radiation from the sun. In addition, the leaf stalks will stretch, allowing more wind to pass the leaves and dissipate the heat.

What is a plant response to temperature called?

Plant thermotropism: an underexplored thermal engagement and avoidance strategy.

What happens to a plant if the temperature is too high or too low for an extended period?

Excessively low or high temperatures may cause: plant stress, inhibit growth, or promote a spindly appearance and foliage damage or drop. Cool nighttime temperatures are actually more desirable for plant growth than high temperatures.

Do plants grow better in warmer temperatures?

As the temperature increases above the base temperature, plants grow faster, until it reaches its maximum rate of development. This is the optimum temperature and also varies among plant species. Plants that originate from warmer climates tend to have higher optimum temperatures than those from cooler climates.

What plants are sensitive to temperature?

Typical plants affected by heat

The category of heat-sensitive plants can encompass a broad range of species. Among them, flowers such as pansies and fuchsias, aromatic herbs like basil and mint, and vegetables including lettuce and broccoli are often the most affected.

What temperature is too hot for plants?

The general answer is around 90 degrees F, with some exceptions to the rule. This means that when temps rise above 90 and remain there for a lengthy spell: Leaves wilt. Water evaporates into the atmosphere more quickly in high heat, draining a plant's reserves.

Should I water plants every day in hot weather?

During extremely hot weather (daytime temperatures above 90F and nighttime temperatures above 70F), try to water daily or every other day. In a 10x10-foot garden, this would mean giving your plants 8 to 9 gallons of water each day.

How do you know if a plant is heat stressed?

Here are some common symptoms of stress and the conditions that cause them.
  1. Wilting. Wilting can indicate insect or disease problems, but is most commonly due to a lack of soil moisture. ...
  2. Bleached Foliage. ...
  3. Blackened Leaves. ...
  4. Ragged Foliage. ...
  5. Off-Color Foliage. ...
  6. Dried Leaf Margins. ...
  7. Burned Foliage.

What happens when plants get too hot?

If extreme heat continues for weeks at a time, plants can actually die from a depletion of their food reserves. High temperatures can also cause severe water loss (desiccation) when transpiration (the process by which leaves release water vapor to the atmosphere) exceeds moisture absorption by the roots.

What is the highest temperature a plant can survive?

Different species can tolerate different temperature extremes, but, in general, once air temperatures rise above 90°F, most plants will start to experience heat-related stress.

What are the six factors affecting plant growth?

Growing crops that thrive can be quite challenging, as there are 6 factors that affect the growth and bloom of your produce: nutrition, water supply, light intensity, oxygen and CO2.

What are the effects of high temperature on plants?

Heat imposes negative impacts on leaf of plant like reduced leaf water potential, reduced leaf area and pre-mature leaf senescence which have negative impacts on total photosynthesis performance of plant [71,75]. Under prolonged heat stress depletion of carbohydrate reserves and plant starvation are also observed [74].

Do plants like hot weather?

Most plants grow best in temperatures ranging from 59°–86°F. When temperatures above 90°F are sustained for long periods, plant growth is slowed, and some plants begin to show signs of stress.

What month do plants grow the most?

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.

How does increased temperature affect plants?

In particular, temperature is a critical factor affecting plant growth. Each plant species has a suitable temperature range. Within this range, higher temperatures generally promote shoot growth, including leaf expansion and stem elongation and thickening. However, temperatures above the optimal range suppress growth.

How does an increase in temperature affect the environment?

Takeaways. We already see effects scientists predicted, such as the loss of sea ice, melting glaciers and ice sheets, sea level rise, and more intense heat waves. Scientists predict global temperature increases from human-made greenhouse gases will continue. Severe weather damage will also increase and intensify.

What temperature damages plants?

The general rule of thumb is that most plants freeze when temperatures remain at 28°F for five hours. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. Seedlings, with their tender new leaves, often give up the ghost when temperatures dip to 32-33°F. Tropical plants have differing low-temperature thresholds.

How do plants adapt to high temperatures?

One major strategy by which plants adapt to temperature change is to decrease the degree of unsaturation of membrane lipids under high temperature and increase it under low temperature.

How sensitive are plants to temperature?

As sessile organisms, plants, especially agricultural crops, are sensitive to elevated temperatures. Under heat stress, various genes and proteins are induced and regulated to protect the normal function of chloroplast and improve the heat tolerance of plants.

What is heat shock in plants?

Heat shock is the short but intense exposure of plants to elevated temperatures. If extreme enough, this shock may lead to severe damage or plant death. However, this brief stress may also result in the activation of defense pathways and acquired tolerance to futures stresses.

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