What is pretransplant injury?

What is pretransplant injury?

• A. Damage after planting due to pests
• B. Damage before planting due to dehydration, storage stress, or heat
• C. Damage during transplant from physical injury
• D. Injury to the plant after harvest

Answer: (B)

Pretransplant injury means damage that happens while the plant is out of the ground and before it is transplanted into soil. This typically occurs during storage, transport, or handling after harvest and is driven by dehydration, storage stress, or heat. Because the plant is already stressed before it goes into the landscape, its ability to establish roots and take up water after transplant is reduced, leading to poorer survival and vigor. This differs from damage after planting (caused by pests or environmental factors in the ground) and from damage during the act of transplanting itself (a physical injury during the move). It’s also more specific than just “injury after harvest,” since pretransplant injury focuses on the period before transplanting and the common stressors—dehydration, storage conditions, and heat—that occur then.

Pretransplant injury means damage that happens while the plant is out of the ground and before it is transplanted into soil. This typically occurs during storage, transport, or handling after harvest and is driven by dehydration, storage stress, or heat. Because the plant is already stressed before it goes into the landscape, its ability to establish roots and take up water after transplant is reduced, leading to poorer survival and vigor.

This differs from damage after planting (caused by pests or environmental factors in the ground) and from damage during the act of transplanting itself (a physical injury during the move). It’s also more specific than just “injury after harvest,” since pretransplant injury focuses on the period before transplanting and the common stressors—dehydration, storage conditions, and heat—that occur then.