Water Drops on Leaves

How do our own experiences match up with this study?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100111091226.htm

I sure hope no one paid a lot of money for THAT study.

I think Andy Walsh debunked this little myth 20 years ago.

It would have to be a TINY drop of water to have such a short focal length that a leaf hair would allow it to focus sunlight on the leaf surface. A drop of water that size on a sunny day would be so ephemeral as to be virtually nonexistent. Add the slightest breeze (that would move the leaf and thus prevent focusing, or would speed up evaporation) and . . .

BAH HUMBUG . . .

Or maybe this experiment was conducted on April 1.

Lol, I love your attitude Jim. I saw this article today earlier and was also skeptical of its assertions but thought to myself this is why we test things. Nonetheless I would like to see some supporting evidence - data, pictures, something.

Probably have to bring the Hubble telescope home from space to analyize a water drop that small...

Pat...mounted on my trusty steed, riding off, wildly, in all directions...

This has been proved years ago around here, so the study isn't new knowledge. I also would think Mother Nature would be pretty stupid if rain followed by sunshine would harm leaves. Don't worry leaves - be happy
At my last trips to Japan they didn't hesitate to water and mist leaves in the middle of the day and in full sun. No harm done.

Regards
Morten

BTW, this myth in bonsai goes back to at least 1957 with Yuji Yoshimura and Giovanna M. Halford's The Japanese Art of Miniature Trees and Landscapes, pg. 151: "The leaves should never be moistened in the middle of the day when the sun is on them as they will be burned."

Yeah. I recall reading that line when I first got that book -- some time after 1957. :-)

But old shibboleths never die -- especially in the bonsai world. In the unlikely event I'm still here in 10 years, I bet someone brings up this subject then.

What do we know Jim, we don't have Phd's I like these scientific studies

In summer I cool down my trees daily by watering them during the hottest time of the day. The trees located in direct sunlight never showed any signs of sunburn.

-dorothy

My standard response to this is to ask people how many times, after swimming at the beach, did they get pockmarked by burns as the beads of water focused sunlight onto their skin?