Why is this purple?

[leus]

Got seeds from the UK, only one survived. This year it got purple. It’s winter here and we had some cold days but nothing too severe (never under 0 Celsius). Is this color normal?

 

[SeanS]

Yes normal winter colour for pine seedlings

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Not at this time of year, no.
Purple means the plant is trying to prevent sun damage to its internal mechanisms by producing anthiocyans that suck up harmfull rays of light and divert the radiation to a large molecule that can take a beating. They do this to prevent damaging photosynthetic structures and other things like proteins.

If the temps are low, this is normal: biological functions are super slow at low temperatures, but sunlight still zaps as hard and fast as ever. So in order to not have those biological things being fried by light, they make these antioxidants.

If the temps are moderate or high, the color should disappear quite fast (weeks).
If the color doesn't change even though temps went up, it means there's a water logged soil preventing the plant from acting normal.

 

[SeanS]

Not at this time of year, no.
Purple means the plant is trying to prevent sun damage to its internal mechanisms by producing anthiocyans that suck up harmfull rays of light and divert the radiation to a large molecule that can take a beating. They do this to prevent damaging photosynthetic structures and other things like proteins.

If the temps are low, this is normal: biological functions are super slow at low temperatures, but sunlight still zaps as hard and fast as ever. So in order to not have those biological things being fried by light, they make these antioxidants.

If the temps are moderate or high, the color should disappear quite fast (weeks).
If the color doesn't change even though temps went up, it means there's a water logged soil preventing the plant from acting normal.

OP is in Chile, souther hemisphere. It’s winter down here

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

OP is in Chile, souther hemisphere. It’s winter down here

Good call, I misread the part about the UK.

 

[leus]

Thank you! So purple