Do Plants Really Take Things From the Environment in Order to Grow?

[Windevoid]

I just watched this video:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc0U9PawusY

 

Do Plants Really Take Things From the Environment in Order to Grow?

 

Or can they make their own stuff (not just photosynthesis).

 

Can a plant grow in a sealed container with no air and nutrients, just a little water to signal the plant to grow?

[EdEarl]

A seed contains enough nutrients for a seedling to grow, given some water. But, it cannot continue to grow for long. Try it. Put a seed in a sealed bottle, suck the air out, if you can, and add a few drops of water.

[swansont]

A one-hour video? No thank you.

 

Yes, plants take stuff from the environment. Plants come from the air. They take in CO₂ and give off O₂, keeping the C, via photosynthesis. (it need energy to remove the Carbon)

[John Cuthber]

The other thing they take a lot of is water, but they also get other nutrients from the soil.

[swansont]

True. I was thinking about Feynman's explanation, "trees come out of the air" but his emphasis is on the dry mass that you eventually burn, and ignores the water content while they're alive.

[Essay]

The other thing they take a lot of is water, but they also get other nutrients from the soil.

 

They get lots of nitrogen from the soil, and critical phosphorus, as well as other important nutrients and micronutrients.

 

In nature, plants exude up to 40% of their fixed carbon into the soil (through their roots), which feeds the microbes that "fix" the nutrients and return them to the plant, in plant-available forms. [1]

 

...or fertilizers can replace that process, and the root exudates tend to be shunted into faster growth. This affects micronutrient metabolism, as well as the plant's micro-RNA profile [2] (which can affect our immune system). [3] [4]

 

~

 

[1] The Rhizosphere, by Cardon & Whitbeck, 2007

[2] Scientific American, "Food We Eat Might Control Our Genes," Dec., 2011

[3] Journal of Lipid Research, "A big role for small RNAs in HDL homeostasis," May, 2013

[4] Search: {HDL/LDL proteins immune response} (...or HDL/LDL proteins & inflammation ...or HDL/LDL proteins & innate immune)

Edited July 7, 2013 by Essay