Study of the normal functioning of plants and plant cells
Questions tagged [plant-physiology]
512 questions
14
votes
2 answers
How does a tree trunk sprout and grow after being cut?
After I cut trees into logs and remove the branches in winter, they start growing. They sprout out and grow completely normal looking stems and leaves and maintain them all summer. The sprouts mostly appear around the cut branches. Sometimes they…
J. Musser
- 3,717
- 6
- 39
- 75
10
votes
1 answer
Why can you graft two unrelated cacti successfully, but you cannot do this on garden trees?
Any cactus can be grafted onto any other cactus, and even the most unlike of them grow together. My latest graft was a Schlumbergera truncata scion on an Opuntia microdasys rootstock. This kind of graft is always successful. Why can't garden trees…
J. Musser
- 3,717
- 6
- 39
- 75
9
votes
3 answers
What is the effect of a pure-oxygen environment on a plant?
Just read What's the effect of oxygen deficit on plants? ; and wondered whether the opposite would have any effect on a plant.
That is to say, if a potted plant were placed under a bell-jar and the air within replaced by pure oxygen would the plant…
Everyone
- 3,863
- 1
- 26
- 42
8
votes
1 answer
How does water move throughout plants?
I haven't yet found a decent explanation for how water moves throughout plants. It does seem to travel more efficiently upward than out or down. Why is that? How does it travel through the plant?
J. Musser
- 3,717
- 6
- 39
- 75
6
votes
2 answers
Would a plant survive if it was watered using hard-water?
Hard water is water with high mineral/salt content. I'm told that a potted plant watered with a salt solution dries out sooner or later. Is this true?
If so, would a plant survive if watered using hard-water?
Everyone
- 3,863
- 1
- 26
- 42
5
votes
1 answer
What is the theoretical maximum height of a herbaceous plant stem?
Foreword: I'm posting this here instead of, say, Worldbuilding, because while it is based in a speculative concept, this is a question purely of biology as we know it instead of speculative biology under non-real conditions. I would address that…
undine_centimeter
- 151
- 2
5
votes
3 answers
Why do we need to put phosphate fertilizers along with rhizobium?
Isn't phosphorous a macro nutrient? So it should be present in the soil in sufficient quantities... but still we add phosphate. Why?
Alex Prior
- 89
- 6
5
votes
1 answer
Why dont "growing degree days" have units of degrees Celsius (or do they)?
From Wikipedia:
Growing degree days (GDD), also called growing degree units (GDUs), are a heuristic tool in phenology. GDD are a measure of heat accumulation used by horticulturists, gardeners, and farmers to predict plant and pest development…
David LeBauer
- 1,061
- 1
- 6
- 18
4
votes
1 answer
Measuring sugar content of a tree
I would like to grow mushrooms on oak trees I can harvest from my property. I've read that the best results will be when the sap is rising but the tree hasn't budded yet. The mycelium feeds on the sugars in the logs.
I would love to be able to…
monty0
- 198
- 5
4
votes
1 answer
How does a plant cutting develop roots?
Please correct me if my understanding is incorrect; I understand branch/stem, and root are composed of different types of cells. Yet in some plants (e.g. rose, bougainvillea) a cutting from the stem is capable of developing and taking root.
How…
Everyone
- 3,863
- 1
- 26
- 42
4
votes
1 answer
Why did the sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) evolve its leaf-closing mechanism?
Why did the sensitive plant, Mimosa pudica, evolve its leaf closing mechanism? Does it help in a heavy storm? Does it scare off whatever animals might think it a good meal?
J. Musser
- 3,717
- 6
- 39
- 75
3
votes
2 answers
Why do plants need oxygen through their roots?
I was asking myself why plants die from over-watering and the simple answer was that they can't get enough oxygen through their roots. But this made me ask myself why they need oxygen in their roots since oxygen is a product of photosynthesis and…
Lukeception
- 171
- 1
- 1
- 8
3
votes
1 answer
What is the difference between the glycolate pathway and photorespiration?
I came across the definition of photorespiration as a process that forms CO2 from O2 in the presence of light. However, the CO2 is released only when the plant cell undergoes the conversion of glycolate to PGA, i.e in the glycolate pathway.
Most…
Chitinous Exoskeleton
- 439
- 1
- 4
- 15
3
votes
0 answers
Why do sieve elements need to be alive
I am studying high school biology and I got these two pieces of information in khan academy and wikipedia:
Sieve elements in phloem are living cells because the translocation includes active transport which uses energy that is only produced in…
aaa
- 31
- 3
2
votes
0 answers
Fixing plant leaf tissue for tensile tests
I'm a new master's student in mechanical engineering, and I'm researching crop biomechanics. We need to do some tensile tests on samples of corn stalk sheath, which involves securely and evenly gripping a sample at two ends in a machine and pulling…
Ryan Larson
- 21
- 1