KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN USE

KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN USE
If you feed and protect your flowers in a vase, they’ll last longer.

Like animals, plants require fuel for the cellular activities that keep them alive.

Question 4.12

Q: How do plants get the energy they need to stay alive? Plants use photosynthesis to harness light energy, converting it to sugar molecules that serve as their food.

Question 4.13

Q: Can plants still photosynthesize once they’re in a vase in your house? Yes, but humans don’t make it easy. Once cut, plants generally cannot produce sufficient sugar through photosynthesis. Light levels in houses tend to be a bit too low, and the loss of many or most plant leaves reduces the number of chloroplasts in which photosynthesis can occur. So they’re starving to death.

Question 4.14

Q: Can you slow their demise? Yes. Plants are able to take up sugar in the vase water and use it as an energy source for cell activities. So adding a bit of sugar to the vase is like putting fuel in their tank.

Question 4.15

Q: Is it that easy? No. Putting sugar—a molecule with lots of energy stored within its chemical bonds—in the vase water is like offering a free lunch. And many, many organisms are looking for a free lunch. Unfortunately, when you add sugar, bacteria on the flower stems can grow rapidly, blocking the water-conducting tubes in the stems. This slows the flow not just of sugar, but of water as well.

Question 4.16

Q: What should you do? With the addition to vase water of both sugar and an antibacterial chemical such as chlorine bleach, you can feed and protect your cut flowers, significantly increasing their longevity.

Conclusion: Most flowers will last longer if you cut their stems underwater and at a slant, to maximize water absorption. Then place the flowers in a flask with about 2 inches of warm water, which enhances the flow into the flower. At this point, add a spoonful of sugar and a drop or two of bleach. Then, after a few minutes, transfer the flowers to a vase. If you feed and protect your flowers in a vase, they’ll last longer.

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