From gabesolomon from gmail.com Mon Feb 2 23:00:49 2009 From: gabesolomon from gmail.com (gabesolomon@gmail.com) Date: Tue Feb 3 08:09:52 2009 Subject: [Plant-education] Avocado seed with multiple sprouts Message-ID: <4f76d460-0dc9-40e5-8631-2e0e729aeaf3@r27g2000vbp.googlegroups.com> Hi, I often plant the seeds of avocados I eat. I have a dozen or so on the go, most of them have long ago sprouted and are now a couple of feet tall, but recently I took one that was just starting to crack open, and gave it to my friend for xmas, as he likes watching them grow. So today I looked at it to check its progress at his house, and to my surprise there are 4 sprouts coming out of the seed, all very healthy looking. Is this normal? I have never seen or heard of this in all my experience! From timber271 from yahoo.com Thu Feb 5 19:50:30 2009 From: timber271 from yahoo.com (Tim) Date: Fri Feb 6 14:04:49 2009 Subject: [Plant-education] Re: Avocado seed with multiple sprouts References: Message-ID: <01e833c6-8be4-4110-85c2-f0b68d16052c@p23g2000prp.googlegroups.com> Some avocados are polyembryonic, meaning each seed has more than one embryo. It is not that unusual in a few plant species. Some types of citrus and mango are polyembryonic. Only one of the sprouts should be a sexual embryo. The others will be asexual embryos, which will produce a clone of the parent tree. Sometimes the sexual embryo dies so only asexual embryos remain. An internet search on polyembryonic avocado will turn up several webpages that mention polyembryonic seed in avocado. From miazr007 from gmail.com Mon Feb 9 20:14:27 2009 From: miazr007 from gmail.com (Amanda Dotterer) Date: Mon Feb 9 20:26:36 2009 Subject: [Plant-education] Background Research Message-ID: <879c224b0902091714h7574b754g7fe8717eccf5fcec@mail.gmail.com> Hi, I am an 8th grader at Hereford Middle School in Northern Maryland. I need help getting background research for a science experiment. Here is my problem question: What is the effect of different liquids (watering the plant with bleach, water, etc.) on plant height? I have heard that watering a plant with bleach will make the leaves and stem (and soil) turn white. I was wondering if you could provide me with a little background information on this subject so I can start my project. My e-mail address is miazr007@gmail.com, so you can e-mail me back. Thank You! Amanda From dh321 from excite.com Wed Feb 11 18:02:46 2009 From: dh321 from excite.com (David R. Hershey) Date: Wed Feb 11 18:05:41 2009 Subject: [Plant-education] Re: Background Research References: Message-ID: <2593557a-4d41-426b-b7cf-c10c2853e614@j8g2000yql.googlegroups.com> There are many answers about student projects on watering plants with different liquids at MadSci.org. Most liquids other than water will be harmful to most plants, including bleach, milk, sugared sodas, and fruit juices. Some liquids may not be too harmful to plants, or slightly beneficial, such as diet soda, coffee and tea. Plant growth may also be affected by different types of water (tap water, softened water, distilled water). The optimal irrigation solution for plant growth is usually good quality tap water or a dilute fertilizer solution. Bleach is a solution of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). Search the internet for a Material Safety Data Sheet on sodium hypochlorite to find some basic information. Sodium in high concentrations is toxic to most plants. There is a lot information on the effects of table salt (sodium chloride) on plants. Search for plant salinity. David R. Hershey http://www.angelfire.com/ab6/hershey/bio.htm References Re: what is the best plant and the best liquids to use on plant growing? http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2006-11/1164157083.Bt.r.html Reaction of Seven Foliage Plants to Sodium Hypochlorite Fumes or Drenches http://mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/Foliage/Resrpts/rh_92_25.htm From dh321 from excite.com Mon Feb 23 09:22:46 2009 From: dh321 from excite.com (zog) Date: Mon Feb 23 09:42:11 2009 Subject: [Plant-education] Re: Potato disc respiration lab References: Message-ID: <3bf94a15-448f-4d62-8d3d-c6071763fee6@r27g2000vbp.googlegroups.com> Another possible reason why there are minimal differences in respiration of fresh and aged potato dics is that stored potato tubers are usually treated with a sprout-inhibiting chemical, chlorpropham (CIPC). Chlorpropham reduces the respiration rate of stored potato tubers (Blenkinsop et al. 2002). Chlorpropham inhibits cell division so is not applied in storage immediately or it would interfere with normal wound healing. Potato tuber discs are a model system to study wound healing (Lulai et al. 2008). Most potato tuber disc respiration studies seem to use tubers that were not purchased from a supermarket (Lulai et al. 2008). You might try using organic potatoes that would not have been treated with chlorpropham. David R. Hershey References Blenkinsop, R.W., Copp, L.J.,Yada, R.Y. and Marangoni, A.G. 2002. Effect of chlorpropham (CIPC) on carbohydrate metabolism of potato tubers during storage. Food Research International 35: 651-655. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0963-9969(01)00168-5 Lulai, E.C., Suttle, J.C. and Pederson. S.M. 2008. Regulatory involvement of abscisic acid in potato tuber wound-healing. Journal of Experimental Botany 59:1175-1186. http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/ern019v1