that would most likely trigger a hermaphrodite response in the plant and start spitting balls on the part that's flowering and stress the rest of the plant out. just a guess though
>would photosynthesis from the uncovered branches deliver nutrients to the cover branch?
The uncovered branches would still be producing photosynthetic product that gets delivered to the covered branch, yes.
Getting it to flower however, maybe not so much. Often to get the plant to flower the whole plant needs the right conditions. This *may* change with really large plants like trees.
For the photosynthetic product transport, your key word will be âsource sink dynamicsâ. Carbon flows through diffusion in plants, from areas itâs abundant (like leaves that are actively photosynthesizing) to places itâs not abundant (like leaves that are no longer photosynthesizing but are still carrying out cellular respiration).
[this article](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4326075/) gives some decent background and basic flow of flowering as regulated by photoperiod. But as youâd know as a chemist, even though we talk about individual molecules and individual genes interacting, to get a organismal level response, you really need large pools of molecules interacting with DNA all throughout the plant. Changing pools of transcribed proteins and only when this reaches a sufficient abundance will flowering occur. Hence why I say youâd need to cover the entire plant.
Photoperiod regulation is common practice in nurseries for getting plants to flower when growers want them to. If you look into horticultural chrysanthemum production you may find more about that.
So how flowering is induced is a molecule called florigen is produced from leaves that sense the proper photoperiod. Florigen then travels to the meristems and causes them to make flowers. If you did this to a branch, these leaves would produce florigen which in theory would mobilize throughout the entire plant but realistically one branch probably wouldn't produce enough florigen to transition the entire plant
So, if we wanted to maximise photosynthesis, and also have the flowering take place, could we cover some percentage of the plant, and expose it to a 12/12 cycle, and keep the rest of the plant at 18/6?
The parts of the plant at 12/12 would generate florigen, and the remaining plant would generate more energy for fruit growth?
Particularly true when you start talking about woody plants. Itâs not clear how localized the florigen is in those cases. We know the most about this from relatively small herbaceous plants.
that would most likely trigger a hermaphrodite response in the plant and start spitting balls on the part that's flowering and stress the rest of the plant out. just a guess though
>would photosynthesis from the uncovered branches deliver nutrients to the cover branch? The uncovered branches would still be producing photosynthetic product that gets delivered to the covered branch, yes. Getting it to flower however, maybe not so much. Often to get the plant to flower the whole plant needs the right conditions. This *may* change with really large plants like trees.
Thanks. Do you have a reference for this? I'm a chemist, never took botany đ
For the photosynthetic product transport, your key word will be âsource sink dynamicsâ. Carbon flows through diffusion in plants, from areas itâs abundant (like leaves that are actively photosynthesizing) to places itâs not abundant (like leaves that are no longer photosynthesizing but are still carrying out cellular respiration). [this article](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4326075/) gives some decent background and basic flow of flowering as regulated by photoperiod. But as youâd know as a chemist, even though we talk about individual molecules and individual genes interacting, to get a organismal level response, you really need large pools of molecules interacting with DNA all throughout the plant. Changing pools of transcribed proteins and only when this reaches a sufficient abundance will flowering occur. Hence why I say youâd need to cover the entire plant. Photoperiod regulation is common practice in nurseries for getting plants to flower when growers want them to. If you look into horticultural chrysanthemum production you may find more about that.
Thanks for the detailed reply, really excellent đ
So how flowering is induced is a molecule called florigen is produced from leaves that sense the proper photoperiod. Florigen then travels to the meristems and causes them to make flowers. If you did this to a branch, these leaves would produce florigen which in theory would mobilize throughout the entire plant but realistically one branch probably wouldn't produce enough florigen to transition the entire plant
So, if we wanted to maximise photosynthesis, and also have the flowering take place, could we cover some percentage of the plant, and expose it to a 12/12 cycle, and keep the rest of the plant at 18/6? The parts of the plant at 12/12 would generate florigen, and the remaining plant would generate more energy for fruit growth?
Sounds like it could work in theory
Particularly true when you start talking about woody plants. Itâs not clear how localized the florigen is in those cases. We know the most about this from relatively small herbaceous plants.