Posted on 04/13/2010 10:13:00 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
A little under half (typically about 45%) of the dry weight of any plant is carbon, and it almost all that “C” came from CO2 in the atmosphere. No wonder plants love more CO2.
Trees and bushes can grow out of cracks in rocks because they suck the carbon right out of the air. Likewise hydroponics is only possible because the building blocks come from liquid and aerial fertilizer.
CO2 is about the only “pollution” you can pump around plants and watch them grow faster, stronger, taller and indeed more resistant to most of the stresses that normally bother a plant.
The team at CO2science grew seedlings for 42 days in chambers of 450ppm (high) and 1270 ppm (very high) CO2 concentrations. They document the growth of cowpea plants (Vigna unguiculata) via time-lapse photography, and show what most market gardeners know: more CO2 in the air makes for taller, stronger, faster growing plants. Indeed CO2 is one of the essential nutrients for plants, and is often the thing that limits their growth. Pretty much all the plants on earth grow faster when CO2 levels are higher.
In a cornfield the CO2 levels change in the air above the corn, starting at sunrise, as the plants wake up and start photosynthesizing, the levels of CO2 begin to fall in the air over the field. Within an hour the levels start to plummet–dropping 25% by morning tea time. Somewhere around 200ppm the plants slow down and struggle to grow.
Those who say it is “pollution” aren’t into helping plants.
The ingredient plants need most is carbon from CO2. They typically exchange over 2,000 water molecules to grab one CO2 molecule. Plants are desperate for carbon from the air, just like we humans are desperate for oxygen from the air. “No CO2″, implies no plant growth. One of the main roles of water in plant life is just so the plant can exchange it for carbon.
When there is more CO2 in the air, the plants don’t need as much water. They become more drought resistant. From the CO2Science Biospheric Summary:
One of the important ramifications of this CO2-induced increase in plant water use efficiency is the fact that it enables plants to grow and reproduce in areas that were previously too dry for them. With consequent increases in ground cover in these regions, the adverse effects of wind- and water-induced soil erosion are also reduced. Hence, there is a tendency for desertification to be reversed and for vast tracts of previously unproductive land to become supportive of more abundant animal life, both above- and below-ground, in what could appropriately be called a “greening of the earth.”
The mass of plant matter in the world today is about 6% higher than it was 20 years ago, according to satellites. The deforestation in South America and South Asia is about matched by reforestation in North America, Russia and Europe, and extra CO2 is making for more biomass per square meter
Due to today’s higher CO2 levels, plants on average grow 15% faster than they did 200 years ago (and some major cereals grow 40% faster). Higher CO2 levels are a major part of the green revolution, averting starvation for hundreds of million thinking breathing living human beings.
If the Greens wanted to green the world, the single fastest way to do it, is to raise carbon dioxide levels. O’ the irony.
fyi
Co2 is the magic gas that makes GOVERNMENT grow!.........................
I think they should build greenhouses next to Coal and Natural Gas power plants and pipe in the CO2 into them.
Could make for some awesome hydroponic tomatoes and other veggies.
Plus during the night hours when demand is low they could use the excess energy produced to light the green houses causing higher production in hydroponic greenhouses.
http://www.greenhousemadness.org/What_is_CO2.html
http://www.greenhousemadness.org/GREEN_BALLOONS.html
co2science — April 09, 2010 —
Isolated for 42 days in chambers of ambient and elevated CO2 concentrations, we periodically document the growth...
Not a bad idea ....not much CO2 is needed in a greenhouse to increase growth rates. The streets of NYC must have high CO2 and trees flourish there. Now I know why
Also helps weeds grow through cracks in the sidewalks and driveways.
I think Moonbeam has his gases mixed up. Methane is one thing and CO2 is another.
It's got Electrolytes, it's what plants crave.
Joe: “For the last time, I’m pretty sure what’s killing the crops is this Brawndo stuff.”
Secretary of State: “But Brawndo’s got what plants crave. It’s got electrolytes.”
Attorney General (Sara Rue): “So wait a minute. What you’re saying is that you want us to put water on the crops.”
Joe: “Yes.”
Attorney General: “Water. Like out the toilet?”
Joe: “Well, I mean, it doesn’t have to be out of the toilet, but, yeah, that’s the idea.”
Secretary of State: “But Brawndo’s got what plants crave.”
Attorney General: “It’s got electrolytes.”
Joe: “Okay, look. The plants aren’t growing, so I’m pretty sure that the Brawndo’s not working. Now, I’m no botanist, but I do know that if you put water on plants, they grow.”
Secretary of Energy (Brendan Hill): “Well, I’ve never seen no plants grow out of no toilet.”
Secretary of State: “Hey, that’s good. You sure you ain’t the smartest guy in the world?”
Joe: “Okay, look. You wanna solve this problem. I wanna get my pardon. So why don’t we just try it, okay, and not worry about what plants crave?”
Attorney General: “Brawndo’s got what plants crave.”
Secretary of Energy: “Yeah, it’s got electrolytes.”
Joe: “What are electrolytes? Do you even know?”
Secretary of State: “It’s what they use to make Brawndo.”
Joe: “Yeah, but why do they use them to make Brawndo?”
Secretary of Defense: “‘Cause Brawndo’s got electrolytes.”
Take a big step back and look at THEIR goals,
which don’t include a higher population of
well-fed people who use all the energy they can afford.
I learned this in grade school.
Without the “arm roll”,
“it’s got electrolytes” just doesn’t have the same impact.
I taught my 3 & 4 yr old...
They know what chlorophyl is and what it takes to produce plant food (photosynthesis).
Pollutants are BAD!
I taught my 3 & 4 yr old...
They know what chlorophyll is and what it takes to produce plant food (photosynthesis).
Okay, I was wondering if I was the only one that read the article and thought it along the lines of "Light comes from the sun."
>>Take a big step back and look at THEIR goals,
which don’t include a higher population of
well-fed people who use all the energy they can afford. <<
If we used all of the availible resources wisely like Nuclear, Geothermal, OIl and Natural Gas, we could easily support 20-50 Billion people on this planet.
The green weenies don’t want that, they want only 100,000 humans on this planet until the sun burns out and humanity is extinguished.
Nah, that'd be methane.
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