When do...?

Question

plants actually come across the problem where there is too much sugar in their soil?

Like sometimes plants have excess amts. of salt because of salt on roads. So are there any instances where there is too much sugar?

We're doing an experiment with fast plants where we have to make up an experiment and test an environmental factor that affects plant growth. We're not allowed to do it on the amt. of water or sunlight. PLEASE if you have any ideas, please help me. I'm having trouble finding a topic.

Answer 1

It is better to test nitrogen content with fertilizer instead.  For your source of nitrogen you could use your own waste, but it would be better to buy fertilizer from the store with a listed nitrogen content and then run experiments using standard potting soil and varied amounts of fertilizer so you can determine the exact portion of nitrogen in the soil.  Of course store bought potting soil is going to have some nitrogen in them as well.

  

The only natural source of sugar are plants themselves.  Our bodies have a limited ability to make it but we have a sweet tooth because sugar is the basic fuel for bodies.  The problem is since sugar is such a great fuel our bodies love to store it for later use.  We still have the genes of cavemen who had to face occasional starvation.

Plants need only a few things to grow, water, sunlight, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and a few other trace elements like our body needs.  Plants use photosynthesis to crack the carbon dioxide, exhale the oxygen and then add nitrogen to make sugar which they use for their own power supply.

Salt can cause problems because it can get in the way and bind up the soil's nitrogen.  Plants can't absorb nitrogen from the atmosphere (except for a very few).  They also can't absorb nitrogen bound up in salts, then need it to be free in the soil for them to absorb it.

If a plant has too much sugar then it would be from its own fruit decaying around it.  There are almost no other sources of sugar in the natural world.  A fruit is sweet with sugar so the seed inside has its own internal power supply to grow.

If you buried an apple or strawberry then the seeds inside might grow, but they would have a better chance if they have a chance to let the fruit decay around them.  The would have the best chance if the fruit was eaten by an animal, digested and eliminated the seed would then be in a nice nitrogen rich pile of decaying matter that is on the ground so it can send its roots into the ground.

If a plant had a lot of sugar around it wouldn't do very much to it.  You could test for the lack of a mineral like zinc or copper but only trace amounts of these are needed.  Nitrogen is much more important and harder for a plant to get.  Another reason for plants fruit to be high in sugar is to entice animals to eat them and add their valuable nitrogen to the soil around the seed.

It makes for a most efficient cycle we breathe in oxygen and exhale waste CO2 while plants breathe in CO2 and exhale waste oxygen.  We generate waste fecal matter loaded with nitrogen to fertilize the ground so plants can grow in it.  This is why farms often recycle their animal waste as fertilizer.

Answer 2

Natural stands of sugar cane that has had time to decompose?

Answer 3

You might see too much sugar near a site where sugar beet pulp is being dumped, or where a sugar conveyor is leaking.  However, sugar isn't going to stay in the soil very long-- fungi and bacteria are going to have fun with it.

Some other factors to consider testing:

heat stress (or cold stress)

alternating temperatures

heavy metals in the soil (you could use very dilute solutions of metal salts like copper sulfate)

soil porosity (add various proportions of sand and/or compact the soil)

soil pH

fluctuating soil water levels

oxidation state of iron (ferrous vs. ferric)

mineral deficiencies (you'd have to use defined media)

High levels of UV light

growth in high CO2 levels vs. low CO2 levels