Why do plants like sugar?

Question

i've always noticed that when my mother brought home flowers form the store, that putting sugar in the water always outdid the rose/flower food that sometimes came with the flowers themselves. i remembered in biology that plants produce some sort of sugar, so i one day decided to add some to the flowers, and they worked great.

about a week ago, i took a small mint clipping from some fresh mints that my mom got at the store, and i put it in a cup with sugar and water (a cup of sugar, and a little more than half a teaspoon of sugar), and the plant clipping lasted 5 days. and on day 6, i decided to add a plant vitamin b supplament (superthrive to be exact), and on day 8 i saw new root growth on the mint stem! i had actually created a clone of the plant, just by using a sugar and vitamin b solution, and i am almost certain that i would have had similar effects with just the sugar.

does anyone know why plain old sugar helps the plants stay alive so much longer??

Answer 1

Well plants actually require glucose to be alive. Same as how we need certain nutrients to be alive they are autotrauphs. Meaning- they make there own food through photosynthesis.

A chemical process in which plants convert sunlight into glucose in the presence of chlorophyl. They need glucose in order to survive. And that is done by them without relying on other food sources such as us, humans which are heterotrophs.... Hope that helped,

rOAH :D