Is Pearling Good For Plants

[gizmo001i]

Hi,
This may seem like a silly question, but my plants have just started to pearl. I was wondering, is this a good thing and shows that all the stats are correct for good plant growth. Or does it show that the stats are too good and that theplants are overworking themselves and therefore shortening their life. Any views on this will be most welcome.
Many thanks
Ian

 

[oldwhitewood]

It is good that is what it is. Pearling means the plants are producing O2 and photosynthesizing so you must be doing something right

I often wonder though if plants can get 'overworked' because of this too, it's a very interesting point. Someone must be able to clarify it although you might be getting into a very complex subject there!

 

[Themuleous]

Off the top of my head, I wouldn't think that you could ever 'overpearl' a plant. Plants have lots of fail safe devices built into their leaves that stop them from over exerting themselves when the environment they are in is not 100% perfect. However, when you provide 100% (or as near as) perfect conditions the plant will be adapted to take advantage of that. I'm sure plants could easily last several years given the right conditions, and as such its more likely that the tank will be tripped and re-done long before the plants ever die of natural causes so any potential reduction in life span of a plant would probably never come to light.

And when all is said and done, surely if the conditions are right then a plant must take advantage and grow like mad in order to out compete the other plants that would normally be around them in say a river or pond. It also means they can stock up reserves for leaner times, the fact that leaner times will probably never arrive in an aquarium isn't going to stop them from growing like there is no tomorrow.

But that's just my thoughts

Sam

 

[craynerd]

Just spoke to a friend on msn who went to Uni with me and finished her plant science degree. She thinks that it would be impossible to overwork a plant since it would adapt to work at its optimum without detriment to its own health!! I asked, "well humans can over work"" Humans has free choice, plants are governed by the rules of selection, adaptation ect. Therefore would never cause themselves harm unless it was in their own interest (apoptosis) and clearly within perfect conditions to survive it would not be in their own interest.

So there you go, and she wanted to make clear that’s her own opinion using her understanding but not gospel!

Interesting question, hence I searched for an answer!! You got me worried, mine pearl every night lol !!!

Chris

 

[gizmo001i]

Thanks for finding that out for me Chris. It's just that seeing my plants pearl for the first time last night made me wonder. I then realised that no one had said whether this was good for the plants or not (or just our human vanity liking the effect lol).