Changing into Genes that Fit

This entry is about survival of the fittest and variability in genes.

A while ago I came to the realization that 1. Plant offspring are very diverse, and 2. Some plants are just not fitted for survival.

This is how it happened:

A few weeks ago, I lost a bean plant that was the offspring of another bean plant that died. They both looked very unhealthy. I was at first sad that the offspring bean died.

In the past, I have grown things on an individual basis (a few beans, a few avocados). With the growing of many tomatoes and many peppers, and now many avocados, I was able to see the differences in health among plants.

The first thing I noticed was that one of the avocado plants that sprouted didn't look good. Its leaves were pale and drooped, and soon started to brown at the tips (like some of the other avocado plants). What distinguished this plant was that the browning spread throughout the leaves, even until one of the leaves became completely dark and wilted. The conditions that I was growing this one were identical to the others' conditions. The conclusion I drew was that this avocado was simply of bad genetic material.

Shortly after, I started noticing that the tomatoes also varied in their healths. Some of them grew to be large but then died, even though they are side-by-side with sibling tomatoes, in the same conditions.
Similarly, all of the pepper plants came from the same parent plant, and are grown in identical conditions. Despite this, some of the pepper plants look pretty bad, while others look good. I concluded from this that there is a lot of variability in the genes of new plants; on average they resemble the parent plant, but they will be distributed in all directions of it.

The benefit of the variability is that it's probably not too difficult to engineer plants, especially if they have short life cycles.

Also, I don't feel as bad when I lose plants as I once did. My reason is that the plant is not suited for survival, and its death entails an improvement of the gene pool.

From the 20 strawberry plants that I had a few weeks ago, only 2 survived (although a third one just sprouted a few days ago). This is a good thing, because if the two plants survive and reproduce, their offspring will be healthier.



The avocado pit that broke in half and sprouted a while ago is developing interestingly. It seems that the side of the stem that's supported by a pit is developing faster than the side of the stem that has no pit under it. I am curious to see how this develops. If the problem corrects itself then it might actually be in the avocado's best interest to be broken in half and planted separately. That way, two plants can develop instead of just one.

Appaloosa

After weeks of not posting, I have so much to show and tell that I have to break it down into two entries.

First, the apple progress. The two apple seeds that I put in the soil are, like the peach and cherry pits, unresponsive. I am not sure whether they are even alive but, nevertheless, I will be patient. Sometimes seeds sprout really late.
On the bright side, the apple that germinated is thriving. I took a picture of it every day for the past 3 weeks, and compiled the pictures into two animations. The first one is from the past 18 days, and the second one is from the past 13 days.

I came to a realization about apples a few months ago (when I got the apple seeds) that I'd like to share. I was in Almaty, Kazakhstan back then, and observed two things about the city. First, I was told that the city used to have apples that were legendary in size, color, and scent. An old lady described two apples as weighing a kilogram (about one pound per apple), with a scent that was strong enough to make the entire apartment smell like apples. (Sadly, the apple trees were all cut down during the city's expansion). Second, the area is known for its horses. The entire culture is based on them, and, not surprisingly, the people were the first in the world to domesticate them. So, what do horses and apples have to do with each other? Here's the logic: Horses like to eat apples because they are high in energy and horses like to run. Apples, like all plants, like to occupy as much space as possible, and therefore prefer to be spread out. Apple seeds survive and, in fact, germinate more easily when they pass through horses' digestive systems. We have a fantastic symbiotic relationship. Apple trees produce apples that are large and easy to spot, and horses eat them and spread their seeds far and wide. In time, the horses spread apple seeds from apples that are larger, brighter, and stronger in scent, eventually causing Almaty to have legendary apples.

I would like to bring back the Almaty apple. Unfortunately, since it takes at least ten years for apple trees to start producing fruit, breeding such an apple would take a lifetime. The bright side of this is that, as I will talk about in the next entry, I recently came to the realization that plants' offspring can be pretty different from one another. This variation would mean fewer steps in breeding apple trees, making the legendary apple closer to hand.

Infantile Inflictions

Yesterday morning one of the apple seeds sprouted out of the soil. Sadly, while I was taking pictures of it this morning, I dropped its container from five feet and a bunch of the soil and the seed came out. Fortunately, since the soil is so soft and the seed is still so young, I was able to spear its root back into the ground. Hopefully it'll be okay, but I'm worried that the part that I speared into the soil was only half of the root, and the rest broke off in the ground. The pictures are from last night, this morning, and this morning after I put it back in the ground.

The strawberries are looking good. I think there are more than fifteen now (last time I counted there were over 20, but a few of them looked bad). A big problem I have is with watering them. Even the equivalent of one fat well-placed raindrop pummels them to the ground. A tiny splash of water is enough to rip the plants from their roots. Their stems are a bit wider than a hair. I found that the only way to water them is by taking a drop of water on my fingertips and placing it at their bases. A spray bottle would probably work too, but I don't have one. Hopefully they'll grow up soon, so that I can be less careful with them.

There are pictures of avocado plant tips. They are all from different plants, but they show the process of an avocado sprouted new leaves.

Wet Wonders

The flooding/drying routine seems to have worked. All the plants seem to be doing just as well as when I left them. I still counted 15 strawberries when I arrived, so none seem to have died. The qualifying language is because I accidentally killed a few when I watered them. They are so delicate that even the slight motion of water entering the bowl rips them into two. Also, I added some potting soil to make the ground level, which buried some of the plants that were lying flat.

I mentioned in a past entry that plants can handle temporary dehydration pretty well. In fact, the estimate I gave that it takes 6 hours for them to prop back into shape was way over. I've included pictures of my weed bowl (not the ganja) that were struggling with a dearth of water. The first one is when I arrived. The second picture is 35 minutes after I watered them. The third picture is 5 hours after I watered them. The difference between the first two is so drastic that the movement is practically visible to the unaided eye.

I was also very pleased to see that the apple seeds sprouted. The roots came from the pointy side of the seeds, which challenges my assumption that the first apple seed that "sprouted" had a root coming out of the side. I probably was not looking at a root (but rather a chunk of paper towel or something), but now that it's in the soil there's a reasonable chance that it is sprouting too. I hope to soon take out the rest of the apple seeds from the refrigerator. Note: The picture is one of the apple seeds that just sprouted. I covered it in an inch of soil after taking the picture.

The other pits that I took out of the refrigerator about 10 days ago are still sitting in water, unchanged. I expect they will take much longer to show any progress, since they are drupes. Basically the hard outer shell is preventing much water from coming in, and also preventing me from seeing any progress that's going on inside. As with the apple seeds, I plan on being very patient with them. One thing that the strawberries taught me is that the seeds sprout when you least expect them.

Water Trouble

Today I'm leaving NYC for Thanksgiving, which means there's no one to water my plants. I've frequently considered in the past a way to make an automatic watering device, but it would be pretty difficult. Assuming I have an automatic timer that can flip a switch and then turn it off anytime, and that I can get my hands on some kind of motor, I don't know how I would be able to make a machine that extracts just as much water from a reservoir as I need. The problem is made worse because my plants all require different quantities of water. At some point I would really like to get such a watering device.

In reality, this won't be a problem for the next few days though. I allowed the soil of my plants to dry up yesterday. Today I will give a double-portion of water, so it'll last for today and tomorrow. Assuming the plants don't drown (which they probably won't do if it's just one day of flooding), then they'll just have to survive for one day without water, because I'm coming back in 3 days.

The only problem I have is with the little strawberries. There are currently about 15 little plants in the bowl (some doing better off than others). I don't know whether they'll be able to survive the flooding/drying routine, because they're so small. To make things worse, they're not all at the same elevation, so some strawberries will endure too much flooding while others will endure too much drying. I also don't want to take them with me, because it's more likely they'll die on the voyage than while staying here. It seems like I have no choice though. I suppose that this must be an application of survival of the fittest.

Earth and Water

There are a few issues that I thought might be interesting.

The tallest avocado plant is, for some reason, not doing too well I think. Its leaves look a little crumpled and flaccid. The pictures are to compare its leaves to those of another avocado plant which is doing much better. I'm thinking it may be because I don't water it enough, but I give it rather a lot (a cup every two days). I am worried that if I water it any more, the roots will suffocate and rot, and the plant will die (this is an extremely common cause of death). Plants are much better at coping with a shortage of water than an excess of it.

For example, there is a picture of the pepper plants. Last night they were almost all lying flat on the soil, and looked nearly dead. (I wasn't worried though, because this has happened before). Today they look as alive as they ever have. Usually, within an hour of watering a thirsty plant, it will start to move back into shape. Within about six hours it's pretty much back to where it was before.

There is a picture of the strawberry plants. I was worried that they might actually be weeds, but decided yesterday that this is highly unlikely. Aside from the fact that I boiled the soil before planting them, sterilizing it, the plants are all so similar. They all look the same, they sprung out of the soil at almost the exact same time, and grow the same way (a quick growth followed by a sudden stopping of growth after it reaches a half-centimeter). This makes me conclude that they're the same plant. Also, if they were weeds, I expect they would have grown much faster.

One thing I'm still worried about is the soil. I think if it gets too hard the plants will die. Yesterday I opened up a package of potting soil that my girlfriend got for me. It was so soft and fluffy (and also looked very rich and black). I wonder how they are able to make it so fluffy. I think it has to do with pieces of styrofoam flakes that they put into it or something. If I could find a way to do this to all my soil, that would be really useful.

There is a picture of an avocado pit that is just splitting. This is the first step in its growth. I will try to monitor this over time to show the transitions.

Sometimes things go wrong in the growth process, and in the past I have given up on the avocados and dispensed myself of them. The main things that happen are: roots turn black (which doesn't happen to me much anymore; I think it happened due to not changing the water often enough), roots break (which happens to me a lot; I drop the pits as I'm cleaning them out), and stems get moldy. But avocado pits are surprisingly resilient. After weeks of sitting in water, they usually spring out another root, and develop new stems. Sometimes they already have multiple roots growing side-by-side with the main large one. The growing of new stems is, for some reason, often preceded by the inside of the avocado turning green. I don't know if the green area contributes anything to the survivability of the avocado, or if it's just a consequence of sitting dormant for a long time. There is also a picture of an avocado that I accidentally broke in half after it split. The half that lay dormant for the past few weeks is now developing something which will precede the roots and stem. I will try to monitor this also, to show the process. One thing I have learned from the avocados pits is that they don't give up easily, and all they need is to sit in clean water for a long time. There is one avocado pit that I had for about six months (it was one of the first). Its roots have died many, many times, and its stems have all rotted. Now, there is another stem that is emerging, and there are also new roots (which I put in soil). This pit will hopefully grow up to be a real plant.

The seeds and pits that I took out of refrigeration last week are still sitting in water. They don't seem to be changing at all, but, given what I learned from the avocado pits, I will have patience for these seeds. Maybe in a few weeks they'll start to grow.

Apples Analysis

These are the seeds and pits that I put in water a few days ago. It seems that one of the apples has a root sticking out of it, but I'm not sure. It might just be a piece of paper towel. I decided to take the seed and put it in soil. The soil pictures are just for future comparisons.

Assigning Preparatory Post Latent Exploration Squad

I have always wanted an apple tree. The problem is, apple seeds don't just sprout right away. It takes patience. So, about 10 weeks ago, I put a few apple seeds (and peach and cherry pits) into refrigeration. After this period of stratification they should be ready to grow, but I don't want to jump into anything. As a result, I've assigned three apple seeds, two peach pits, and six cherry pits to be my pioneering project. I put them in bowls with a bit of water, to see what will happen to them. If they sprout, I will take out the rest of the seeds. Otherwise, I will put them all in the freezer.

The reason for my uncertainty is that, I just researched the USDA hardiness zone of apples, and apparently the highest frost temperature they take is 35ºF. Since the refrigerator only goes down to about 35ºF, I am worried that I did not store them at a cold enough temperature. I probably should have put them in the freezer, but we'll see what happens; maybe they'll still grow.

PS
It seems that one more strawberry seed sprouted, so now there are five. Although the soil is getting very hard and I am worried they might not make it.

Welcome to the Jungle

These are my plants. The first picture is of some sort of weed apparently. When I added some soil to my plants a couple of months ago they started growing out of nowhere. After some confusion as to whether they are something I planted or random weeds, I decided they are just weeds and replanted them in a separate pot. I am waiting to see what they grow up to be.

The next few pictures show the life of an avocado seed. When I put them in a cup of water, they start to split open. Roots come out of the bottom. As the roots grow, a stem pops up from the top. The young avocado plant with a few leaves grew out of an avocado that I accidentally broke a month or two ago. To my surprise, one half of the avocado still grew roots and a stem, which is what you see. The other half lay dormant for a while, and is now also apparently starting to grow roots (I have yet to see whether it grows a stem). Another avocado I planted actually grew two stems out of the same pit, one short and stocky, the other long and thin.

The plants in soda bottles on the right are tomatoes. I accidentally hit a ball into one of the bottles and it fell four feet and landed upside-down. Most of the tomato plants inside looked pretty bad after that, but are starting to recuperate.
The aluminum pan is full of pepper plants. They were once in a small container, but after they reached a certain size they stopped growing. When I planted them in this larger container they suddenly grew a lot faster.

The other plant you see is a bean plant, which is the offspring of one of the original beans I planted last year. It looks rather small and weak, but hopefully it will get better.

The other tiny plants are strawberries, grown from the seeds that I plucked by hand out of an actual strawberry. The longer plant is about five millimeters, and the shorter one is about three. Last night I watered this container because it looked a little dry, and by this morning two more similar plants appeared, so now there are four. I am afraid they might die for the same reason the watermelons did, because the soil is getting hard.