What is the life cycle of plants like?

The radicle grows fast, as it has an important function to fulfill: that of beginning to absorb water and nutrients. The first leaves, called cotyledons, they do not take long to sproutbut although these will also contribute a little to the growth of the plant since they contain reserve food inside, as soon as the true leaves sprout they will die.

This stage is the most delicate for all plants. They are very vulnerable to attack by predators, fungi, bacteria, viruses. For this reason, when they are grown, it is recommended to sow the seeds in a clean, new substrate that has not been used before, and also if they are trees or palms, it is worth treating them with fungicides to prevent the damping-off or death of seedlings.

Growth and development

We move on to growth and development. At this stage, our little plant can already say that it has passed to the juvenile stage. Has left childhood behind, and now is already prepared enough to face the worldalthough you can still have many problems: predators, lack of space, lack of light and / or water …

Therefore, its roots work at full capacity searching without for water and nutrientsand the leaves absorb oxygen and energy from the sun to transform it into energy. Thus, all vegetables cells they get what they need, and they get it pretty fast too. In fact, this stage is the faster plants usually grow.

Although sadly they are not always lucky. For example, a tree, or even a palm tree that grows under the canopy of a forest or jungle and needs light to grow, unless a tall plant falls nearby so that it can occupy its space, it will die young. This can also happen in a garden, if we put a plant that needs sun under the shade of tall trees; Hence, it is very important to know in advance the needs of the crops that we want to have.

Ripening

Image – Flickr / barloventomagico

Ripening begins when the plant first blooms. At this stage, growth is no longer as important as having children. From now on, much of the sap made by the leaves will feed their reproductive parts, which are the flowers. These will be more or less showy depending mainly on whether they are gymnosperms o angiosperms, and is that while the latter are often formed by petals and / or sepals of very cheerful colors, the flowers of gymnosperms are actually a branch or fertile leaves called sporophylls.

But How do plants get to fertilize their flowers or sporophils? Well, it will depend a lot on the type of plant, and the adaptation strategy that you have followed. Thus, we distinguish several types of pollination:

• Anemophilous: they are plants that depend on the wind so that the pollen arrives from some flowers to others.
• Hydrophilic: In this case, the plants depend on the water for the flowers to pollinate.
• Zoophile: they are plants that have established some kind of relationship with animals, which are responsible for carrying pollen from one flower to another, often obtaining some benefit in return, such as perfume to attract potential mates, or food for them or their offspring.

Keep in mind that even if a plant manages to mature, it does not have to produce the amount of flowers expected those first few times. From my own experience growing trees for a long time, since 2006 more or less, it is easy that that first time is more testimonial than anything else. But if it is at ease, and if it is a perennial plant, it will flower more and better (annuals or bi-annuals only have one chance to leave offspring, therefore they produce all the flowers they can, expending a lot of energy ).

Maintenance

In the maintenance stage the plant will continue to flower and produce fruit, but as time goes by it also gets stronger. At this stage the roots have grown enough so that it is well anchored in the ground, which in case of strong winds minimizes the risk of it falling. Be careful: the risk is low, but it is there. We have all heard of, or seen that very old trees have fallen after a severe storm. In Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain), where I am from, almost every year we have a storm that drops pine and / or palm trees that have been lying on the ground for decades.

For this reason, during an episode of this type you should not be outside, not even in a place as well known to you as your garden, because even if you think your plants have rooted well, you never know what it might be. occur. Now, the rest of the year enjoy them. During this stage is when they are best: if they have pests or diseases they can recover quickly if measures are taken in time, they produce flowers that are nice to see, if they are trees it is when they already give shade … In short, it is when we can say that the garden or orchard has matured.

Death

Image – Wikimedia / High Contrast

Death is the end of life. For humans it is often a sad moment, as we associate it with loss, grief, sadness. But for plants it really is one more stage. As we said before, a young plant that urgently needs light but has grown under the canopy of a forest will not be able to continue growing unless a tree dies.

In addition, When it falls to the ground, the nutrients it used to grow, develop and mature are ‘returned’ to the soilAs fungi do their job, which is to break down organic matter. Thus, the death of a plant can bring good things: compost for the earth.

But there is always a but), when a pot dies we DO NOT have to reuse that substratesince we would put the plant we want to grow at risk. What I do is simply put it in the garden, somewhere where there are no plants, and that’s it. In this way, I gradually improve the characteristics of the land without putting any crops at risk.