All the Dirt on Gardening

While horticulturists and farmers may have known for decades that seed saving is a great idea, scientists have added new research to confirm their experience. Plants grown from seed of the same parent plant, grow more cooperatively with each other. The story came out this week from The University of Delaware where scientists made a discovery about plants being able to read the chemicals in each others' roots. Here's the October 18 UDaily article in full. In 2007, Susan Dudley a McMaster University evolutionary plant ecologist said Sea Rocket plants could recognize their siblings. Those siblings did not send out roots into each others' territory to take water and nutrients. The National Science Foundation funded the research. When positioned next to non-sibling plant seeds, the they send out roots to compete with neighbors. Noting that "Plants have no visible sensory markers, and they can't run away from where they are planted" Harsh Bais, assistant professor o...