What do plants eat?

View of breadfruit leaves

Plants, as living beings that they are, need to drink but also eat, since if they only did one of the two things they would not take long to dry. To prevent this from happening to them, from the first moment in which the seeds germinate and emit their own roots, they absorb the water and the nutrients dissolved in it in order to grow.

But What exactly do plants eat? If you are curious, then I will answer your question.

Plants, to survive, grow and develop, need food and water, and that they do thanks to their roots and their leaves. The former, as we have already mentioned, absorb the water and the nutrients that are dissolved in it from the soil, which will be transported through the conducting vessels to the stems, branches and finally to the leaves. Of this "food" we could say that it is a "raw food" (technically known as raw sap), that is, that it is a food that cannot yet be useful to you. For it to be, photosynthesis must occur.

What is photosynthesis? It is a process by which the leaves are able to transform the Sun's energy into food. They do this thanks to chlorophyll, which is the characteristic green pigment of plant beings. Thus, with oxygen plus light, combined with raw sap, what they get are carbohydrates, sugars and other salts that will help them grow, flourish, bear fruit and, ultimately, stay alive.

The leaves of the common lily are long and lanceolate

The most interesting thing about this is that during the process they expel oxygen, the gas that animals, including people, depend on so much. It is therefore curious that while the plants eat, the rest of us can breathe. But beware, do not make the mistake of thinking that they do not need oxygen: plants breathe 24 hours a day: they have to if they do not want to die asphyxiated. For this reason, I will never recommend spraying the leaves or over watering them, since doing so would clog the pores.


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