Growing Plants

What you NEED to know

Seeds:

• A seed consists of a root & shoot, a food store and a seed coat
• The root and shoot grow into a new plant
• The food store provides energy for growth
• The seed coat protects the seed

Germination:

• Germination is the growth of the new seedling

• Germination uses up the food store from the seed
• To germinate the plants need water, oxygen and warmth (WOW)
• Dormancy means delaying germination until Spring
• The advantage of dormancy is that the soil is warmer in Spring and
this helps germination

Photosynthesis:

• Photosynthesis is the process by which plants make their food

using light energy
• The food plants make is used for energy for growth

Sowing Seeds:

• Large seeds should be individually spread out to avoid competition

for nutrients and water – e.g. beans
• Fine seeds should be mixed with silver sand to sow them more
evenly – e.g. begonia
• Pelleted seeds are tiny seeds which are enclosed in a ball of clay
• Pelleted seeds take longer to germinate and need more water
• Chitted seeds have been pre-germinated because they have a thick
coat
• The thick coat is cut to allow germination

Vegetative Propagation:

Natural Methods:
 • Bulbs (daffodil) and tubers (potato) are food storage organs
• The stored food allows the plant to withstand the winter and grow
early in Spring
• Bulbs and tubers have buds which develop into flowers
• A plantlet is a miniature plant attached to the parent plant
• A runner is a horizontal stem with a plantlet at the end (spider
plant)
• An offset is a small plantlet which appears as a side shoot at the
base of the parent plant
• In both plantlets and offsets the new plant receives food from the
parent plant until it is established

Artificial Methods:

• A node is the growing part of the plant

• A wounded plant will grow new roots and shoots if cut BELOW a
node
• To take a cutting – Cut below a node
Remove lower leaves
Dip base of cutting into rooting powder
Put cutting into compost
Water compost
• Rooting powder encourages root growth
• To reduce water loss – Put cutting in a humid environment
Remove lower leaves
• Layering is when stems are pegged down until roots form at nodes
• Layering produces larger plants and works for plants which do not
respond to cuttings
• Heat during propagation speeds up growth and prevents frost
damage
• Too much heat can cause wilting, increase the spread of disease
and use up more energy

Plant Production:

Compost

• Loam compost has a base of soil. This has to be sterilised to

remove bacteria
• Loamless compost has a base of peat
• Different materials can be added to soils to improve their quality
 • Sharp sand and perlite improve drainage
• Peat improves water holding capacity
• Fertilisers and nutrients for growth
• Fertilisers can be applied as granules which are easily applied and
release nutrients slowly
• Liquid fertilisers are quick acting but nitrogen is lost and drains
easily away from roots
• The main minerals a plant requires for growth are Nitrogen (N),
Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K)
• Nitrogen is needed for leaf growth
• Phosphorus is needed for root growth
• Potassium is needed for flower and fruit growth

Watering:

• Water can be applied to plants by watering can or hose

• Automatic watering systems include:
• Trickle irrigation where a plastic pipe has holes in it to supply a
flow of water along a row of plants
• Capillary matting is a material that sucks up moisture and stays
wet. Plants are placed on top of it. One end of the matting is
placed in a beaker of water to keep the matting wet.
• Water retentive gels are chemicals that hold hundreds of times
their weight in water. The gel is mixed with compost. Good for
hanging baskets
• Signs of over watering are green, slimy compost
• Signs of under watering are brown dry leaf edges and leaves falling
off

Heating and Ventilation:

• Greenhouses and polythene tunnels protect plants from the cold,

wind, rain and frost
• Heat in a greenhouse can be provided by an electric heater, this
can be controlled by a thermostat, which switches off the heat at
a certain temperature
• Plants can be protected from low temperature, wind, rain and pests
by being grown under glass, plastic and floating fleece. These
increase the temperature of the soil
• Ventilation means providing fresh air
• Disease spreads easily in stale moist air
 • Slow moving fans can circulate the air, which reduces the
temperature and lowers humidity of the air. The fan is controlled
by a thermostat
• Cylinders automatically open the window when a certain
temperature is reached. A gel expands when the air is hot pushing
the window open and contracts again when it is cooler.

Maintaining Plants:

• Mature plants need water, light, a suitable temperature and

humidity (level of water in the air) to thrive
• Dead heading removes dead flower heads which encourages the
plant to flower more
• Pricking out is the removal of seedlings to provide less crowded
growing conditions
• Potting on means putting a plant into a bigger container if its roots
are filling the pot or growing out of the bottom
• Pests must be controlled to maintain healthy plants
• Aphids are greenfly which feed on the shoot tips and flower buds
of a plant
• Aphids can be controlled by – Using insecticides
Spraying with soapy water
Crushing the flies between fingers
Introducing biological control
(e.g. ladybirds eat aphids)
• Grey mould is a fungal disease
• Grey mould can be controlled by – spraying with fungicide and
burning the infected areas if the plant
• Mould grows well in high humidity so cutting down on watering
would help to reduce infection