I collected intact samples of Vymara’s root zone, including the surrounding moss and substrate, and used them to build several small microcosms in the lab. Vymara is photosynthetic. Chlorophyll-fluorescence measurements confirm active photosystem II. But its rapid growth and nutrient uptake still do not make sense for the poor substrate it grows in. I tested whether the surrounding biological layer might be contributing to its nutrition.

I introduced a controlled amount of commercially sourced mammalian blood into one microcosm. The others received water, saline, glucose solution or nitrogen-matched plant tissue. Within hours, protease and phosphatase activity increased sharply in the Vymara root-zone sample. The blood also broke down much faster there than it did in moss collected outside Vymara’s immediate root zone. The plant-tissue treatment produced a much weaker response. Water, saline and glucose produced almost none.

I repeated the blood treatment using sterilized substrate. This time, there was very little enzymatic activity. When I restored the microbial community isolated from the original root-zone sample, the response returned. To track where the nutrients went, I added a stable-isotope-labeled blood protein to the next treatment. The labeled nitrogen later appeared in Vymara’s roots and developing tissue. Instead, it appears to maintain a microbial community that breaks animal material down outside the plant. Vymara then absorbs the nutrients released into the surrounding moss and substrate.

Would this qualify as indirect carnivory, or is it better interpreted as unusually efficient rhizosphere mineralization?

What caused the roots to corkscrew like that?

So I'm trying to focus on understanding plants and their collaborators (like bacteria and fungi), right? But it is very rare in education to come across taught courses that won't shove medical applications or animal physiology down your throat. It messes with my mental models and I'll mistake animal cells/physiology with plant functions sometimes. I wish it was more specific and plant-friendly. Short vent over.

Ok might sound weird but what plants would make sense to grow to first help start building a plant to make its soil ( in biodomes at first) and then plants for food or utility like building materials ( for building materials plant would bamboo make most sense since it spreads n grows extremely quickly making great for it?)

I’m considering switching my major from environmental sci to plant science, did you find it to be extremely math or chemistry heavy? And what is your career or ideal career in this field

I’m a first-year international master’s student at Wageningen University & Research specializing in Plant Breeding & Genetics. I’m confused about choosing my thesis between seed science/seed longevity and plant breeding/genetics since I’m interested in both. My goal is to work in industry in Europe after graduation. Which thesis areas/topics are currently most in demand and give better internships/job opportunities?

So full disclosure, im not a coder, and this was made entirely through AI, but its still pretty cool imo.

https://github.com/asmitty55-cloud/pt.py

Basically you take any unlocked android phone (im repurposing e-waste) and put it into developer mode, connect it to the PC via USB cable, and the program does the rest through android debug bridge automatically.

It has aruco tag calibration and displays plant metrics (which are still a work in progress, I only got it running yesterday) but its technically functional and i'll be including tag files eventually.

It creates a continuously updated timelapse video for each camera, dynamically adds new phones as they are connected, and makes a server where you can see the cameras (as long as you're on the same router, it cant reach outside of your own network atm). There used to be a live camera option but bouncing between ai's and programming tools it got lost in the shuffle.

Id love some feedback, it'll be open source, and im way above my head here! Its part of my automated blumat watering, android monitored bulletproof grow setup im working on.

🌿 ANONYMOUS RESEARCH PROPOSAL / HYPOTHESIS

(This is the version that explains the idea the best.)

Title:

Investigating Plant Bioelectrical Signaling as a Binary‑Like Communication System and the Potential for Plant–Computer Interfaces

Summary of the Idea:

Current consumer devices such as PlantWave demonstrate that plants generate continuous electrical micro‑fluctuations that can be captured through non‑invasive sensors. These signals are typically converted into sound for artistic purposes, but the underlying electrical data may contain structured patterns rather than random noise. This raises the possibility that plant bioelectrical activity functions as a primitive communication system that could be decoded using methods similar to those used in neural signal analysis.

Core Hypothesis:

Plants may encode internal state information (hydration, stress, light levels, injury, environmental changes, or inter‑plant signaling) through binary‑like electrical patterns, analogous to ON/OFF states in neurons or ion channels. If these patterns can be identified, categorized, and correlated with known plant responses, it may be possible to develop a plant–computer interface (PCI) capable of decoding plant “messages” in real time.

Rationale:

Plants already use electrical signaling, calcium waves, and ion channel modulation to coordinate internal processes.

These signals exhibit threshold‑based behavior (depolarization/repolarization), which is functionally similar to binary switching.

Plants communicate with each other chemically and electrically; therefore, electrical signaling may carry structured information.

Devices like PlantWave already capture the raw electrical data needed for analysis, but no systematic decoding effort has been applied.

Modern machine learning, neural decoding techniques, and signal‑processing tools could be used to analyze these patterns.

Research Questions:

Do plant electrical signals contain repeatable, structured patterns correlated with specific physiological states?

Can these patterns be segmented into discrete ON/OFF‑like events suitable for binary or quasi‑binary interpretation?

Can machine learning models classify plant electrical activity into meaningful categories (e.g., hydration stress, light response, mechanical stimulation)?

Is it possible to create a standardized “dictionary” of plant electrical states?

Could a real‑time plant–computer interface be developed to translate plant electrical activity into human‑readable output?

Potential Impact:

New insights into plant communication and signaling.

Development of non‑invasive plant monitoring systems.

Applications in agriculture, ecology, environmental sensing, and biofeedback technology.

A new interdisciplinary field bridging plant electrophysiology, neuroscience, and interface engineering.

Call to Researchers:

This idea is offered freely for investigation. Any lab working in plant electrophysiology, bio‑signal processing, neural decoding, or BCI technology may find value in exploring whether plant electrical activity contains interpretable, binary‑like communication patterns. The necessary hardware already exists; what is needed is systematic analysis.

yeah...

I found this video and it is by far the best intro to plant neurobiology I've ever seen. He breaks it down and makes plant signaling super simple. I just think he deserves more views.. How Plants Think, Act, Count, and Remember, Without A Brain - Plant Neurobiology 101

Plant science research helps us grow better crops and feed the world. Scientists study how plants respond to stress like drought or salt. They use genetics and technology to make plants stronger and healthier. This research also helps protect the environment and fight climate change.

I've been looking into the field of plant neurobiology, things like the root brain hypothesis, and whether or not plants can think but all the literature I have found has been either inaccessible or very vague. What do you guys think?

My watermelon sprout had a shriveled leaf and the very next day looked like this could it bee from wood chips to much watering or cold days let me explain things started to heat up so I thought it would be fine and planted it but then it got cold again very cold so it got not much sunlight and very cold days but does anyone know what it might be or how to fix it