Re: CULT: aspects of rot - acclimation - long

All plants grow and repair injuries by fixing CO2 (photosynthesis) in
foliage, manufacturing various organic compounds, and moving those
compounds around, storing some for later use, and using some for fuel.
So rot resistance is all about carbon/energy & how effectively a
particular plant can repair the damage and fight off future invasions.

Some of the things we use to help an iris plant (Clorox, soap,
antibacterial agents) kill some of the bacteria on the rhizome, but I
suspect if we gave it a strong enough dose to kill all the bacteria
outside and inside the entire plant, we might do more damage than good.
In any case, the plant still has to repair the damage - it isn't
'healed' just because the bacteria are gone.  I think that's why some
plants don't recover - their ability to provide repair materials (either
from stored carbon or by photosynthesis) is so compromised, they can't
recover.  Donald, if you had boiled your rotting rhizomes in
concentrated Clorox for half an hour, it probably would have eliminated
all the soft rot bacteria, & it might have quit rotting <g>

That's my opinion.

We've had a few discussions before about new rhizomes sometimes needing
to acclimate to our particular climate & soil, wondering how permanent
that is, what's involved etc.  While searching the web for information
on cross-reactivity & allegenicity of human foods (especially plant food
sources and pollens), I ran across some interesting, maybe relevant
information.

The (one type?) class of compounds that plants produce to fight off
bacteria, grasshoppers, or whatever else they may have to fight with (in
addition to causing allergies) are called pathogenesis related (PR)
proteins.   From what I remember reading, there are two synthesis/enzyme
(?) pathways plants use to manufacture PR proteins.  [I seem to have
lost the article from the web (pdf file of a peer review journal
article), but will post if I find it again.]

I don't entirely trust my memory anymore, but the story was something
like this: if the plant uses one pathway, it's a little slower, but once
the plant starts making PR proteins, it keeps on making them.  So a
plant from a soft rot infested environment would conceivably already
have resistance compounds and mechanisms in place to fight off
infections.

The other mechanism is faster (more effective?), but is only in response
to the pathogen/pest attack of the moment.  Once the assault is over,
the resistance goes away.

I don't know (& don't remember whether or not the article talked about
it) whether or not both mechanisms are/can be present in the same types
of plant in response to the same pathogen.

I'm not positive I got this straight, but I'm pretty sure that article
implied that some PR proteins are produced to counter all kinds of
stress (pollution, drought, heat???).

From some research on air pollution stress way back when, I remember
that varieties of white pine trees that were most resistant to pollution
effects did not grow as well as the susceptible trees did if there was
no pollution stress.  In other words, the susceptible trees died or grew
poorly with pollution stress, but outgrew the resistant ones when no
pollution was present.  It seemed that carbon/energy could be used
primarily for growth in the susceptible strain of trees, but was used
for repair/protection in the resistant ones, even when no pollution was
present.

Food for thought?  Not sure how useful it is for treating rot.
Encourage rot a little?  Try to stress your plants a little but nourish
them well?

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8

Tennessee Whooping Crane Walkathon:
<http://www.whoopingcranesovertn.org>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
iris-talk/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
iris-photos/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>




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