5 Agriculture Questions

1.How long has agriculture been around?

2. Where did agriculture begin?

3. How did they know what to do?

(ex: How much water to add? How deep to plant it?, What was good for it?)

4.How did agriculture expand throughout the entire world?

5. What is the most popular vegetable/fruit that is grown in agriculture?

Photosynthesis Review Questions

1) After Thanksgiving break you return to the HTHMA garden to find that your crops have not been watered in over two weeks. Most of your plants are dead and those that are alive are barely hanging on. In relation to the process of photosynthesis, describe what has happened to your plants.

The plant will eventually run out of H2O therefore it will not be able to produce ATP, NADPH, nor glucose, which are the plant's main components for growth. The plants who are "barely hanging on" either stored glucose, or were able to retain more water keeping them alive much longer.

2) Upon microscopic inspection of the underside of your plant’s leaves, you notice that in an attempt to conserve water the stomata (aka stomates) are closed. Explain in detail how this impacts the light independent reactions of photosynthesis.

CO₂ used during photosynthesis first must pass through stomata into internal spaces within the leaf. It then diffuses into mesophyll cells where it becomes available for photosynthesis.When the stomata close, CO₂ levels drop rapidly within the leaf, inhibiting the light-independent reactions. This then causes photosynthesis to stop.

Seed Banks

When I watched the TED video, the very first shocking sentence I heard was: "In the U.S. (in the late 1800's), farmers and gardeners were growing 7,100 named varieties of apples; imagine that, 7,100 apples with names. Today, 6,800 of those are extinct, no longer to be seen again." What this video was striving to get across was that the variety of corn, rice, and wheat we grow today may not thrive in a future who is constantly being threatened by climate changes. I definitely agree. I agree with this because I personally feel that the apples who are now extinct prove that they've already diminished due to the future's climate changes. To solve this dilemma, they built a seed bank, Global Seed Vault, under a mountain in Svalbard to conserve biological diversity and agricultural diversity of unique varieties of food crops. "Workers used a refrigeration system to bring vault to -8 degrees Celsius (just below 0 degrees Fahrenheit), and a smaller refrigeration system plus the area's natural permafrost and the mountain's thick rock will keep the vault at at least -4 C (25 F)." This will hopefully keep these seeds stored for centuries to come, or perhaps they may be sooner that.

There is also another seed bank, The Millennium Seed Bank, located in London. This seed bank, however, does not contain food crops' seeds, instead, it contains plant seeds. The seed bank "aims to house all the 300,000 different plant species known to exist to ensure future biodiversity and protect a vital source of food and medicines."This seed bank is in a complicated situation though because they receive their money from the national lottery and the other from donations. The danger within the way they receive their money is that there is 2012 London Olympics coming sapping lottery money, which means that it will lead it to run dry from money. Donations may also run dry due to the fact that the economy is a current down fall and people or organizations will not be able to donate. On the positive side, this seed bank is held at -20 degrees Celsius keeping the plants safe for thousands of years.

My Garden Plot

Broccoli Di Ciccio is generally planted by seed or starts in moist, well-draining soil. To plant this, I must prepare a planting bed in a sunny location. The, I must work in 5 inches of compost for adding organic nutrients to the bed.Plant seeds 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep and water sparingly until the seeds germinate. Thereafter, keep soil evenly moist but not soggy down to at least 6 inches. Also, thin the seedlings 18 to 24 inches apart. To harvest broccoli, I have to cut off the heads and stems (cut to just above a new bump or floret where a stem forms). This keeps the broccoli producing longer. Reseed the bed every two weeks for a constant supply of the vegetable. Day to maturity are 50-85 days and its height will be 24-30 inches.

*Important :

• It is recommended to harvest main head when it is three inches in diameters. This will also encourage more side shoots.
• To guard against aphids, cabbage worms, flea beetles, and other pests, it is best to lay floating row covers directly over seeded crops or plants.

Quick Background: Salvia viridis (Annual Clary, Orval) is an annual plant native to an area extending from the Mediterranean to the Crimea and into Iran. It was known as Salvia horminum for many years, since Carl Linnaeus described S. viridis and S. horminum as separate species in 1753. Some modern botanist still believe that they are two separate species.viridis, from the Greek, refers to the color green, with implications of youth and vigor. Horminum is Greek for sage.

• Fast-growing herbaceous plants require more attention to watering than woody plants
• When possible, water in the morning to avoid promoting diseases from night watering
• Water slowly and deeply when plants begin to wilt and do not perk up at night
• Watering twice, a few minutes apart, helps water soak in deeper
• Soaker hoses and trickle or "drip" irrigation are very efficient and water-conservative
• Never over-water, or you may cause root problems
• Mulches help reduce water evaporation in hot or dry weather
• In dry climates, form a soil "ring" around plants to hold water longer

Other details:
This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds

LIACF Observations #2