Experiments

We've been doing a couple experiments related to gardening here around the house, testing whether some common knowledge is true.

The first experiment is The Pineapple Top. One of the frequent things you hear is that if you buy a fresh pineapple, cut off the top, and plant it, it will grow. We had a fresh pineapple a couple weeks ago, and decided to give it a whirl. We cut the top of flat and put it in a pot of dirt. Kind of laid it on top of the dirt really, because it seemed like the right thing to do, rather than burying it.

Its had a little while to adjust to its new location, and it kind of seems to be growing. It's hard to tell, actually, because the lower leaves seem to be dying off, but coming up in the middle are green shoots. This plant theory seems to be true, and I will continue to monitor my little pineapple plants growth.

Another well-known belief about plants is that if you pick a bunch of daffodils and put them in a vase, any other picked flowers or greenery that shares the vase will wilt very quickly. The common thought is that something about the daffodils will poison the water for other plants.

Ms J9 Scientist and her Fabulous Assistant Sprite are tracking down this particular story. We took two cups of identical material - plastic, of course, and filled them with identical water, straight from the tap. Into each we placed greenery from phlox, nepeta, and lamium. One received four daffodil flowers, and the other did not.

They both looked very nice and we took a picture to show how nice they looked at the start of the experiment. About a week later we took another picture to show how they looked after a little time had passed. There is a really remarkable

difference between the two arrangements in the after picture.

The cup without the daffodils is still green and perky, no visible signs of wilting. The cup with the daffodils is wilted and droopy, leaves of the greenery are curling and some are developing black spots. This seems to be one of those stories that everyone knows is true, that is actually true. Proven scientifically right here!

Now, here is something to think about with the daffodil-thing. Look again at the after picture and you'll notice that the daffodils have also wilted. They don't look very good, so even if the greenery looked as bright and perky as the other cup, the arrangement still wouldn't look very nice. The daffodils are old; time for the arrangement to go.

Therefore, my conclusion is that while yes, daffodils cause greenery to wilt faster, the daffodils will wilt just as fast causing the demise of the arrangement anyway. Go ahead and add greenery to your daffodil bouquets if you want, it won't extend the life of the arrangement but it won't hasten it either.

Long live scientific experimentation!