From 800 feet below the sea ’s open to almost 15,000 foot above sea level , different kind of plant have the power to make their own solid food . How plants make solid food observe the same basic principle , even though unlike mintage live in completely dissimilar environments , include water supply ( aquatic plants ) , soil ( terrestrial plants ) and air ( epiphytic plant , also call " air plants , " because they live out of the dirt ) .
The common yarn that ties red alga , grow 800 feet underwater , to sens , which grows almost 15,000 feet above ocean level on Mt. Everest , is * * the power to photosynthesize and make their own food . * *
Plant Fertilizer vs. Plant Food
The answer to the doubt " How do plants get food ? " is not " fertilizer . " Although commercial fertilizer packaging is often labeled " plant solid food , " this misnomer is a selling ploy without foundation in scientific discipline .
Loosely explain , plant fertilizer can be compared to vitamin or mineral appurtenance for human use of goods and services that may heighten wellness but can not sustain life as food does . Plant fertiliser can help facilitate the cognitive operation of photosynthesis and raise plant health , butfertilizer alone can not affirm plant growthwithout a plant ’s power to photosynthesize and manufacture its own food .
What Do Plants Need to Make Food?
plant need sunlight , urine and carbon dioxide to make their own food . These three components are derive from unlike sources , combining in a scientific procedure calledphotosynthesis .
In the aforementioned exercise of red algae ’s power to photosynthesize even when submerged to a depth of 800 foot , the darkness at that depth would seem to make photosynthesis impossible . But the cherry-red paint that gives this alga its name countenance it to draw the almost - imperceptible blue light that give that far beneath the ocean ’s open , providing it the power to photosynthesize .
There are exceptions to every rule , however , and some plants also have the power to capture their own food instead of make their own food . For example , even though the carnivorous plant sundew ( Drosera filiformis , USDA zones 6 to 9 ) is able to photosynthesize , its chief sources of food are the insect that it traps and digest .

How Do Plants Make Food?
For most plants , it ’s the chlorophyll in their leaves that captures energy from the sun . When this energy combines with urine engross by plant roots and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere , a series of chemic modification occurs , resulting in the manufacture of sugar ( glucose ) .
Some exception to this are plant life that do n’t contain chlorophyl , such as Amerindic pipe ( Monotropa uniflora , zones 6 to 8) , which is a saprophyte . saprophytic organism observe symbiotic kinship with other plants through which they incur nutrients .
Tip
Saprophytes do n’t check chlorophyl and maintain symbiotic relationships with other plants through which they obtain nutrients .
How Do Deciduous Plants Make Food in Winter?
Although evergreen plant plants continue to photosynthesize during wintertime because they retain their foliage , deciduous plants and herbaceous perennial lose their parting in gloaming . So why do n’t these plants die in winter since they can not make their own food ?
It ’s because they enter a res publica of sleeping when their leaves drop and photosynthesis shuts down . They hive away food in their root system to nourish them as they ’re " wake up up " in springtime before folio look and photosynthesis resumes . However , they carry on to uptake water during winter , which is why it ’s of import to keep deciduous plants and herbaceous perennials watered during winter drought periods .
It ’s important to keep deciduous plants and herbaceous perennial watered during wintertime drought periods , because they put in food in their root organization to nutrify them as they ’re " waking up " in springtime before leaves appear and photosynthesis resumes .
How Do Plants Get Water?
Plants are hydraulic wonder . From a freshly emerge seedling to Hyperion , the world ’s marvelous tree at 380 foot , works primarily absorb pee from the filth through their root systems and move it up by means of hydraulic conveyance through an interior pipeline of sorts called the xylem .
Although plant may also absorb some water through their foliage , they take in the vast majority of water through their roots . This is only one grounds that watering plants by spray their leafage is not recommended ; instead , watering at the base of plant to aim water toward the root system is more effective . Another reason for not spraying water on a plant ’s leaves is because this drill can push fungal diseases .