Using Plasma To Grow Plants Faster

Emerging science indicates plants can benefit from cold plasma treatment, so I tested this with controlled conditions, using Grass and Radish seeds. Can plasma change our agriculture?

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[MrWisski]

I would love to see this experiment repeated but without the sweeping back and forth of the plasma. Every seed got a different level of exposure to the plasma.

[stephenroot]

In the 70's tests were made using electrostatic fields. Those that were exposed to a static charge grew faster. It wasn't mentioned but my theory is that the static charge similated conditions before and during a thunderstorm. Which encourage the plants to grow using the water available to it as fast as possible.

[johnslugger]

*I had a lightning strike hit my corn field in the spring and by fall the plants in that area grow taller, were darker green and produced 24 cobs per stalk verse 12-14 cobs.*

[DoctorMandible]

5:30 "cat grass" is not pure wheat grass. It's a mix of grass varieties, some of which will naturally grow faster than others, and is therefore not appropriate for experiments.

[ronrothrock]

OK, lots to unpack here. I'm a biotech scientist who has made GMOs, so I know my biology.

1. Observing seedling growth may or may not translate into meaningful CROP YIELDS.
2. Faster growth won't mean FASTER crop production. Just because you grow the plants from seed to harvest in, say, 3 weeks less, you are still only going to get 1 (or 2 for certain crops) per year (in temperate climates).
3. Important to remember that plant growth is exponential, so all you are seeing is that earlier start that puts them on an earlier trajectory. This may, or may not, mean larger plants at maturity. If the lifecycle of the plant is a certain time, then they will not produce more. If they are daylength determinant, then they might be bigger and produce more.
4. Is this extra growth only due to a faster start? If so, then what is the difference between treated and untreated that are simply panted a day earlier? This is an experiment you should do to check for increased growth rates. Do 2 controls, one started 24 hrs early and 48 hrs early. Do 1 treatment of the 30 plasma, but double the number of plants. At the end, check growth and see if your treated catch or overtake the controls.
5. Does this effect only alter water absorption and therefore increase germination speed? Try soaking a treatment in water for 12 or 24 hrs, then start your experiment and see what you get.
6. Since your radishes didn't like it, you will need to try a bunch of different crops and compare results. Why did the radishes not like it? Was that batch of seeds bad? Is it the species? Is it because it is a dicot? Lots to unpack and figure out.
7. What about less time? What is the minimum time needed to see improvement?
8. What if you pre-wet them before plasma? If the theory is increased water permeability, then what if you give them the water right at the time of plasma?
9. Oh, and back to your radishes... They are cool-weather plants. What was the soil temp at the surface under those lights? If it was too high, they will not want to break dormancy.
10. For plants you don't need quite the intricate setup. More seeds would be better in stead. Just use a flat with lights over it and drop 50 or 100 seeds per treatment to get better statistical data.

I could go on, but I think those 10 are a good place to start thinking about what you can do to improve or think of for more experiments.

[joshuabates]

I have 17 years worth of crop planting experience. Small time homestead. Next time you do this, soak the seeds themselves in water for about six hours first. This significantly speeds up germination time. I get my first seedlings in about a day. Hopefully this helps!

[giesi]

Hi Jay, I'm a PhD student in plasma science in Germany, if you want to dive into the world of low pressure non-thermal plasmas, just hit me up. Possible things to do would be a simple reactor for etching or deposition of materials. I love our low-pressure plasmas for their bright and diffuse glow, it's just beautiful to look at <3

[Ariascience]

I'm an inventor myself, and I'm really proud of you

[marcelvanduijn]

I would try to eliminate the soil as a variable by growing the plants hydroponically. The seeds themself are also a big variable, which could be mitigated by increasing the scale, or otherwise maybe by recording the weight of the seeds?

[kreynolds]

As to gardeners and farmers, crop yield is what's interesting. Yes, let them grow longer and take weight measurements.

[platypusrex]

1880s Professor Karl Selim Lemström of Helsinki University a geophysicist studying the Aurora Borealis – or Northern Lights – began to wonder if they had an effect on plant growth because he noticed that the trees in the far north grew rapidly despite the short growing season. This led him to start experimenting with the effects of atmospheric electricity on germination and plant growth.

[jimp.]

For the skeptics, how many have studied this field of science? I just googled this topic and was amazed to find so much effort is going into it. I'd never heard of it before. Turns out, it may even have an impact on pest resistance. Keeping an open mind and accepting that for all your years of experience, something new "might" have come along that you don't really know about? That should be exciting for you. My brother inlaw, (chemist professor- r.i.p.), was like that. He would've been fascinated here. This youtube video isn't a college course, lol. It's an introduction to things many of us have never heard about - a good thing. Cheers.

[egghead]

I think you're on the right track talking with the expert in growing many ofvthe same specific species of algae and then tracking their metabolism via respiration/O2-production

[williamlong]

For the next experiment, I recommend using latex or nitrile gloves when handling seeds. This will help prevent contamination that can impact the seeds growth.

[timovandrey]

There is one German guy who grew weed seeds taller by applying a high voltage elctrical field with a condensor-like arrangement before planting them. He's been doing this for at least 10 years IIRC. His name is Segelohrenbob, but he does a lot of other weird but interesting stuff.

[stevennope]

definitely would like to see a larger experiment. Also, would like to see something scalable. Helium is way too expensive to be able to be useful on a farm. Thousands if not tens of thousands of seeds are going into the ground in a few hours. The time it takes to drive the machinery across the field. So, this would need a lot of work to become viable. Need to know the results at 10 sec, 15, 20 seconds of exposure, and if changing the source of the cold plasma creates a difference. Bonus points for a cold plasma that isn't going to break the bank.

[lorenz]

In my training period in a plant laboratory, we had once made an attempt with sterilized soil. The soil is heated for 2 hours. The rice plants grew much faster and looked healthier; I suspect behind the plasma-like effect that the seeds were freed from germs. In the soil, also nutrients have probably become more accessible.

[MitziMcLeod]

Us along with plants have electrical energy. Very neat seeing videos on this. Also, the vibration frequency from classical music helps plants grow 😊

[godfreytube]

I did some contract work for an AgTech startup called Clean Crop Tech a while back. I helped design equipment for large scale cold plasma treatment of seeds. It was wild to learn how much of a difference the plasma treatment can make. And how much of a challenge it is to consistently treat the entire 3 dimensional surface of tiny seeds at scale large enough to fill fields.

I didn't get too deep into the theory of the treatment, but there are two main reasons as to why it helps growth. 1) the cold plasma roughens the surface of the seeds and helps them absorb water and nutrients more effectively. 2) The gasses present in the plasma can embed into the surface of the seeds to provide added nourishment in the beginning stages of growth.

[platypusrex]

French physicist who invented the "electro-vegetometer" in the 1780s inspired the technique. This device was a lightning rod that delivered atmospheric electricity to crops.