Do plants talk to each other ?

[Odsox]

Or maybe I should have asked "do plants communicate with each other ?"
The reason I ask is that I have noticed some strange things with plants over the years that seem to defy any explanation.

What brought this question to the fore now is my sweetcorn.
Bear with me, it gets a bit complicated. I sowed a packet of sweetcorn back in April and planted them out on a newly dug piece of soil. As I expected some of the plants were killed outright by wireworms (sweetcorn and potatoes are wireworm magnets)
I could see that I wouldn't get much corn so I bought another packet and sowed those about a month later, and some of those got attacked too.
So, I now have some corn plants about 6 feet tall and some about 2 feet tall, with others somewhere in between. I also have about half a dozen that are about a foot tall and still suffering/recovering from wireworm attack.

Now the weird bit ... they are all flowering at the same time ! Even the ones that are only a foot tall.

Why ?
About half are a month older than the others, about half of each of those are only half grown, the weather has been fairly constant, the day length at this time of year is fairly constant, they have all been treated exactly the same and they are all growing in the same patch all pretty much touching one another.
So is this coincidence or something else ... bearing in mind that it's important that they do all flower within a week or two of each other, or maybe they had a bit of a chat and decided to cooperated
Or am I reading too much into it and should get out more ?

[Mal]

About half are a month older than the others, about half of each of those are only half grown, the weather has been fairly constant, the day length at this time of year is fairly constant, they have all been treated exactly the same and they are all growing in the same patch all pretty much touching one another.
So is this coincidence or something else ... bearing in mind that it's important that they do all flower within a week or two of each other

if you had spent millions of years evolving the need to all flower within a week or two of your neighbours, I think that you'd find the day length at this time of year to be quite significantly different. There's no evolutionary prizes for being a late flowering corn.

So, my vote is for no plant communication in this instance, although I'm sure that plants can more generally release chemicals that affect the biochemistry of other plants.

[Odsox]

I presume you're saying that they all started to produce flower buds about (say) the longest day which are now showing a month later. I can see that as an answer, but if I were to sow some more now, when do you think they would flower ?
If they are locked into a specific day length then logic says they won't flower until next year.
I still have some seed ...

[Millymollymandy]

I thought they only really had to pollinate themselves or do they have to cross pollinate in order to get cobs?

If you recall I had lots of problems with germination and so they were grown over a fair old period of time (can't remember exactly) and they are all, except for the last few, the same size and flowering all at the same time.

That's really irrritating cos the idea IS to have successional sowing so that they are not all ready at once, as 2 people can't get through corn on the cob that quickly and I don't like it frozen as it is full of those annoying bits that get stuck in your teeth, which are rather chewy. Plus I never perfected your art of getting the kernels off! Might try Chadspad's just bung the whole cob in the freezer tip this year, but I never liked frozen corn on the cob from the supermarket as it was rather pappy.

[Odsox]

I thought they only really had to pollinate themselves or do they have to cross pollinate in order to get cobs?

I assume that they prefer to cross pollinate as all the ones I've grown, the male flower always emerges a few days before the female ones and is quite often finished before the female has fully emerged.
Mind you, it's typical that the female is always late getting ready.

[grahamhobbs]

Well, Odsox, you will just have to seperate them out, like naughty children, to stop them talking. I've got a simple little path between mine, a clear line between them, stops the chattering. Planted out two lots 5 weeks apart same variety, one lot have started producing cobs, on the others there is almost no sign.
Usually I do three sowings to get a succession but the office mouse got the first sowing this year.

[citizentwiglet]

My bloody tomatoes talk to each other. They say 'Quick, let's get Blossom End Rot the minute her back's turned'.........

[Millymollymandy]

I was wrong, some are considerably shorter (the ones that were planted out later) but all at exactly the same stage of flowering and development. Hmmmmmmm!!!!! Rethink of veg plot plan for next year needed! Thanks Graham!

[jim]

Dear Mal,

So, my vote is for no plant communication in this instance, although I'm sure that plants can more generally release chemicals that affect the biochemistry of other plants.

There is considerable evidence that plants release chemicals into soil and air that convey basic information for survival. (In fact this years Royal Society Christmas lectures devoted a lot of time to this matter.) The information does not register consciously of course, there is no evidence that plants have consciousness, more on the level that release of oxytocins in human beings assists in the bonding process, or the subtle chemical changes in nerve endings allowing information to pass from, for example, the skin to the central nervous system.

Makes evoloutionary sense to have all plants of the same species coming into flower at approximately the same time no matter how full grown they are. This can be achieved by the release of chemicals thus increasing the chances of species survival. Whether we class that as communication or not is a matter for experimentation and debate ....

Love and Peace
Jim

[Andy Hamilton]

Yeah what Jim said. Apparently, trees talk to each other and they send information via pheramones - this is an interesting article about it - http://news.softpedia.com/news/Do-Trees ... 5806.shtml

[Odsox]

Very interesting Jim & Andy, and if it's true then it answers my original question when it says ...
quote << But trees were found to communicate not only for defense, but also to time their blooming.>>
But I wonder how far they can "communicate" as Graham's corn is only separated by a path and don't appear to cooperate with each other, where mine are all in one block and seem to have come to an agreement.
Nature's very interesting when you look closely.