What Plants Need to Thrive

To stay alive and grow, plants need water, air, light, nutrients and enough space. Many plants have roots under the ground. These roots take up water and nutrients from soil. Nutrients help plants grow, but they are not the plant's food.

Leaves take in carbon dioxide, a gas in the air. With sunlight and water, they use this gas to make food. That food supplies energy for growth and new leaves.

Soil helps by supplying nutrients and holding suitable amounts of water. Soil and weather vary between places, so different plants grow well in different homes. A cactus can manage dry, sandy ground. A fern usually needs moist soil and shade. Plants share basic needs, but the amounts they need vary.

Did you know plants make their own food? They do it with a trick called photosynthesis. A plant takes in sunlight, air, and water. Inside its leaves, these three things turn into a kind of sugar. That sugar is the plant's food, and it gives the plant energy to grow. While the plant makes its food, it also makes oxygen, which is the air we breathe. So plants help us just by growing! The journey does not stop there. A cow might eat the plant, and we might drink the cow's milk. The energy that started as sunlight ends up helping your body grow too. It all begins with a plant catching light from the sun.

Have you ever seen a fallen log in a forest with little plants growing on it? How do those plants get what they need to grow? Scientists asked the same question. It turns out plants get most of what they need to grow from air and water, not from the soil or the log under them. A plant pulls water up through its roots and takes in air through its leaves. Then it uses energy from sunlight to turn the air and water into food. That food is what builds the plant's stems, leaves, and roots. So the next time you see a tiny plant growing on an old log, you will know its secret. It is building itself mostly out of air and water, with help from the sun.

Lots of footsteps or heavy machines can press soil tightly together. This is called compaction. Soil normally has small spaces that hold water and air. Roots grow through these spaces.

Compaction squeezes the spaces smaller. Less air can enter, water moves less easily, and roots struggle to spread. This can slow a plant's growth.

Help protect the soil by avoiding walking on it when wet. Cover bare ground with mulch. A garden fork can gently loosen packed ground. Growing plants need space for their roots as well as their leaves.

Air plants can grow without soil. Their leaves take in water and nutrients, but they still need watering.

Many air plants can have a soak about once a week. Use a clean bowl or sink filled with water at room temperature. Afterwards, shake away leftover water and let the plant dry. Watering needs vary between air plants.

Plants need air, water and light, but they get them in different ways and amounts. Cacti use little water. Ferns usually need more. Air plants grow without putting roots in soil.