changing flower's color
Shana Brumlow
science project and we are stuck. I once saw that you could change the color
of a flower by putting food coloring in it's water, but we aren't having any
luck. We've tried different kinds of flowers at different stages of
"freshness." Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Shana
Lou Goldstein
Cut the stem to a modest length (6 inches is fine), and make it a good clean
cut (a razor works well). Put the cut end into colored water, and wait for
the colored water to be conducted up the stem, into the flower. It may take
a day or two.
Two fancy variations:
1) Split the end of the stem, so that there are two ends. Put one end into
one color, the other end into a different color.
2) Use celery. Cut the bottom off the stem, but make sure the leaves are
left on the top. You won't see much change in the leaves, but if you cut
the stem (crosswise, not lengthwise) after a day or two, you will be able to
see the colored water in tubes going up the stem.
Lou Goldstein
"Shana Brumlow" <shana....@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:891qhi$sqd$1...@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net...
David Kirschtel
Lou Goldstein wrote:
>
> Any white flower will do, although carnations are probably the most popular.
> Cut the stem to a modest length (6 inches is fine), and make it a good clean
> cut (a razor works well). Put the cut end into colored water, and wait for
> the colored water to be conducted up the stem, into the flower. It may take
> a day or two.
Just a quick addition to Lou's suggestion. When you cut the stem, try to
do it with the cut submerged. The water in the phloem (the vascular
tissue that carries water and solutes to leaves flowers etc) is under
tension. If the cut is made in the air there is a tendency to draw air
bubbles into the phloem - this will impede the flow of water/dye into
the petals.
Another variation on changing flower color is that a number of the
pigments that the plants use in coloring their petals are pH sensitive
(these are the same set of pigments that allow you to use red cabbage
juice as a pH indicator). Look for plants with pink-purple-blue flowers
and rather than drawing dye up the stem use a VERY dilute solution of
either vinegar (acid -low pH) or ammonia (basic - high pH).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Kirschtel * kirs...@pilot.msu.edu * 517.432.0898
112 N Kedzie Lab * Mich State Univ * E Lansing, MI * 48824