What do plants need?

Plants are living things, so they need certain things to help them grow and to keep them alive. They need:

• Water
• Light
• The right temperature
• Nutrients
• Air
• Room and time to grow

• Some plants are carnivorous, like the Venus flytrap. This means that they eat other living things such as insects, flies and spiders. Some carnivorous plants may even eat small birds and mammals!

• 85% of Earth's plants are found in the oceans.

• Bamboo is the world's fastest-growing plant. It can grow one metre in a day.

• Some plant's roots are things we eat, like carrots, beetroot, parsnips and sweet potatoes.

• We use around 30,000 different plant species to create medicine.

• The baobab tree can survive droughts by holding thousands of litres of water in its trunk.

• You may often see duckweed growing in ponds and streams. It is the smallest flowering plant in the world, just a tiny 0.01 mm – 0.02 mm in length.

• Oak trees are struck by lightning more than any other tree.

Even though all plants need the same important things to stay alive, each species of plant needs a different amount of each one.

Some plants are adapted to live in very hot climates, and others can survive in some of the coldest places on earth.

Some plants need very little water to stay alive, while some need much more. We can spot a healthy plant because they normally stand upright, and look strong, healthy and green.

If plants do not get the correct amount of what they they need, then they will not be healthy and might die. If they do not receive the right amount of sunlight for instance, they will not have the right amount of nutrients.

Unhealthy plants turn brown and wilt.

We can spot healthy plants because they normally stand upright and are green. They continue to make their own food in their leaves by photosynthesis.

Almost all life on Earth depends upon photosynthesis, it's the process by which plants use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to create their own food and oxygen.

Plants get carbon dioxide from the air through their leaves, and minerals and water from the ground through their roots. Light energy comes from the Sun.

The oxygen produced is then released into the air from the leaves. The sugar (glucose) produced can be turned into other substances, such as starch and plant oils, which are used as an energy store. The sugar (glucose) is also used to release energy through the process of respiration.

Did you know?

If we didn’t have plants in our world then humans and animals wouldn’t be able to live.

Plants produce oxygen that we need to breathe in to live, and they use carbon dioxide, which is what we breathe out.

If there were no plants, then there would be no oxygen for us to breathe.

Carbon dioxide – The gas that is absorbed by plants from the air, in order to make food.

Carnivorous - Carnivorous plants get get their nutrients from consuming animals and insects.

Leaves – A plant’s leaves use light from the Sun, along with carbon dioxide from the air and water, to make food for the plant as part of the process of photosynthesis.

Nutrients – Nutrients are substances that nourish a plant. They can be absorbed from the soil, or in the case of carnivorous plants from eating animals.

Photosynthesis – The process by which plants use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to create their own food and oxygen.

Roots – Roots take up water and nutrients from the soil, the roots also keep the plant steady and upright .

Stem – The stem carries water and nutrients to the different parts of the plant.

Wilt – When a plant becomes weak from too much heat or not enough water.