Photosynthesis

Good growers know that by increasing the rate of photosynthesis in plants, they will increase the rate of growth, yield and over all vigor of their plants.

Photosynthesis refers to one of at least three metabolic pathways in plants and some bacteria that can create organic molecules (food basically).  A definition of photosynthesis could be - synthesis of organic chemical compounds (sugars, proteins, oils and others) from smaller inorganic molecules (carbon dioxide and water) with the aid of light energy.  The organic compounds are formed from joining carbon dioxide and hydrogen (from water) in the chlorophyll-containing tissues of plants.  The green parts of plants appear green to us because they contain chlorophyll pigment.  Chlorophyll has the ability to capture the energy of light (colors) and convert the light energy into chemical energy that are often called sugars. 

 Water is made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.  Water is taken from the roots to the leaves of the plant. It is important that your plants always have water, but roots also need oxygen so too much water is not good growing.  The energy captured in the leaves from light is used to separate the hydrogen and oxygen.  Only the hydrogen is used in making sugars, the oxygen is actually toxic to some enzymes involved in making sugars so it is released from the plant.  What this means is that  the oxygen you are breathing was at one time part of a water molecule, but is available to you thanks to photosynthesis.  Also in the air is another molecule that plants need, carbon dioxide.  Plants take in carbon dioxide through small holes (stomata) and again, using energy captured from light, attach the hydrogen atoms from water to the carbon dioxide making it a sugar/carbohydrate. The sugar you add to your coffee or in candy is the sugar made by plants, but plants make so much more than sugars. The small sugars made by photosynthesis can be converted to proteins, oils and complex carbohydrates which provides the plant all the materials it needs to grow (food).
Fertilizers are basically like vitamins, they are important for plant growth, but before you go and spend a lot of money on some fertilizer, make sure you plants first and foremost are getting light from an HTGSupply.com light, have enough water, but not too much.  Adding Carbon dioxide to a grow area can greatly increase plant growth too.

Good Growing,

Dr. E.R. Myers