Too Much of a Good Thing

“Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?” -  As You Like It, circa 1600

While the vascular system (and being multicellular) protects plants from damage, we needed to determine if the CO2 solution ever damages the plants for if not, it conflicts with our theories on why it kills algae so effectively. 

To that end, we subjected the same anacharis plants to repeated (and unnecessary) treatments until we observed damage and found that the same action that kills algae will eventually kill live plants if the treatment is extended some 8X longer than the required treatment time (it required a 12-hour treatment be extended to 96 hours to finally incur plant damage). 

It is this inherent delay in the distribution of gases and nutrients that allows the plants enough time to see the pests and algae expire, yet it avoids any damage to the plants as evidenced in these microscope images below of an anacharis plant being treated with Reverse Respiration (extended from 12 to 96 hours to test how long a vascular plant will tolerate this low pH):

Day 1 - Normal Vascular Activity 

Day 2 - Normal Vascular Activity

Day 3 - Vascular Activity; some enzymatic dissolution

Day 4 - No Vascular activity

It took approximately 4 days before we witnessed any irreversible plant damage. The pests and algae are eliminated within 12 hours but live plants endure up to 96 hours without damage.