Life cycle

Life cycle

Wisconsin Fast Plants have an extremely short life cycle. When grown under ideal conditions, plants will flower in 14 days and produce harvestable seed approximately 40 days after planting. The following Fast Plants life stage descriptions align with plants grown in ideal conditions. Wisconsin Fast Plants grown in less-than-ideal conditions typically grow and develop at slower rates.

Days 1–2

After planting and watering, the seed germinates. During germination, the seed imbibes water and swells until its seed coat cracks. The root radicle is the first part to emerge from the seed.

Day 3

The hypocotyl (seed stem) pushes through the soil surface, pulling the cotyledons (seed leaves) along with it. No longer needed, the protective seed coat drops from the cotyledons to the soil. Chlorophyll and purple anthocyanin pigments may be observed as soon as the seedling has emerged.

Day 4

Above ground, the hypocotyl elongates as the plant reaches upward for light. Underground, the roots grow downward and anchor the seedling in the soil.

Days 5–8

Above ground, the stem elongates, and true leaves grow from a point at the very top of the plant, called the apical (shoot) meristem. Underground, roots develop root hairs, increasing root surface area and aiding in absorption of water and nutrients from the surrounding planting media.

Days 9–13

The plant begins to shift to reproduction, halting stem and leaf growth and beginning flower development. Flower buds grow from the apical (shoot) meristem.

Days 14–17

Flowers bloom. Stamens release pollen from anthers and pistils become pollen receptive at the stigma tip. If pollen is transferred flower-to-flower, pollination occurs. Pollen that lands on the stigma of another flower's pistil grows a tube down into the pistil, where the eggs are housed. Sperm (from inside the pollen grains) then move down the tube until they reach the eggs and fertilization occurs. Fast Plants are self-incompatible; therefore, a successful fertilization requires pollen transfer between two individual plants.

Days 18–20

Fertilized eggs inside the flowers’ pistils grow and develop to become the embryos of new seeds. The outside of the pistil swells and becomes the seed pod (fruit) that encases several seeds.

Days 21–40

Flower petals slowly wilt and fall off while embryos mature within the seed pods. Twenty days after the final pollination, plants are removed from water, allowed to dry, and seed ripening begins. When plants are brown, dry, and brittle, seeds can be harvested and stored or planted. Inside each seed is a tiny embryo, waiting for water and warmth so it can germinate into a new plant, beginning the life cycle anew.