How can a pot plant develop so much plant matter from only a little soil?

Question

I realise that plants are a high % water (which is of course added through rain/watering), but how do plants develop so much plant matter from so little soil? Where does the mass come from, as the soil never reduces? A fuschia in my garden has a tiny pot with very little soil, but has developed a space-hopper sized amount of foliage...where does it come from?!!

Answer 1

Is it that the plant is seeking the quest for life and survival...;-)

Answer 2

Obviously you never utilized hydroponics to grow your chonic.

With a Hydroponic setup, you don't use any soil at all. You use a minimal amount of matter that is very pourous (such as rockwool) to contain the root ball but all the nutrients and water are pumped in artificially. No soil at al!!

With the right controls on light, water and nutrients (you can articficially add CO2 as well), you will get monsterous size plants and again, no soil.

Soil really is nothing more than a medium to hold a plant in place and cover the roots from light.

Answer 3

The main building materials are water and carbon dioxide. The water is from the obvious sources and is replenished frequently. The carbon dioxide is from the air, so it is not coming from the pot.

The quantities of minerals taken from the soil are small - nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, ...

And what's a space hopper?

Answer 4

The vegetable matter that is added to a plant as it grow comes almost entirely from the atmosphere. Plants are use a process called photosynthesis to adsorb carbon dioxide and water from the air and convert them to carbohydrates such as sugars, starches and cellulose. The process uses energy from sunlight and is catalyzed by chlorophyll.

Answer 5

err because plant matter comes from fixing carbon dioxide to form sugars and then cellulose.. it does not come from sucking up soil matter.

All that plants get from the soil are some trace nutrients that it needs for energy generation, certain trace metals etc.