Claude wrote:

Hello!

Apple and bananas and other fruit rippening secrete ethylene, gaz who will
cause the flower to wilt !
So, no fruit near orchids! It`s a no-no!


And in case you are wondering _why_ apples and bananas (and some
other, but not all, fruits) give off ethylene, it is an evolutionary
adaptation. Ethylene is a ripening hormone (and a gas). So, one ripe
apple on the tree emits a little ethylene, which ripens a few other
apples, which emit a little more ethylene... Pretty soon (very soon)
the whole tree is ripe at the same time. A lot of ripe fruit attracts
the critters that eat the fruit better than a few ripe fruits. So,
ripening en masse is selected for, as these trees are more likely to
have progeny dispersed away from the parent tree.

People have actually selected for this trait in apples - you want a
tree that ripens its fruit all at the same time, makes it easier to pick
in a commercial orchard. Of course you also want to vent off the
ethylene (or inhibit its production) in the picked fruit - as that would
cause the fruit to over-ripen in storage and get mushy. That is why
there is a whole lot of science devoted to figuring out how to store
apples properly.

Problem with apples and orchids is that ethylene induces senescence
in orchids - the flowers mature all the way, and die.

Science is fun!

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit
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