Capeka Wednesday

The Romance of Plants Have you ever thought that plants are not just living organisms, they communicate with each other in their own way? This phenomenon is called “Czapek's environment”, and it is what helps plants interact with each other. Let's understand how this environment functions and how it affects the growth and development of plants.

The first time I heard about the Chapek environment was within the walls of the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University, where I once taught a seminar. It talked about that very Čapek environment, the functions of which are appreciated by lovers of indoor plants. So, when transplanting or changing the conditions of keeping plants, their roots shorten and begin to grow, but due to what? It is precisely in Chapek’s environment that everything happens. But I had one more question for her. Let's say we have a plant with not very attractive leaves due to its variety, for example, too small, sparse, ugly color. By leaving it to grow in a pot with a good substrate, sooner or later the leaf area will increase, and they will be of very good quality, and after a couple of months they will also begin to grow. Of course, this sounds fantastic for house plants, but with the correct use of Capek’s medium in scientific work, this becomes possible. I want to emphasize that Czech scientists scientifically noticed this environment, but the Russian “average” is a product of folk art. How are its properties described? It is a porous medium, such as, for example, sand after rain. There is often an opinion that this environment is inanimate, which is not true. It has a living Benedict solution, which prevents bacteria from developing and maintains the structure of the roots. This, by the way, is why people willingly rub anything incomprehensible into the soil for drainage after water. Of course, it is worth considering the fact that the Capek medium cannot be transferred indefinitely. You can also prepare the soil yourself, because it contains fishmeal, peat, bran and ferric chloride. It seems that the ground has been lost by me, but sometimes I have to look for it. And I think it will become clear to you how useful and necessary this soil is for indoor flowers. Without a doubt,