Low Levels of Toxic Gas Found To Encourage Plant Growth

olsmeister writes "Hydrogen Sulfide is a toxic, flammable, foul-smelling gas that some theorize may have been at least partially responsible for some of Earth's mass extinctions, including the Permian-Triassic event, which killed well over half of the species on the planet. Now, thanks to a fortuitous accident, doctoral student at the University of Washington seems to have discovered that very low doses of the gas seems to greatly enhance plant growth, causing plants to germinate more quickly and grow larger. The finding could have far reaching implications for both food and biofuel production."

Comments

They've been experimenting with this in Texas too

[michelcolman]

Too bad they missed the "low dose" part of the article. Texans...

That explains a few things...

[MindPrison]

I love to grow vegetables every summer here in my home.
It usually works like this:

1) Plant some seeds in fertile soil.

2) Water frequently.

3) Drink some beer.

4) Release some gas.

5) Watch the plants grow a little more.

6) Release some more gas...

7) watch the plants g.... oh well, you catch my win...drift, don't you? My plants sure do.

Re:doctoral student

[blackest_k]

might have something to do with how the plants were getting exposed to the hydrogen sulphide gas on a regular basis. could be embarrasing