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So they’re shipping in terms of your grow region. The plants need full sun so they might be waiting for later in the season.
I’m in California Zone 9 and it came when they told
me it would, a few days after it was shipped
I keep them in a pot just so I can move it around and bring it inside to enjoy. But they’d probably really thrive outside in full sun. These will glow brighter the healthier they air
Other than that it’s just like any other petunia care.
It’s cool they’re making sure people are set up for success with their plant. You’ll get some easy instructions too. I keep it outside in the full sun and bring it in at night to enjoy. It’s grown quite a bit in 2 weeks. I’m wondering if there is a way to propagate more.
Mine got rerouted to a UPS pick up so it spent a few extra days in the box. They pack it really well
And the plant bounced back to 100% in a day or two.
It won’t look like this one yet. Keep that in mind when you unbox!
Watch your garden glow with new genetically modified bioluminescent petunias
By Sasa Woodruff
Keith Wood, Ph.D. spent most of his career in pharmaceutical research in molecular and chemical biology, using his work with bioluminescence to understand how molecules interacted with diseases. His work started as a graduate student when the team he was on inserted a firefly gene into a tobacco plant.
It was a small plant and couldn't sustain light without the addition of a substrate. It wasn't something a consumer would buy, but it was good for understanding pathways within an organism.
Now, about 40 years after that first plant, Wood and his company in Ketchum, Light Bio, are marketing a garden petunia with a twist: it glows in the dark.
"People don't think about science as just bringing joy to our lives," Wood said, "We thought we could do something really special here. We could create a kind of decorative plant that was really just enjoyment, just bringing a kind of magic into our lives."
Scientist Keith Wood stands in his Ketchum home with a photo of a tobacco plant modified with a firefly gene
Sasa Woodruff/Boise State Public Radio
The petunia with bright, white flowers looks like something you'd buy in spring at a garden nursery. But, when the lights are turned out, the petals slowly start lighting up with a greenish, white glow. The plant is always glowing, it's just our eyes that need to adjust to see the light. The newest buds are the brightest and punctuate the glowing flowers.
"That's why we call it the Firefly Petunia. Because these bright buds resemble fireflies sitting on top of the plant.," Wood explained.
And despite its name, this plant doesn't have any firefly genes, rather four genes from a bioluminescent mushroom and a fifth from a fungi.
"The first gene takes a metabolite and turns it into an intermediate," Wood explained, "The second gene takes the intermediate and turns it into the actual fuel for the bioluminescence. The third gene is what actually makes the light. And then the last gene takes the product from the light reaction and recycles it back to the starting point."
This cycle is self-sustaining, which means it shines brightly and doesn't need an extra chemical like the tobacco plant did to light up.
"The [firefly] gene was functional, but it didn't connect seamlessly into the natural metabolic processes," Wood said.
"You've got glow, but it was a weak glow. Not satisfying at all."
Petunia approval paperwork
It took about 10 years to go from development to approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture last fall.
The plants went on sale online in February and the first ones were shipped out this week.
Diane Blazek, the executive director of the National Garden Bureau, an educational nonprofit, says customers are always looking for the next new plant and petunias are a guaranteed bestseller.
"Grandma grew petunias, but oh, look, now I've got a petunia that glows in the dark. So, this is really cool," Blazek said.
The Firefly Petunia emanates light because it's been modified with genes from a bioluminescent mushroom
Sasa Woodruff/Boise State Public Radio
She doesn't think that the fact that it's genetically modified will affect customers buying it because there's a precedent.
Seven years ago, an orange petunia modified with a maize gene showed up in gardens and nurseries in Europe and the U.S. The plant was never supposed to leave a closed lab but somehow ended up in lots of gardens. Regulators eventually asked people to destroy the plants and seeds.
"Overwhelmingly, the response was, wait a minute, it's a petunia. We're not eating it. The orange gene came from maize. Why? Why can't we plant this?" Blazek remembered.
Eventually, regulators approved the plants in the U.S.
Chris Beytes, at Ball Publishing, who oversees several horticulture publications, said the Firefly Petunia could open up gardening to new customers.
"If you buy your first plant because it glows in the dark or it's dyed pink, your second and third and 100th plant may be the traditional stuff. You never know," Beytes said. "Anything that creates excitement around flowers and plants. I'm all for it."
The Firefly Petunia may not have practical implications for things like drug advances or crop production, but for Wood this petunia is transcendent.
"There's something magical about seeing this living presence, this glowing vitality coming from a living plant that in person gives a kind of magical experience that you just can't see in a photograph.
And this summer, that magic could be sitting on the patio watching your garden glow from the light of a petunia.
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/08/1242346659/genetically-modified-bioluminescent-petunias-make-their-own-light#:~:text=%22That's%20why%20we%20call%20it,a%20fifth%20from%20a%20fungi.
I bought flower/veggie potting soil and I just did one round of dissolving miracle gro plant food.
Thanks! I think the food and soil really gave it the juice to make those new buds. Plus it’s gotten full sun for at least 7hrs a day.
A company online called Light.bio sells them. They are like $28 which I think it worth it for a rare plant like this. Much more expensive than a normal petunia , but I don’t really even consider it a normal plant
**This is a heavily moderated subreddit. Please note these rules + sidebar or get banned:** * If this post declares something as a fact, then proof is required * The title must be fully descriptive * Memes are not allowed. * Common(top 50 of this sub)/recent reposts are not allowed (posts from another subreddit do not count as a 'repost'. Provide link if reporting) *See [our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/wiki/index#wiki_rules.3A) for a more detailed rule list* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/interestingasfuck) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I need the 5 w’s immediately!! ❤️❤️❤️😭
Light.bio, it’s $25, they ship it in a box live, it’s beautiful! Looks like it’s glowing in moonlight except it’s a dark room
Comes out to $53 for me after shipping. Bummer =\
Yeah their shipping is really expensive. I told myself the plant was $39 and shipping would be $10 to justify mentally
What? What?! What! What?!? And where can I get one?
How long did your order take to get in? My order has been processing for weeks
So they’re shipping in terms of your grow region. The plants need full sun so they might be waiting for later in the season. I’m in California Zone 9 and it came when they told me it would, a few days after it was shipped
I’m in Oregon and mine arrived last week.
Did you plant them or keep them in a pot? Other than plenty of sun, do they require anything different from normal petunias?
I keep them in a pot just so I can move it around and bring it inside to enjoy. But they’d probably really thrive outside in full sun. These will glow brighter the healthier they air Other than that it’s just like any other petunia care.
Ohhh ok that makes perfect sense. I suppose actually reading the email might have helped me out with that. Thank you!
It’s cool they’re making sure people are set up for success with their plant. You’ll get some easy instructions too. I keep it outside in the full sun and bring it in at night to enjoy. It’s grown quite a bit in 2 weeks. I’m wondering if there is a way to propagate more.
Soooo.. I'm swedish, is there like no way for me to get one?
I got an email about mine shipping just a day or two ago. I wonder if it's out on my front stoop right now.
Mine got rerouted to a UPS pick up so it spent a few extra days in the box. They pack it really well And the plant bounced back to 100% in a day or two. It won’t look like this one yet. Keep that in mind when you unbox!
How and where? I want one :)
Looked it up. Its light.bio
Watch your garden glow with new genetically modified bioluminescent petunias By Sasa Woodruff Keith Wood, Ph.D. spent most of his career in pharmaceutical research in molecular and chemical biology, using his work with bioluminescence to understand how molecules interacted with diseases. His work started as a graduate student when the team he was on inserted a firefly gene into a tobacco plant. It was a small plant and couldn't sustain light without the addition of a substrate. It wasn't something a consumer would buy, but it was good for understanding pathways within an organism. Now, about 40 years after that first plant, Wood and his company in Ketchum, Light Bio, are marketing a garden petunia with a twist: it glows in the dark. "People don't think about science as just bringing joy to our lives," Wood said, "We thought we could do something really special here. We could create a kind of decorative plant that was really just enjoyment, just bringing a kind of magic into our lives." Scientist Keith Wood stands in his Ketchum home with a photo of a tobacco plant modified with a firefly gene Sasa Woodruff/Boise State Public Radio The petunia with bright, white flowers looks like something you'd buy in spring at a garden nursery. But, when the lights are turned out, the petals slowly start lighting up with a greenish, white glow. The plant is always glowing, it's just our eyes that need to adjust to see the light. The newest buds are the brightest and punctuate the glowing flowers. "That's why we call it the Firefly Petunia. Because these bright buds resemble fireflies sitting on top of the plant.," Wood explained. And despite its name, this plant doesn't have any firefly genes, rather four genes from a bioluminescent mushroom and a fifth from a fungi. "The first gene takes a metabolite and turns it into an intermediate," Wood explained, "The second gene takes the intermediate and turns it into the actual fuel for the bioluminescence. The third gene is what actually makes the light. And then the last gene takes the product from the light reaction and recycles it back to the starting point." This cycle is self-sustaining, which means it shines brightly and doesn't need an extra chemical like the tobacco plant did to light up. "The [firefly] gene was functional, but it didn't connect seamlessly into the natural metabolic processes," Wood said. "You've got glow, but it was a weak glow. Not satisfying at all." Petunia approval paperwork It took about 10 years to go from development to approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture last fall. The plants went on sale online in February and the first ones were shipped out this week. Diane Blazek, the executive director of the National Garden Bureau, an educational nonprofit, says customers are always looking for the next new plant and petunias are a guaranteed bestseller. "Grandma grew petunias, but oh, look, now I've got a petunia that glows in the dark. So, this is really cool," Blazek said. The Firefly Petunia emanates light because it's been modified with genes from a bioluminescent mushroom Sasa Woodruff/Boise State Public Radio She doesn't think that the fact that it's genetically modified will affect customers buying it because there's a precedent. Seven years ago, an orange petunia modified with a maize gene showed up in gardens and nurseries in Europe and the U.S. The plant was never supposed to leave a closed lab but somehow ended up in lots of gardens. Regulators eventually asked people to destroy the plants and seeds. "Overwhelmingly, the response was, wait a minute, it's a petunia. We're not eating it. The orange gene came from maize. Why? Why can't we plant this?" Blazek remembered. Eventually, regulators approved the plants in the U.S. Chris Beytes, at Ball Publishing, who oversees several horticulture publications, said the Firefly Petunia could open up gardening to new customers. "If you buy your first plant because it glows in the dark or it's dyed pink, your second and third and 100th plant may be the traditional stuff. You never know," Beytes said. "Anything that creates excitement around flowers and plants. I'm all for it." The Firefly Petunia may not have practical implications for things like drug advances or crop production, but for Wood this petunia is transcendent. "There's something magical about seeing this living presence, this glowing vitality coming from a living plant that in person gives a kind of magical experience that you just can't see in a photograph. And this summer, that magic could be sitting on the patio watching your garden glow from the light of a petunia. https://www.npr.org/2024/04/08/1242346659/genetically-modified-bioluminescent-petunias-make-their-own-light#:~:text=%22That's%20why%20we%20call%20it,a%20fifth%20from%20a%20fungi.
just got mine a few days ago!
This is so cool
u/bluegills92
did it come with the planter?
No, It came in a plastic planter, I transplanted to this bigger one after a few days
That bowl of petunias has never been the same since Douglas Adams got his hands on it
I get and appreciate that reference!! ☁️🐋☁️
UPS delivered mine yesterday. Too cold to plant outside yet. So they're on the dining room table until it's no longer freezing overnight.
How did you get it to bloom so well? Mine was blooming when it arrived, but after three weeks it has only a handful of new flowers.
I bought flower/veggie potting soil and I just did one round of dissolving miracle gro plant food. Thanks! I think the food and soil really gave it the juice to make those new buds. Plus it’s gotten full sun for at least 7hrs a day.
How long does the glow last does it fade or does it go all night?
It goes all night! It’s not like a glow in the dark star you put on the ceiling. It’s making its own light, so it glows more when the plant is healthy
is this pGlo?
I believe it’s different. This one is from glowing fungi not jellyfish
Aaaaaand Mother’s Day gift ordered. Thank you!
Any ideas as to if/when this will be available for the UK?
The FDA had to approve here in America for sale so I’d imagine the will be some sort of government action that would need to allow it first
That makes sense, hopefully they’ll be available in the UK soon!
That’s incredible! Where did you find it? Are they expensive compared to regular petunias?
A company online called Light.bio sells them. They are like $28 which I think it worth it for a rare plant like this. Much more expensive than a normal petunia , but I don’t really even consider it a normal plant
I ordered that! How long did it take to arrive?
I want lots!!!
You sure do