How does grass grow?
If you live in a house, your home is most likely surrounded by a thick blanket of small green plants. The types of grass that make up our lawns are just a few of the thousands of types of grass in the world! Other types include wheat, corn and bamboo too!
They all grow pretty much the same way, from the root up! Like all plants, grass gets its energy from the Sun and its water and nutrients from the ground through its roots. With its energy and food, grass grows the stalks and long skinny green leaves that make our lawns.
We can mow our lawns and not worry about killing the grass because grass grows from the ground up. The leaves keep reaching upward from the ground. Clipping the tops of these leaves won't hurt the grass. As long as they have their roots and can get food and energy from the Sun, the grass leaves will keep growing!
Exploration
Watching Grass Grow!
If someone is bored or waiting for a long time, they might say they feel like they are watching grass grow. It's true, if you went outside and stared at a piece of grass, not much would be happening. Grass grows pretty quickly though and can grow several inches in just a week. Imagine if you grew a few inches a week! You could grow over 12 feet in just a year!
You can go outside and mark a piece of grass at its base. Ask a grown up how to do that safely so you don't hurt the grass. Make sure that you can easily find that piece of grass again because chances are there are a lot of other pieces of grass around that look just like it! After a week, where is the mark you made?
If you were to mark a tree at its base and come back in a week or even a year, where would the mark be? It would be in the same place because trees grow from the top, not the bottom like grass.
Further Information
Secret Stems!
So we know how grass grows, but where does it get its start? Like most plants, grass can come from seeds. If grass grows tall enough in the right conditions, it will flower and make these seeds! But that's not the only way to get a new grass plant.
Grasses are able to grow a special kind of extra stem that actually reaches through the ground, digging through the dirt, to start a new set of roots and a new grass plant! This special stem will feed the new grass plant until it can survive on its own. So even without seeds, new grass can be grown!
