YT2095 - 28-9-2006 at 05:45
my Latest Bio experiment is Uptake of Dyes into plants, in particular Fluorescein.
I have just under 100g of the free acid version, as you know this does Not dissolve well in water, so I added KOH in miligram quantities untill the
Flcn acid all dissolved (also mg quantities).
the Plan being that since plants in Flower or Fruit need plenty of potassium to develop, that the K salt was ideal.
I`ve tried a variety of different concentrations and used a fresh bunch of white Carnations to take up this dye.
the ones in the most Conc soln have indeed taken upon some of the color in the veins of the petals, but they also die off very quickly too 
but the most irritating factor is that the yellow veins refuse to glow green under UV beyond a slight hint.
the ones in the weaker solns last longer, but take up less dye.
I plan on trying other white flower types also, but halloween is getting closer and I want Spooky Flowers for my wife as it`s also our Wedding
Aniversary too!
any workable solution (excuse the pun) would be appreciated!
not_important - 28-9-2006 at 06:45
Try ammonium salt instead of or as well as potassium. Add a little citric or ascorbic acid to swing the pH lower.
Remember that Fluorescein's peak absorption is in the blue, 490 mn or so. So an unfiltered UV bulb that looks blue-white, or LED at 470 to 480 nm,
might do better to excite the glow.
YT2095 - 28-9-2006 at 07:54
Ammonium`s interesting and worth a shot, although Nitrogen rich is normaly used for Green folliage, it can`t hurt to try 
perhaps a little KNO3 as it will Still require Potassium.
I seem to rem that lemonade or aspirin is often used in the normal water soln to extend life of the flowers too, that would explain the Citric and PH
lowering you mentioned.
I`ll give that a shot on the next batch, and also have a control group this time also.
Waffles - 16-10-2006 at 16:35
gibberellic acid + fluorescein
monster mutant glowing flowers!
YT2095 - 17-10-2006 at 03:12
it would Seem, that Fluorecein in whatever incarnation seems to Kill the flowers after a small amount makes it into the petals (usualy the outermost
as an orange/yellow color).
perhaps the molecule is too large and is blocking water pathways?
eitherway, it doesn`t seem to work
woelen - 17-10-2006 at 03:37
Maybe the dye is a poison to plants? There are quite a few compounds, which are toxic to plants, while they are not toxic or anly slightly toxic to
humans and/or animals.