If you loved the glowing plants in the movie “Avatar,” you can now have one of your own. The company Light Bio has genetically engineered a petunia to glow a light green that is visible in a dark room. The firefly petunia glows a faint green when exposed to a lot of light during the day. Even though it is always glowing, the green glow is only noticeable when the plant is placed in full darkness at night or in a dark room.
Genetically engineered organisms are created by taking the genetic information from one organism and putting it into a completely different type of organism. Genetically engineered organisms are a type of genetically modified organisms because modifications do occur. However, the two terms do not mean the same thing, and GEOs should not be described as GMOs. The firefly petunia has genes from mushrooms that naturally glow green, making the petunia a GEO.
It is hard to say that I was underwhelmed when I saw it in the dark after a long day in full sun, because I had low expectations to begin with. I have seen glowing organisms in the woods after dark, and they don’t glow very bright. This plant does not glow like its namesake firefly or lightning bug which can be seen glowing brightly a long way off in the distance.
I liken this to seeing the aurora borealis. You have to be in a very dark location away from any sources of light and let your eyes adjust to the darkness, and if you are lucky, you will see a slight green glow in the sky. The firefly petunia glows slightly green, which is most visible when you are in a very dark location, away from sources of light and you let your eyes adjust to the darkness. The plant does not light up its surroundings. Just as a long timelapse photo of the aurora borealis looks much brighter than the aurora does in person, the petunia looks better in photos than in person.
The brightest glow is found on tissue that is actively growing. The tips of flower buds and new leaves glow brighter than old flowers or leaves. The brightest glowing parts do not glow bright enough to light up the rest of the plant.
Petunias are easy to grow for many people, and this plant takes the same amount of care as any other petunia. If fertilized with something like Jack’s petunia food, it could grow about 1.5 to 2 feet across and tall. Most people grow petunias as annuals that die with a frost in the fall, but they are perennials that can be kept as houseplants during the winter. You will probably want to do that to get the most for your money, as the growers have set a standardized price that is pretty high for a petunia. My firefly petunia in a 4-inch pot cost me over $40. That is about 10 times the price of a normal petunia of this size, but the other petunias don’t glow in the dark.
It took over 10 years to develop this plant and like many cutting-edge products, there is room for improvement. Engineers are working on other colors and other plants, so if you loved the glowing plants in the movie “Avatar,” you can now start your collection. Watch my recent video showing the glow in the dark properties of this fun plant on the Greener View YouTube channel.
