Theoretically if you gave a plant all of the nutrients that it needs to grow could it continue to grow forever or would it stop eventually?
Would it eventually just die regardless of the nutrients that you are pumping in to it? Do plants age like humans?
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Plants don’t age exactly, but they do have size limits.
Picture a tree. A tree needs a certain amount of water (and micronutrients) from the earth to maintain itself. As it gets bigger and taller, the amount of sustenance it needs increases, but the reach of its roots and the water available in the soil doesn’t necessarily increase in line with that. As the tree gets taller, it will eventually hit a point where there isn’t enough water available in the soil for it to stay hydrated, and it will begin to die.
Most trees (and other plants) are genetically predisposed to stop growing larger – or at least slow down – past a certain point. This point often lines up with the point where growing much larger would normally be unsustainable from a resources point of view… even if you’re actually supplying it with everything it needs.
Bear in mind, though – for big woody plants like trees, it can take hundreds of years to reach their maximum size. Soft-stemmed plants tend to get there faster.
The idea of “aging” is a very animalistic concept, and doesn’t apply perfectly to plants. Animals regenerate our cells constantly, replacing old ones with flawed new ones – this is what causes aging.
Plants don’t do this, at least, not in the same way. If a leaf gets damaged, the tree has no way to regenerate the specific cells that make up that specific leaf. The leaf will just die and fall off. The plant will likely grow a new leaf in its place.
Theoretically, most plants are immortal. Provided they get enough nutrients and aren’t severely damaged, they’ll just go on existing. Many plants don’t really *want* to be immortal, though – many are “intentionally” short lived as part of that particular plant’s life cycle.
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