Others have pointed to adverse water relations, i.e. lack of turgor,
as a main cause of stem bending. After a few days of vase
life there are many bacteria in the vase water. Stem bending can
be due to xylem blockage by bacteria, which results in low water
uptake. As transpiration is not inhibited as much as water uptake,
net water loss occurs, resulting in loss of turgor and stem bending
(van Meeteren, 1978a,b). Indeed, adding bacteria to the vase
water of freshly harvested Gerbera flowers immediately resulted
in stem bending (van Doorn and de Witte, 1994), which suggested
that adverse water relations by a bacterial blockage can be enough
to induce bending.
Here, we investigate the hypotheses that stem bending can be