The orange carrot hidden whole in the soil
Yeehaw! Let’s bet on who can pull up the biggest one!
"Heave-ho! Let’s bet on who can pull up the biggest one!"
Bang-gu and Didi are in the garden, heaving and heaving!!
They’re just pulling on the leaves, but the soil beneath their feet is shaking. Then, pop! It comes out whole.
You know how a long, orange lump comes up from under the soil? Green leaves on top, an orange body below. Hey, this is a carrot, isn’t it?!
That carrot I’d been crunching on every day as a side dish had been buried whole in the soil. The leaves peeked out above ground, while the body was tucked away beneath.
An old lady who was picking carrots next to me saw my dirt-covered carrot and laughed heartily, saying, “Wow, you picked a nice thick one there.” I appreciate the compliment… but wait, why was this in the ground? So is this orange body the root?
Banggu, munching away on the carrot he pulled up without even brushing off the dirt, says, “A carrot is just a carrot~” Ugh, I shouldn’t have asked you.
But I just can’t help being curious. Why is it orange if it grows in the dirt? Why do the leaves look like they’re not meant to be eaten? My mind is buzzing with questions. I checked out “Plant Exploration” on WAGZAK JUMP. Ah, this is it!
▶ Plant Exploration Videos with Didi
Shrinking to the size of an ant and venturing inside a plant
“Today, we’re going to shrink down to the size of an ant and go inside a green plant!” As soon as our plant expert friend, Ppuri, shouted that, I felt like my body was shrinking. The blade of grass right in front of me suddenly looked as big as a skyscraper. Wow!
Purumi jumped up and down, shouting, “Hey, we’ve really gotten tiny!” while Saerom spun around, saying, “So this is what a leaf looks like~”
Then Purum asked Popo, “But how do plants stay upright without falling over?” Oh, I was wondering that too! Popo just grinned. “You’ll find out once we go inside.”
Looking around, they were all familiar-looking plants. “Oh, dogtooth grass!” Purum pointed. Saerom was delighted, saying, “There are dandelions too—the ones I see on the street every day!”
We pass these plants every day, but seeing them right up close felt like a whole new world.
Popo asked, “Shall we start with the roots?” and pressed a button, and the roots popped right up from the ground!
“Huh, all the roots look different?” Saerom tilted her head in confusion. It was true. Some were thick and plump, while others were thin as threads, spreading out widely. I thought they were all the same kind of root, but they weren’t.
What had been hidden in the soil were the roots.
I grabbed a root and tried pulling it out. Phew, it wouldn’t budge an inch! It was firmly anchored in the ground.
Ah, so this is why plants don’t fall over even when the wind blows. I’ve got my answer. That’s also why the soil shifted when I pulled just the leaves in the garden earlier.
When I looked closely at the tip of the root, I saw it sucking up water from the soil—just like a straw.
Just then, Popo casually chimed in. “Some plants store all the nutrients they suck up right in their roots… like radishes and carrots.”
Yikes! That carrot I pulled up earlier!!
So that’s why it was buried whole in the soil. The carrot was the root! It had been carefully storing nutrients in the soil, which is why it was so sweet and crunchy.
Radishes and sweet potatoes are all part of the same family. Hehe, I’ve been munching on roots every day.
Stems are like elevators that carry water
Now it’s the stems’ turn. Saerom asked, “Popo, are tree trunks stems too? Their bark is really thick.” “That’s right. Stems not only support the plant but also protect it from the cold and bugs,” Popo replied.
Then he split the stem open to show them, and inside were thin, straw-like tubes running all the way through.
“Ah!” Purum was the first to figure it out. “So the water the roots absorb travels up through this!” That’s right. The stem was like an elevator carrying water upward.
Leaves are factories that make food from sunlight
Next up were the leaves. Popo said, “Leaves are little factories that make food from sunlight.” Factories? These thin leaves?
When Saerom asked, “But this leaf isn’t doing anything yet,” Popo replied, “Should we put some ingredients in it, then?”
As we added sunlight, water, and air—tap, tap, tap—the leaf sparkled! and started making nutrients. Just like a real factory!
Saerom clapped her hands. “So that’s why plants grow so fast in sunny spots!”
Poppo added, “The nutrients made this way travel through another pathway called the phloem to every part of the plant.” Huh? So there’s a separate path for water (the xylem) and one for nutrients (the phloem). Two pathways inside a single stem?
Just then, Saerom shouted, “Whoa! Water’s leaking out of the leaves!” Sure enough, tiny droplets of water had formed inside the clear plastic bag covering the leaves.
The water had turned into water vapor and escaped through the tiny holes in the leaves (called stomata). They call this transpiration. So plants sweat just like we do!
Saerom joked, “I wish I could soak up the sunlight and do some photosynthesis too~,” and we all laughed. Hehe.
From Flower to Apple
Last but not least, the colorful flowers. “Wow, they’re so pretty~” Saerom exclaimed, and Popo replied, “Flowers aren’t just pretty. They do a really important job—making fruit and seeds.”
We zoomed in on an apple blossom and took a closer look together. Right in the very center is the pistil—apparently, it’s the star that makes the seeds. And the stamens surrounding it produce pollen.
The first thing that catches our eye when we look at a flower is the colorful petals, and the sturdy bodyguard supporting those petals from below is the calyx. I’d never heard any of those names before.
Just as Saerom asked, “But how do the fruits form?” Purum shouted, “Whoa, a bee!” A buzzing honeybee had just landed on the flower.
Poppo explained quietly, “The pollen from the stamens sticks to the bee’s body and gets transferred to the pistil, right? This is called pollination—or ‘pollination’ in fancy terms. This has to happen for seeds to form.”
Purum said, “Oh, so that’s why the bee was flying around so busily!” The bee wasn’t just playing—it was working.
The next scene was the best. As the seed grows, the part surrounding it gradually turns into a plump apple. When people or animals pick and eat that apple, the seeds are scattered far and wide.
Saerom’s eyes sparkled as she said, “That seed will bloom into a flower somewhere else!” A single colorful flower becomes a delicious apple, and that apple creates new flowers. It doesn’t end—it’s a never-ending cycle. Hehe, isn’t that amazing?
Turns out, we’re all part of the same team
Finally, Popo asked, “Do you want to see how water and nutrients move through a plant all at once?” Just then, a cute little water droplet spoke to me. “Ta-da! I just entered through the roots!”
The water droplet shot up the stem, stopping by the flower and the fruit along the way, before finally slipping out through a tiny hole in the leaf. The nutrients weren’t about to be outdone either. “I was made in the leaf factory!” they said, traveling up and down the stem before settling neatly into the fruit and the roots.
Watching this, Saerom said, “The roots, stem, leaves, and flowers aren’t all just doing their own thing—they’re all connected.” It’s true. They were all part of the same team. Not a single one was just hanging around.
A Little Journey to My Dinner Table
For dinner, the carrots I’d pulled that afternoon were stir-fried and served right there! Right next to them were radishes and sweet potatoes. They were the very same ones I’d just been brushing the dirt off in the garden, but they looked completely different on the plate.
“These are all roots!” Clumps of nutrients diligently gathered from the soil. When I showed them off to Grandma, she laughed and said, “That’s why I told you not to leave any behind.” Hmph.
“Bang-gu, Bang-gu~ come here!” If there’s a tube inside the stem that carries water up, wouldn’t colored water go up too? If you’re curious, you’ve got to try it.
I stuck the white flower in water mixed with colored ink, and Bangguy and I squatted down together to wait.
After a while… the tips of the white petals actually started turning blue! The colored water had shot up through the stem. Banggu almost fell backward, exclaiming, “Whoa!” (Since colored water stains are hard to wash off your hands or clothes, be very careful and do this with an adult!)
The next day at the park, I couldn’t just walk past the flowers. When I looked closely, I saw honeybees buzzing around, covered in yellow pollen. That’s pollen! It’s because the bees carry it around like that that delicious fruit grows, right?
So I gave them a little wave. “Thanks!” The bees probably couldn’t hear me, but who cares? Hehe.
A slice of carrot on my palm. Crunch, crunch—I take another bite, and this time it even smells like dirt. Bong-gu, how about a bet on pulling up a radish next time? …I wonder if that’s hiding whole in the dirt too? Hehe.
▶ WAGZAK JUMP Actual AR Screen
Didi’s Plant World—Experience It Yourself with AR
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WAGZAK JUMP — Jump right into the world
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Are carrots, radishes, and sweet potatoes really plant roots?
Yes, they are! Roots hold plants firmly in the ground so they don’t fall over, absorb water from the soil, and store nutrients. Carrots and radishes are plants that store those nutrients in their roots rather than their leaves or stems, which is why we enjoy eating their plump roots. (Sweet potatoes are actually “tuberous roots” that have grown thick.)
Q. Is it safe to do the white flower dye experiment at home?
If you place a white flower (such as a carnation or chrysanthemum) in water mixed with food coloring or paint, you can see the colored water travel up the stem’s vascular system and change the color of the petals. While this is a safe experiment, the dye may be difficult to remove if it gets on your hands or clothes, so please wear an apron and do this with an adult. It’s also a good idea to have an adult help you cut the stem with scissors.
Q. What is the recommended age for WAGZAK JUMP?
It was designed for children ages 4–12 (primarily elementary school students). The plant lessons are at a level that lower and middle elementary school students can easily follow, and the same lessons are available in 30 languages, including Korean.
I’ll be back with another fun story soon. Best regards, Didi.