Starting from scratch

Yesterday I wrote a long post about how my onion experiment was a failure due to the lack of sunshine. I didn't post it because I wanted a picture of the plants in the sun shine. Later in the day I got emails from google recommending that I change my password. Somehow this is what killed the draft of my blog post. 

I plan on writing the same post but in a really half assed manner now.

All the onion bulbs were dead or close to it.

One plant in the well water pot had a real nice root system compared to all others.

One plant in the microwaved water pot was alive and salvageable probably because it was planted with few roots and much later than all the others.

I discarded all plants except for that one.

Replaced all plants with fresh ones.

Fresh plants had few roots and hacked bulbs so I let the sit in dry soil for a few days before watering.

Received another onion a day after planting and I placed it in the pot for wicrowaved water.

Here are pictures. 

Sorry this was such a crappy post. It was very nice. Stupid internet.

First week of February.

I watered on January 26. Here is the shot of what appears to still be healthy plants other than the obvious stretching for light. 

I can also announce that we started harvesting our first green onion leaves around this day. No taste difference was detected between any of the four water harvesting methods. All did in fact taste like green onions though. 

BAD NEWS

Yesterday, February 6, I can finally report my first bad news. It is happening slowly, but I am about to receive some deaths. I am certain that he problem is not from the water harvesting methods though. I believe that the problem stems from a combination of overwatering and lack of sun. I noticed the start of serious rot on the stem of an onion in the well water pot. When I pulled it out to see if it was salvageable I noticed the same problem, although not as severe, on some specimens in the three other pots as well. The following pictures display the problems. Ironically, the microwaved water specimen currently has the least amount of rot. This could have to do with it being the specimen closer to the indirect sun, but I think it just has to be luck of the draw. Note the writing on each pot in these photos. 

 The specimen pulled out is from well water. Microwaved water is on the left. 

I will continue with the experiment while trying to nurse them through this tough time. We have seen the sun fewer than 7 days in the last month and a half so I could be fighting a losing battle. 

I'm an awesome blogger"!"

Let's face it. Blogging is kind of lame. Here's a quick run down since the last post. 

I've only had to water the plants once since the first watering. Nothing special to report about this. 

All of the plants seem to be stressed out from the lack of sun and not the water. Stretched pale leaves are a sign of this and are occurring on all specimens. 

After the last watering I added new plants to their pots. 

All plants seem to be healthy and are at a stage where I can begin harvesting for my culinary delight.

I will continue with this obsurd project until I get too lazy to continue. 

As it stands right now my conclusion is: 

No noticeable changes detectable between the four watering methods. 

Here are photos from the last watering on January 1:

December 18, 2012

Two days after their first watering the specimens still have moist soil and noticeable new green growth.

Repurposing a blog

This blog was originally purposed for informing the small clientele of the even smaller plant nursery, Plant Diversity, I owned and operated from 2009-2012. You can tell I wasn't very interested in updating it.

I will be devoting the next few months of blogging to a science experiment. The science experiment in question is this one that has been floating around on Facebook for a while now. http://usahitman.com/microwave-test/

I do have a preconceived notion that filtered watered would benefit a plant just as much as microwaved water; however, my experiment will not be trying to prove this. My experiment will be to see what happens when I grow plants of identical species using water "harvested" in different methods. Sadly, I have no access to filtered water. This instantly changes my experiment from the experiment being passed around on Facebook. 

The water being used in my experiment will be harvested in the following manners.

-Well water from the tap I drink from allowed to sit at room temperature for 15-60 minutes.

-Well water from the tap I drink from boiled in an electric kettle, then allowed to sit at room temperature for 15-60 minutes.

-Well water from the tap I drink from boiled in the microwave, then allowed to sit at room temperature for 15-60 minutes.

-Rain, snow, creek or river water collected from what looks to be an untainted source that is then allowed to sit at room temperature for 15-60 minutes

I will water the four specimens with a 1/2 cup of water for the start of the experiment. The quantity and frequency will fluctuate in the following days and weeks due to atmospheric and vitality differentials of the four specimens. The alloted time for the water to acclimate to room temperature will vary as well, yet all waterings will still be done at the same time to ensure all specimens get water at the same temperature.

The species I have chosen as my four specimens is the common green onion. I bought these plants at the grocery store and used them culinarily. Once they were cut down close to the white bulb I saved them until I was ready to start my experiment. I decided on using this monocot as opposed to the dicot in the original experiment for its ability to withstand the cold and dark situations that will occur in my house.

HYPOTHESIS

I believe there will be no noticeable differences in plant growth or health among the different forms of watering.

PROBLEMS I PLAN ON ENCOUNTERING

-I live in a small cabin rural Norway. It is winter time and my house is heated by a wood stove. I plan on encountering an occasional cold house. 

-I may live south of the Artic Circle, but I still have very short days and the winter solstice is still five days away.

-Lack of uniformity of the drainage in the makeshift pots I am using to contain the specimens. This would be unavoidable even with traditional factory made liners due to how the soil settles. Watching the watering will be key to correcting this problem.

HOW WILL I CALCULATE MY RESULTS?

I do not plan on measuring plant growth to determine which watering method is best. Since all of my specimens are currently at different stages of growth I think  they should be evaluated on a three point scale. These points will be...

-Healthy

-Unhealthy/sick

-Dead

It should be noted that in the first two to three weeks of experimentation we should not attempt to calculate any data on the viability of the plants. Even under uniform settings any of the seven specimens have the potential of not growing roots and possibly dying. In the event of a death I will replace the specimen with a fresh one and attempt its method of watering once more.

The pots I am using-

The onions I am using-

The soil I am using-

The drainage holes-

The potted specimens (I purposely put the single crappy specimen in the container with percipitation. The other six were chosen at random)-

December 16,2013

The first collection site for percipitation-

Close to one hour after water collection-

It's been ten minutes since watering. No observable changes to report.

Peppers, Eggplant, new herbs & MORE Tomaters!

Finally! It's been quite the wait. This week we will be bringing the first round of peppers and eggplants to market! The just couldn't resist growing after almost two weeks in the 70's and many days of sun. I think I may have grown as well.
Some of the new plant varieties I will be bringing to market Thursday the 31'st will be
Long Thin Cayanne, Ancho Magnifico, Golden Star Bell Pepper, Black Beauty Eggplant and culinary Sage to name a few off the top of my head. Round 2 of Creole & Cherokee Purple tomatoes will be there as well.
It has been perfect weather for gardening & my garden is reaping the benefits.
These are pictures of two stunners in my garden.
Mayapple Podophyllum peltatum
Yellow Columbine Aquilegia chrysantha

Tomatoes

It's been a bit too long. We had and are still having an unusually cold south Louisiana winter. That hasn't stopped me from going nuts with the Spring vegetables! We are growing a mother load of tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, gourds & pumpkins! For now we only have tomatoes ready for sale. If the sun would poke its head out & the temperature would rise to 60+ we would be able to bring peppers quickly. Till that day, this is what we are looking at...
TOMATOES
-Anna Russian 70 days Ox heart variety dark red -purple hue 1 pound tomatoes indeterminate habit
-Black Krim 75 days Beefsteak. Dark hue. Indeterminate habit.
-Brown Berry 72 days cherry tomato indeterminate habit.
-Caspian Pink 80 days Beefsteak. Indeterminate habit.
-Cherokee Purple 80 days Beefsteak. Purple hue. Indeterminate habit.
-Creole Tomato 78 days Beefsteak. Indeterminate habit.
-Fuzzy Black 70 days a sport of Anna Russian that may have a slightly fuzzy flesh.
-Martino’s Roma 75 days 4oz. Roma meaty. Determinate habit.
-Principe Borghese 80 days Grape Sauce/Drying Tomato. Determinate habit.
-Purple Russian 80 days Large Roma great for sauce & salad. Purple hue. Indeterminate habit.
-Stick Tomato 65 days small globe tomato. Bizarre form. Indeterminate habit.
-Viva Italia 85-90 days Sauce Tomato. Firm and juicy fruits ripen uniformly and store well for 2-3 weeks. Determinate habit.

These are all the varieties I have started. Principe Borghese, Viva Italia & stick tomatoes will not be available for another week or three. Everyone else is ready to take home!