Plants are dying...need new ideas.

Happy Thursday Everyone~

When I left lab last Friday my plants were alive and well but not thriving. I went in to lab yesterday to find all my lettuce dead and basil at a stunted growth. So..I was contemplating on what could contribute to these causes and came to two conclusion. The first being my plants are possibly drowning and second that they are not getting enough light. I planned ahead for complications at the start of my project and made extra templates (styrofoam). To take care of both issues I added the extra float to each tank which took care of the drowning hypothesis and it raised the plants a little higher closer to the lights. I will check on Friday to see if any changes have occurred since then. I also set one of my systems outside in the green house to compare plant growth between artificial light and sunlight. Here are some pics:

Glad I planned ahead. FYI hot plate+knife=cutting through like butter. 

Before adding the 2nd float, the pots were nearly all they way in the water,
now they are about 1/4 of they way in.

This is from my sweet potato plant. The flower is gorgeous and thought I'd snap a pic
and share. I had no idea they flowered! 

Hope everyone has a HAPPY HALLOWEEN ! 

Peace,

Jenni

Slow week...like a slug slow

Happy Wednesday Everyone~

Woohoo!! Let me first start by bragging about my back to back math exams....I got A's on BOTH and now I can relax for the next 2-3 weeks until the next round of exams come. This week has been slow for me. I tried to save my big tom plant but she died over the weekend and some of my other little sprouts just did not think life was worth living anymore. I did however check on the sister tom plant and she has rooted nicely, not quite ready for the big bucket but maybe in another week she will be. I checked on my mushroom side project and had Matt look at because it had an unpleasant rotting odor to it. Turns out it was growing mold...the BAD kind so I pitched it:( Other than that my project seems to be coming along slowly I wish I could encourage faster growth but better to let things happen naturally. On a side note, I went hiking this morning at North Mountain (the east side of 7th St.) and found my first geocache! It was so much fun even my wife enjoyed it! Apparently there are 2 on PC campus and I'm tempted to stop blogging right now to go hunt them:) Here are some pics:

These are baby basil sprouts. I threw some seeds in last week and they sprouted nicely

Lettuce in the back looks great, growing strong I hope.

See the light and dark contrast? This is a good thing, it means that my wicking bucket is properly functioning by keeping the soil moist and not over damped.Hopefully I will be able to repot the tom plant in this system by next week or so.

Hiking in North Mt. Found my first geocache! So much fun

Hope Everyone is doing well in their research projects:)

Peace,

Jenni

Happy Wednesday Everyone~

I know I usually post on Thursday, but tomorrow I have back to back math exams again and Im starting to think that the Math Dept. is controlled by a not so friendly force (maybe gravity) because I can barely make it up those stairs on back to back exam days! On to a happier less stressed topic, my systems seem to be functioning normal and the fish are happy as can be providing all the poop I want. Unfortunately my beautiful tomato was not ready for transplant, she did not have enough established roots so I put her back on the fish tank with her smaller companion tomato to hopefully reproduce strong roots. Here are some pics:

I just placed the tomato directly into the fish tank. Hopefully it will eat lots of fish poo and develop strong roots.

This is wheat grass

Tom and Jerry. Chasing each other.

Have a great rest of the week :)

Peace,

Jenni

Tomatos, grass, and... shrooms?

Happy Thursday Everyone~

Last week I found a gigantic mushroom growing in the backyard on the side of my house and decided it would be best to remove it and bring into the lab. Matt could not identify it so he suggested I reproduce it and see what happens (oh how I love science!). I basically took a piece of the shroom and wedged it between 2 layered cardboard pancakes and put it in a container with holes in the lid. I checked on them yesterday and I am pretty sure they are reproducing. Here are some pics :

This is what I found on the side of my house. Its huge!

Up CLOSE! This is the piece I broke in two for reproduction.

Cardboard soaking in some h2o.

Mushroom now live in a container free to reproduce in the absence of my fury friends (my weenie pups).

 

I will update next week with pictures of inside the container to show you what they look like before the stem and shroom out.

As far as my wicking project goes, I m pleased to report that I have sprouted grass seeds in the larger fish tank just after 4 days of placing seeds in the clay media. Here is a pic:

I also had time yesterday to build 2 more systems: 1 system that is more commonly used for wicking on a larger scale using a reservoir and different layers while the other system uses wicking in the literal term meaning fabric soaks up from a reservoir beneath grow media and is imbedded in the grow media allowing to feed the plant as needed. Here are some pics:

Here we have a traditional wicking system: the bottom layer consists of clay media and the reservoir fill tube
which is simply pvc, then there is a permeable barrier (I used burlap) to keep the top layer separated from the bottom, and the top layer is soil. I used this system to transplant that tomato I got from the garden club.

The other system was a little tricky. I used soil as well but instead of the bamboo destroyed bag as wicks I found some old t-shirts that I think will work better. Here are some pics:

These wicks will be intertwined with the soil media. 

 

wicks coming of bottom and will sit in reservoir

 I plan on paying close attention to which system works the best and will keep all of you updated. Have a great weekend

Peace,

Jenni

Wicking gone wild

Happy Thursday Everyone~

This past Wednesday was a very productive day for me! I finished a wicking system using two 5 gallon buckets (compliments of Josh and Matt), clay media, and I plan to fill my reservoir with the nutrient fish water that I happen to have on hand. I also got creative and made a miniature version of the true wicking system (the kind that uses soil) and I hope something small and green will inhabit it. Tomorrow I am going to build one more system so that I can compare all three and have a thorough report by the end of this semester on which system is most effective, efficient, and overall enjoyable to have. Unfortunately my seedling are still not ready for transplant so to jump start a plant for my 5 gallon bucket Patty (from the garden club) helped me snip a cherry tomato plant to transplant. It is currently in the floating apparatus on top of fish tank and as soon as it starts to root, into the 5 gal bucket it will go. Overall I am having a lot of fun with this project and I plan on incorporating a system in my home soon. Here are some pics:

Meet P.O.D- made out of recycled container, clay ball media, 2  used dryer sheet, pvc, and soil

Here is the beautiful cherry tom, I hope she roots easily:)

Materials for wicking system with out the use of soil.

Wicks from bottom of plant container will rest in the reservoir filled with fish poo water :)
Wicks are made from a bag that should not have been washed :(

I added a sponge inside and outside the plant container to secure it - so it won't slip out

Three wicks coming through bottom of reservoir up through plant container

Plant container filled with clay ball media. The idea is that water will wick from the
reservoir and feed the plant as needed.

Have a great weekend Everyone

Peace,

Jenni