After all the hard work collecting and hauling samples from a total of 24 soil sites, finally the seeds have a chance to get wet and start their growing! ( Thanks to Steve, Melanie, Dan Gruber, Bernie, Joyce and Matt Crewse)
Friday morning with the help of Steve and Bernie, a thin layer of each sample was spread out between two trays over a well draining custom soil mix. The soils will now be kept in the optimal 80 degree greenhouse with a water regime of twice a day for five minutes. Once seedlings are better established and germination rate slows, water can be cut back to avoid damping off. Follow along and we will keep you posted on all the new plants germinating!
Bernie measured out the sterile soil into each tray, completing 156 individual trays in all!
Steve carefully spreads the seed bank soil on top of Bernie's layer and they are ready to be watered at last.
What a colorful display of the Preserves soil!
It would be interesting to view all the soil samples with a hand lens and compare them based on location.
ReplyDeleteIndeed it would, and with all the extra dirt from the soil samples collected we can take a look at that some time in the future!
ReplyDelete