cngodles
4th October 2006, 02:00 PM
Experiment #1
This is a log of a seed planting using two untested methods by me. I planted 6 seeds into 5" diameter pot with 4" deep of miracle grow moisture control soil. The two methods I will be testing are:
Using Miracle Grow Moisture Control Soil and using a natural light lamp to light and slighly heat the soil and provide light for the leaves for approximatly 7 hours a day 5 days a week.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/5_bamboo_project_02.jpghttp://www.15656.com/media/images/library/6_bamboo_project_03.jpg
Weekends and nights the pot is transfered to a window sill that gets no direct sun light, but lots of risidual sunlight.
2006
September
22 - Pot with newly planted seeds brought into office. Pot stayed on the window sill for the day.
26 - Started using the natural light lamp to light the pot. Pot lighted during working hours. Soil is slighly warm to the touch. Watered twice during week with low chlorine water brought from home.
October
04 - Still no signs of sprouting, but do not expect to sprout this quickly planted directly in soil.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/4_bamboo_project_01.jpg
18 - The first shoot has emerged overnight. It's a little dull looking, so I almost thought it was a piece of fiber that stood up. After a little poking, I figured out it was a shoot. This first shoot took 26 days to appear, keeping in line with the typical 4 week germination pace that I've observed. If it keeps pace with my plants at home, they should have 20" tall shoots by the end of February. I don't have my camera, so I'll have to take a picture tomorrow. Now that the first one has emerged, some of the other 5 should start very soon.
19 - Picture of day two of growth. Shoot has been up for less than 40 hours. Shoot is 1/4" of an inch above the soil level.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/11_hetroclada_image_01.jpg
20 - 2nd Shoot arrives. Shoot number two poked it's head out of the soil today.
Shoot 1 - 3/8"
Shoot 2 - 3/16"
So shoot 1 grew 1/8 of an inch since yesterday. No measurements over the weekend I'm afraid, but with 60 hours of not seeing it, I expect that perhaps some more will come up. As a side note, I ordered my gel soil earlier this week, and one of my new experiments will be planting a plant into a clear pot with this soil. I am going to stop at walmart today to find a good clear pot to use. I am hoping to do a 1 gallon moso and a 1 gallon hetroclada. I'm getting 4 gallons worth of the crystals, so perhaps I'll also do a 2 gallon experiment.
23 - Both shoots are at 3/4". They are both half way through with opening the starter leaf.
25 - First shoot is at 1", the other at 7/8". The first one is really only taller because it's leaf is higher up. They both have opened their starter leaf.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/24_hetroclada_01_image_02.jpg
31 - Both shoots have partially opened leaves and are working on their third. The 1st shoot is 1 3/8" tall and the 2nd shoot is 1 7/8" tall. The 2nd shoot appears to have a second leaf that is twice as long. I had a three day layover because I missed work yesterday. Still no new shoots beyond the first two.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/34_bamboo01.jpg
November
01 - Both shoots looking very healthy. The other 4 seeds have still not shooted, but in my experience, they never all come up at once. They can still appear for another month or two. The two shoots both have 2 leaves each. The smaller shoot (#1) has two smaller leaves, but is making better progress on it's third leaf. The other shoot (#2) has a small first leaf and a second leaf that is 7/8" long, while #1's second leaf is only 3/8". It may have suffered some sort of deformant, as the tip looks odd. Also, I am noting today that I am measuring height by the tip of the longest leaf. This may produce staggered growth results, but will still hold true to maximum height possible.
02 - 3rd Shoot arrives. I initally looked at the pot and was dissapointed, but then I moved the pieces around and found what I was looking for. This one comes up 41 days after planting.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/37_bamboo02.jpg
06 - Third leaf opens up, lil shoot starting up. No new shoots to report. 45 days into planting. Interesting to note, the two largest shoots are pointing directly towards the fluorescent light on the square.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/40_bamboo03.jpg
16 - The first two are getting their 4th leaves now, the 3rd shoot is getting it's third. No new shoots, so it may be done. Here is a picture from today.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/46_bamboo04.jpg
29 - The shoots are approaching what I feel is a maximum range for inital shoots. Once they start approaching 3 inches, the growing seems to slow. I would believe that they are preparing for their second shoot, by slowing growth and transfering energy to the new shoot. But that's a guess. The largest shoot, which is 3 1/8 inches high, started to yellow it's starter leaf. It's got 4 leaves like the other shoots, but appears to be in 2nd place. As I said, all 4 shoots have 4 leaves, with shoot 3 getting it's 4th leaf just recently. Shoot 1 is about to open it's 5th.
30 - The following is my growth chart. All days that I was at work were counted. Holidays, Vacations, and Weekends are not counted.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/forum/20061130_chart.gif
December
12 - The first seedling to sprout got it's first new shoot over the weekend 12/9-12/10.
2007
January
20 - New growth has slowed down but the plant looks quite healthly. Shoot #1 has two new shoots slowly rising, Shoot #2 has none, Shoot #3 has one new shoot slowly rising.
I believe it will take off alot better once spring starts to hit. Lots of these are on there way out to my mothers to try and start a heteroclada grove this Spring.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/forum/bambooshoot_hetroclada_ex01_20.jpg
March
26 -These seedlings are doing well. They all have at least a secondary shoot.
This is a log of a seed planting using two untested methods by me. I planted 6 seeds into 5" diameter pot with 4" deep of miracle grow moisture control soil. The two methods I will be testing are:
Using Miracle Grow Moisture Control Soil and using a natural light lamp to light and slighly heat the soil and provide light for the leaves for approximatly 7 hours a day 5 days a week.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/5_bamboo_project_02.jpghttp://www.15656.com/media/images/library/6_bamboo_project_03.jpg
Weekends and nights the pot is transfered to a window sill that gets no direct sun light, but lots of risidual sunlight.
2006
September
22 - Pot with newly planted seeds brought into office. Pot stayed on the window sill for the day.
26 - Started using the natural light lamp to light the pot. Pot lighted during working hours. Soil is slighly warm to the touch. Watered twice during week with low chlorine water brought from home.
October
04 - Still no signs of sprouting, but do not expect to sprout this quickly planted directly in soil.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/4_bamboo_project_01.jpg
18 - The first shoot has emerged overnight. It's a little dull looking, so I almost thought it was a piece of fiber that stood up. After a little poking, I figured out it was a shoot. This first shoot took 26 days to appear, keeping in line with the typical 4 week germination pace that I've observed. If it keeps pace with my plants at home, they should have 20" tall shoots by the end of February. I don't have my camera, so I'll have to take a picture tomorrow. Now that the first one has emerged, some of the other 5 should start very soon.
19 - Picture of day two of growth. Shoot has been up for less than 40 hours. Shoot is 1/4" of an inch above the soil level.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/11_hetroclada_image_01.jpg
20 - 2nd Shoot arrives. Shoot number two poked it's head out of the soil today.
Shoot 1 - 3/8"
Shoot 2 - 3/16"
So shoot 1 grew 1/8 of an inch since yesterday. No measurements over the weekend I'm afraid, but with 60 hours of not seeing it, I expect that perhaps some more will come up. As a side note, I ordered my gel soil earlier this week, and one of my new experiments will be planting a plant into a clear pot with this soil. I am going to stop at walmart today to find a good clear pot to use. I am hoping to do a 1 gallon moso and a 1 gallon hetroclada. I'm getting 4 gallons worth of the crystals, so perhaps I'll also do a 2 gallon experiment.
23 - Both shoots are at 3/4". They are both half way through with opening the starter leaf.
25 - First shoot is at 1", the other at 7/8". The first one is really only taller because it's leaf is higher up. They both have opened their starter leaf.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/24_hetroclada_01_image_02.jpg
31 - Both shoots have partially opened leaves and are working on their third. The 1st shoot is 1 3/8" tall and the 2nd shoot is 1 7/8" tall. The 2nd shoot appears to have a second leaf that is twice as long. I had a three day layover because I missed work yesterday. Still no new shoots beyond the first two.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/34_bamboo01.jpg
November
01 - Both shoots looking very healthy. The other 4 seeds have still not shooted, but in my experience, they never all come up at once. They can still appear for another month or two. The two shoots both have 2 leaves each. The smaller shoot (#1) has two smaller leaves, but is making better progress on it's third leaf. The other shoot (#2) has a small first leaf and a second leaf that is 7/8" long, while #1's second leaf is only 3/8". It may have suffered some sort of deformant, as the tip looks odd. Also, I am noting today that I am measuring height by the tip of the longest leaf. This may produce staggered growth results, but will still hold true to maximum height possible.
02 - 3rd Shoot arrives. I initally looked at the pot and was dissapointed, but then I moved the pieces around and found what I was looking for. This one comes up 41 days after planting.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/37_bamboo02.jpg
06 - Third leaf opens up, lil shoot starting up. No new shoots to report. 45 days into planting. Interesting to note, the two largest shoots are pointing directly towards the fluorescent light on the square.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/40_bamboo03.jpg
16 - The first two are getting their 4th leaves now, the 3rd shoot is getting it's third. No new shoots, so it may be done. Here is a picture from today.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/library/46_bamboo04.jpg
29 - The shoots are approaching what I feel is a maximum range for inital shoots. Once they start approaching 3 inches, the growing seems to slow. I would believe that they are preparing for their second shoot, by slowing growth and transfering energy to the new shoot. But that's a guess. The largest shoot, which is 3 1/8 inches high, started to yellow it's starter leaf. It's got 4 leaves like the other shoots, but appears to be in 2nd place. As I said, all 4 shoots have 4 leaves, with shoot 3 getting it's 4th leaf just recently. Shoot 1 is about to open it's 5th.
30 - The following is my growth chart. All days that I was at work were counted. Holidays, Vacations, and Weekends are not counted.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/forum/20061130_chart.gif
December
12 - The first seedling to sprout got it's first new shoot over the weekend 12/9-12/10.
2007
January
20 - New growth has slowed down but the plant looks quite healthly. Shoot #1 has two new shoots slowly rising, Shoot #2 has none, Shoot #3 has one new shoot slowly rising.
I believe it will take off alot better once spring starts to hit. Lots of these are on there way out to my mothers to try and start a heteroclada grove this Spring.
http://www.15656.com/media/images/forum/bambooshoot_hetroclada_ex01_20.jpg
March
26 -These seedlings are doing well. They all have at least a secondary shoot.