Test and Harvest Plant Update

Harvest Plants

The spinach germinating in this container were planted March 19, 2013. They started germinating after 15 days. They were the first thing I planted and were not primed or pre-germinated. That seems to be why they took twice as long to germinate and continue growing at a slow rate. I thinned them into rows on April 8 2013. 

Test Plants

These spinach plants were grown from a seed in a glass bottle on a wet paper towel. Once the fuzzy roots came in, in the bottle I transplanted them into this cup. They took 1/4 of the time to grow to the same height as the control group above. These plants were squashed and poured out to the side (only a little) on April 6th causing the germinating seeds to bore deeper into the soil when replaced upright. I thought that permanent damage had been done because they were transplants and sensitive to begin with but they have continued to grow at a rapid and healthy rate. 

These spinach plants were primed or soaked overnight in tepid water and planted. They took about 7 days to germinate and since have grown taller than both the pre-germination and control groups above. They may be taller than the pre-germ group because they were planted in shallow dish under little soil. These plants were uprooted on April 6th by the wind. The soil cracked and the plants were replanted in there cups a few hours after the fall. I thought that it would cause permanent to deadly damage but they have continued to grow and at a rate that supersedes the control/harvest group.

These radish seeds were primed and planted. They have grown at a rapid rate and are now showing a second set of leaves after 5 days. They are on there 9th day of growth overall. These fell out of there cup on April 6th and were replanted immediately after falling. I thought that they would die from the uprooting but have continued to show growth with the aforementioned leaves. The growth may have come a little slower than it was supposed to because of the fall but the fall was not terminal to the plants. 

The 3 germinating spinach plants are  in the ground in what I have called the "Faerie Garden." The soil was not amended or watered except for when planted. The rain we've received since there sowing on March 19 2013 is the only water they've received. The seeds were not primed, scarified, or pre-germinated. They took an extremely long time to germinate, about 20 days and are smaller than any of the other plants but they did germinate. According to everything I read they should not have been able. The test was successful, I was able to germinate seeds in shaded, rocky, muddy, sandy, and clumpy soil*.

* Even though the test was to find out if I could get the control group seeds to germinate in unknown poor soil with little care and I've gotten the results for that test I'll continue the plants growth to further test the theory of resilience in spinach plants. 

Bloomsdale Everywhere

Bloomsdale Long-Standing Spinach...

The day before I planted all of the test spinach seeds I soaked them for about 15 hours. I wanted to see if the seeds that had been soaked would germinate more quickly then the seeds I planted in my container... So today I remembered that I planted more testers than I was recalling. 

I ended up soaking a lot more seeds then I needed for my tests and being such a frugal Fran I didn't want to waste them. So I created more tests. I planted 2 seeds in a large pot of basil that sits inside the house next to the french doors to the "porch." I planted my faerie garden with the dry seeds and planted another tiny faerie garden, across from my raised bed, with the soaked seeds. So today after I remembered how many spinach seeds I'd spread about the property I went to go check on them. 

The original dry seeded faerie garden had one little green sprout poking out of the soil. Faerie garden #2 was dead. The basil pot had 2 sprouts bigger than any of the others. Basil isn't listed as one of the companions for spinach and the container of basil wasn't exactly flourishing. I am not really sure why these two seeds grew so much quicker than any of the other seeds the only thing I can think is that they were watered more frequently and planted under much less soil, and of course primed. All of the soaked or primed seeds grew much quicker by 8 days than the dry seeds. I planted them, basically, on top and covered them with a pinch of soil each, not even a CM deep, but they are the healthiest and tallest of my spinach tests as of today.  It seems that the container has a spider mite infestation. I don't how that could possibly help my seeds but it may have. I really don't think that's the case, but because I vowed to let you know everything, success and failure, I wanted you to know that those two were at risk of mites and planted at a depth much less than recommended.  I wish that I had remembered planting them there because I would have liked to know how quickly they germinated but I can guess that they popped out of the soil at about 4 days. They are just so much bigger than the ones that have been above soil for a few days now that it can't have been any longer than 4 days because they were only planted a total of 9 days ago. It really excites me to see all of these different results. I happen to believe that the spinach seed packet recommends that you plant the seeds too low and in weather that is a little too chilly. I think the combination of weather and soil depth affected the indoor basil container spinach positively and again priming the seeds makes it a whole different ball game. 

I also proved that spinach, although sensitive and sometimes difficult to grow if the seeds have not been awaken through soaking, is not as sensitive as the websites, books, blogs, and seed packets make it out to be. The seeds will germinate in almost any medium as long as they have been primed to awaken in some way. I would have loved to have that information when I started but if I'd had it I wouldn't have had so much fun testing the different ways of sowing spinach seeds. I wouldn't be able to tell you with such certainty that priming does work especially on spinach. More test results to come... I still have to relay my findings on the spinach pre-germinations and the seed tape.