Plant the Moon with Team Rainbird! EP 2
Welcome back! We’re covering our first week update in this video, and we finally have NEW PLANT BABIES to show you!
Interestingly, the pots we prepared with the Lunar Highlands Simulant (LHS) were the first pots to sprout, with only 3 of the potting mix having sprouted by the end of the week. I suspect this might be because the seeds were floating to the surface because of each watering so they were being heated more and had less substrate to break through as opposed to the seeds in the potting mix which likely stayed put or even settled more deep between waterings.
We also had a little bit of a snag using the pH tester provided to us by the Plant the Moon Challenge team. It was reading everything as a 7, and even when testing with other things that we knew the pH of it was giving very different readings than it should. We made a whole video about our pH tester here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umZfE0afn3I
There was some trouble maintaining humidity in the grow tent above the minimum level, so we ended up using a bowl of water to evaporate some humidity off until we were able to get a dedicated humidifier for it. We couldn’t afford a fancier one that would be programmable or anything, so we have to check it several times a day to make sure it’s set appropriately. That’ll be a nice upgrade eventually!
The seeds we are using are “Micro Tom” tomatoes, an extreme dwarf variety that grows no more than 8” tall. Their tiny size and novelty make them an excellent fit for a project like this, especially where we’re limited by how much of the Lunar Highlands Simulant we can get our hands on. Very pricy!
Once our seedlings begin producing their true leaves, we will have to thin them out. It’s sad, but overseeding and thinning is an important safe practice to ensure you get growth in each pot since it’s difficult to restart with a new pot a week in.
If you want to name one of the plants, leave a comment below and we’ll assign it to one! If you’d like to name a specific plant and get your very own adoption certificate, check out our Buy Me a Coffee page: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/rainbird/e/21798
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Preparing for this experiment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W0csI-fUn4
Check out our instagram! https://www.instagram.com/rainbirddelalune/
Plant the Moon Challenge (#plantthemoonchallenge): https://plantthemoon.com/
Lunar Highlands Simulant (LHS-1) fact sheet: https://sciences.ucf.edu/class/simulant_lunarhighlands/
Buy us a coffee! (small payments in support of the project): https://www.buymeacoffee.com/rainbird #independentscience #plantthemoon #astrobotany #indoorgardening #moongarden #plantlover #competitionsciences #science
Interestingly, the pots we prepared with the Lunar Highlands Simulant (LHS) were the first pots to sprout, with only 3 of the potting mix having sprouted by the end of the week. I suspect this might be because the seeds were floating to the surface because of each watering so they were being heated more and had less substrate to break through as opposed to the seeds in the potting mix which likely stayed put or even settled more deep between waterings.
We also had a little bit of a snag using the pH tester provided to us by the Plant the Moon Challenge team. It was reading everything as a 7, and even when testing with other things that we knew the pH of it was giving very different readings than it should. We made a whole video about our pH tester here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umZfE0afn3I
There was some trouble maintaining humidity in the grow tent above the minimum level, so we ended up using a bowl of water to evaporate some humidity off until we were able to get a dedicated humidifier for it. We couldn’t afford a fancier one that would be programmable or anything, so we have to check it several times a day to make sure it’s set appropriately. That’ll be a nice upgrade eventually!
The seeds we are using are “Micro Tom” tomatoes, an extreme dwarf variety that grows no more than 8” tall. Their tiny size and novelty make them an excellent fit for a project like this, especially where we’re limited by how much of the Lunar Highlands Simulant we can get our hands on. Very pricy!
Once our seedlings begin producing their true leaves, we will have to thin them out. It’s sad, but overseeding and thinning is an important safe practice to ensure you get growth in each pot since it’s difficult to restart with a new pot a week in.
If you want to name one of the plants, leave a comment below and we’ll assign it to one! If you’d like to name a specific plant and get your very own adoption certificate, check out our Buy Me a Coffee page: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/rainbird/e/21798
-----
Preparing for this experiment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W0csI-fUn4
Check out our instagram! https://www.instagram.com/rainbirddelalune/
Plant the Moon Challenge (#plantthemoonchallenge): https://plantthemoon.com/
Lunar Highlands Simulant (LHS-1) fact sheet: https://sciences.ucf.edu/class/simulant_lunarhighlands/
Buy us a coffee! (small payments in support of the project): https://www.buymeacoffee.com/rainbird #independentscience #plantthemoon #astrobotany #indoorgardening #moongarden #plantlover #competitionsciences #science
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Learning