3/30

Since the last time I've updated the blog, my plants really haven't grown much as you can tell by the picture. Although the weather has been anything but sunny, my plants are still surviving and slowing growing. Since there is such little sunlight, my plants have not been growing as quickly as they were when they first sprouted. I've also had to water them less because of all the rain and the cold weather making my soil continuously damp. Thankfully Karishma's plants have grown very well and we will still use mine as part of the display.

Early technicalities putting up pictures...but they're up now! (Karishma's plant)

For my plants, i put the seeds in the soil about after a week after Mimi gave us the seeds. i put the pot by the windowsill where they will recieve plenty of sunshine. I also took a cup of water and watered my plants each day. I made sure they have they right amount of nutrients by doing the soil test. My plants have grown to a pretty good size an dmy group is going to use my plants for teh plant show on Friday

I took this picture of my plants (on the top) on 3/25 and it's obvious that they have grown a little taller. This was taken when I left the plants outside prior to the storm. I took the plants into the garage Saturday night so that they wouldn't drown. Today (picture on bottom), I took another picture and not much is different.

3/24/11

I actually noticed a more significant growth in my plants today. I've been watering them everyday and making sure they get enough water. There's plenty of sunlight outside which is a very good for them. Since I put them close to the bush which provides some shade, I've noticed that they grew a little slanted towards the sunlight (phototropism). So far, the only cost I've put into growing my plants is the actually soil which costs roughly $5.

3/19/11

In one day, the plants grew a little taller and all of them sprouted so I re-potted them into a larger pot (3/19). Instead of leaving it in my garage, I'm leaving it by a bush that provides some shadow and enough sunlight to reach the plants. Hopefully by two weeks, my plants will be able to grow even more since they've been growing pretty quickly over the past two days.

Sprouts

My plants finally sprouted! Well, they sprouted about 2-3 days ago but now most of them have all sprouted. I'm going to wait until they grow a little taller then I'll move them to a bigger pot (according to my grandmother). After doing the 4-way analyzer test, since it's still in a very shallow growing space, it said there was low fertility and a 1.5 on the moisture scale (meaning it was dry although I just watered it). It also said the light intensity was around 1, which means it's not that exposed to sunlight (which makes sense because I keep it in the garage and it barely gets a lot of sunlight). For the pH, I got around a 6. By tomorrow, I'm hoping that all of my plants have sprouted and within a few days, it'll be tall enough to replant into a bigger pot. Overall, I'm really excited and I hope my plants don't die.

I finally planted my seeds after finding the perfect time to do it. My mom went out and bought an organic potting mix (10-5-5) for about $5. I'm starting my seeds in an egg carton. There are about 3-4 seeds in each container. Right now they're placed outside by a bush since my grandma, who used to grow tomatoes, said it would be a good place for to place it. Hopefully it will sprout in a week.

On Monday 2/21/11 , i planted my seeds. I put them on top with a table with white light gazing on it for 4 days straight. On Friday 2/25/11, i could see my first seed starting to sprout. As of now, the seeds are still under the light until all of them are sprouted and are strong enough to start their photosynthesis.

Soil Test

On thursday, during lunch i did my soil test with Mimi. What i found out was that my soil had:
- a PH of 6.0 which is a little basic
- a phosphourus level that was high
- a medium nitrogen level
- a medium-high potassium level
I bought my soil that came with a pot at walmart for $12.00

Blog 1

Our group met for the first time on monday and discussed the project and got our seeds from Mimi. I took my seeds home and made sure they wouldnt get crushed. I put the seeds in my drawer. I will plant some of the seeds this weekend.

Blog 1

Our group met on monday and we got our seeds on tuseday. The seeds we have are organic tomatoes. I took the seeds home and put them in my drawer at home . I will plant some of my seeds this weekend.

Chantelle's blog 1:

I recently received my organic tomato seeds from our team leader, Mimi. They are currently on my counter top wrapped up so nothing harmful happens to them (crushed). I will discuss with my group when the right time to start planting my seeds will be. Until then I will research techniques to growing prosporous plants.

Week 1

Yesterday I got my seeds from Mimi. When I got home I placed them in my drawer of my night table. This weekend, I will plant my seeds and on Monday I will test my soil.

My tomato approach

As of now, my seeds are stored in a plastic bag in my computer room. I've been researching the best ways to grow my tomatoes and so far I've learned that first I need to germinate seeds in a small pot with starter mix. The seeds should be 1/4 inch deep and the soil should always be moist. From there, I need to transplant from starter mix into potting soil when seedlings are about 3 inches tall and I also need to fertilize it regularly. It sounds like it will take a bit of monetary investment, but so far that is my plan. I'm still searching for other techniques I can use that will not cost me too much money.