Zimmerman Blog 5

dz56

A turning point has been reached.  We have planted specimen and they are in the green house.  This is the start of the study.  We have planted the germinated sprouts of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and lamb’s quarter (Chenopodium album).  This is the early growth stage of the specimen and they will be watered daily and hopefully reach a healthy pre-disturbance state allowing them to be used to compare their growth under drought stress compared to optimal water usage.

There are 24 of each of the two species that will have a group of 6 replicates for the control and the subsequent drought stressed specimen for what will be two and three week periods after the initial 2 week starting early growth period.  This makes 48 total specimen at this stage in the study.

Reaching this point has been the culmination of much work that has included seed germination, soil preparation, greenhouse set-up, aphid protective net tent set-ups, planting the sprouts, and setting a watering regimen.  There have been hiccups along the way.

Each of the planted specimen pots has two sprouts to increase the likelihood that each will have one healthy growing plant after the two week pre-growth period.  Only one healthy speciman will remain in each pot.  Maybe the following pics will help explain the developing project:

The aphid tent.
Framework for the aphid tent and materials.
The planted germinants in their pots. They are in their initial pre-stress growth period receiving 200 ml of watering per day.  They will be put in their drought stress condition in about two weeks.
This is our first specimen to pop up. It is the non-invasive Chemopodium quinoa. We are looking forward to more arrivals.