In our original blog on the testing of our newly blended growing media, it was pointed out that there should have been a control item to establish a baseline performance by which to judge the effectiveness of our Wonder Soil custom blend. So we have now taken a test of the blend versus just coir to do that. In our first test we showed the difference of our added trace minerals to the performance of our custom blend (compressed coir, worm castings and kelp). It showed the effectiveness of the trace mineral addition, so today's update charts how our blend (w/o trace minerals) fares against just the coir. Microgreens are normally harvested in a very short growing cycle (experiment today is approx 9 days from seed to harvest). We used pak choi seeds from the same lot and planted them in similar containers and media depth. Normal germination of approx 4 days before putting the plants under our new blue/red LED array to grow out to the conclusion of our experiment with both trays receiving the same amount of light. You can see the difference in the pak choi microgreens in that short of a time. BUT there was an even bigger surprise that we discovered next. Here is a picture from the bottom of the trays. I normally take my expended media and seeds and plant them outside on our hill. As I took the trays out and removed the media, look what had been going on below the plants. The left again is the plain coir and the right is the extreme root mass that was curled around at the bottom of the tray! The plants growing in our custom blend are not only healthy but are absorbing a ton more nutrients in the process. The extreme difference in roots also explains how the first test showed a significant step up in size and weight of the plants. All of this amazing growth happening in just 9 short days!
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