This is awkward... Remember that system I had for identifying the plants outside? I didn't need it. The outside ones didn't grow at all. At the beginning of this project, I kept reading (even in the "official" gardening books) that radishes flourish in cold-ish temperatures, which was the type of weather we were having. I certainly did not count on snow. I just now brought the control pot inside, after two weeks of waiting and hoping. Tomorrow, at some ungodly hour, I will cover it in plastic, as that seemed to make the seeds grow faster. I will revive this pot.
On Wednesday, I thinned the pot with the pebbles. Unfortunately, I have no "before" picture, but here is the "after."
At the moment, they seem happy, healthy, and vertical. I wasn't actually sure how to thin radishes, so I read Jane Tunks's quick article in SFGate, an online San Francisco newspaper, to figure out exactly what it entailed. She said I had to pull out the thinnest, most fragile sprouts, which felt to me like killing my babies so the strongest could survive. I obeyed, but quickly ran into a problem: I didn't know how many to leave. A piece in the website of Louisiana State University's agriculture center recommended leaving about two inches between each sprout. The process was difficult, but I eventually narrowed it to the ten you see. I probably shouldn't have planted the seeds so densely, but my resources said not to worry because I could thin them. What a joy that has been.
Yesterday, I removed the plastic wrap from the other pot and thinned that one, too. Below is a before and after.
For some reason, the sprouts and soil inside the plastic wrap pot are much weaker than those inside the pebble pot. The soil was crumbly, even though it wasn't dry, and the sprouts broke at a touch. The few plants I decided to keep cannot support their own weight. This could be because I waited longer to thin them (I was scared to take the plastic wrap off) or it could be the environment in which they grew. Maybe it was my planting. I'm trying to research the results and how to revive the sprouts. No luck so far. At the aforementioned ungodly hour tomorrow, I may adding fertilizer to this pot as per the directions on eHow. However, I could not find the correct fertilizer**, and am not sure whether I should use the closest substitute I could find. I'll let you know what happens.
This week, I discovered something interesting about my sprouts: they lean toward the sun. In all of my research, I never realized that radishes were phototropic*. There is a chemical inside the stems that slows growth when exposed to the sun, so they lean towards it in order to provide more shade. I rotate the two pots every day to provide even sunlight.
Speaking of daily care, I seem to be in an unfortunate situation. I am leaving for Georgia in less than twelve hours, and my plants will be left alone for three and a half days. This could have been better timed. I will return to either massive growth or yet another garden graveyard.
Hey Nicole! Although you have hit some bumps in the road, I think you learning more about radishes through these errors than you ever would have if you just planted them and they grew. I personally know close to nothing about gardening, however I think it's very interesting to see how your radishes grow in such cold weather. Thankfully we have been seeing weather in the 50's this week so maybe you can move the radishes outside for this week. I think that you are just going to have to look at the forecast because leaving radishes in snow is obviously not the best thing for them. Anyways, keep planting and posting about it as radishes are AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteNicole, your doing great! I love that as soon as you come across a problem you use it as an opportunity to do some research and learn why. I am no expert on plants, but I can tell you that if your going to try something, do it with confidence. You obviously know what is the right thing to do and are very educated on this subject so just go for it! I you think it's time to take off the plastic or to put the pots outside, do it with 100% of your ability, you might just improve immensely. That being said, I'm not recommending ignoring what your doing now with your plants and inching towards failure, rather just being more confident with what your doing because it seems to me like you are very informed and prepared when you make a decision! I'm excited to see what else you learn!
ReplyDeleteHey Nicole! I too am an avid gardener, well in the summer that is. I think you are making good progress so far! I know that things aren't turning out as fast as you would have hoped, but I believe that it will eventually work! I am excited to hear your TED talk as when we talked about it in class you seemed animate about your topic. And hey, if the radishes don't work out, take a hint from Edison, you learned some ways not to grow them! Hahaha, in all seriousness, I usually buy the pre grown bulbs and start from there, not the seeds. So hey, you are already doing better than I can! Just stay positive!
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