Trials Day Three

So technically, day one is the day I soak the seeds, day two is the day I ‘sow’ the seeds, and day three is, well, the next day after that. The sprout grown on an eleven day cycle.

I was a bit nervous about these trials as I can usually see signs of germiantion after the soak, but saw none in the seeds yesterday. However, today was encouraging and both types of seeds have germed well. The blakc oil is germing at a high rate as expected, and the confection at a lower rate, also as expected. I was hoping that the more ‘natural’ conditions may result in better germination, but it was not to be from what I could see. But the trays did look good as you will be able to see from the video below.

One issue that did arise was rodents getting into the trays. I had thought this might happen as I saw rat droppings on the greenhouse floor, but was hopeful they could not get onto the benches, But they can! This is not to much an issue though it will slightly change the weight of the sprouts when they are finished. Because all trays seem to be affected equally I can at least guess at a uniform error across all trays. The rats basically are able to access the seeds along the edges of the trays, though I have seen them burrow into the trays as well. during production the benches will be totally enclosed so this will not be a concern.

So here are the sprouts on day three:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=serAX5bIYT0]

And a note on rodents, arghh:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtzBpkx8OjQ]