Well, one day you are growing sprouts and the next day you are measuring them in a laboratory! Day , Monday ended up being measurement day because the sprouts had been growing so well that they had already reached the size they would be outside. In fact, by day 9 they had already become tall and lanky, and in my opinion, out of proportion.
On Monday I went through and took measurements of stem length, cotyledon width and length and weight/10 sprouts. Today, Wednesday, I will weigh the whole tray to et an idea of production relative to each other.
So at this point I just need to do the numbers on the sprouts to see how they compare. The quality difference between the two is minimal, and the black oil produces a more uniform. more consistent sprout. but the question is – how important is that? But they also have a better germ rate so are more reliable and generally look much nicer in the trays. They did well at all densities of planting, but at higher densities get a it taller adn have a smaller cotyledon. I do not know how much more, but at the highest density, 300ml/.5 trays they were too dense and many seeds could not root into the soil. The problem with the black oil seeds though is that they do not have nearly the same ‘crunch’ as the other seeds and this makes them less appealing to me. I do not know why, but that seems such an important quality trait.
Today I will cut down each tray and weigh the whole batch to see what they are and when I get a chance to do the numbers I will post my results here. But who knows when that will be!!
And some videos for fun:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z9B2VrKNDE]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W-CAloYXrE]