Terracycle Challenge - Day 20
We are certainly overdue for a TCC update. I want to make sure people don’t assume I’ve thrown in the towel!
The picture above provides a pretty good overview of the results so far. Here again are the label codes just in case you need a refresher or are just joining us:
TC - Terracycle
WC - Worm Compost
C - Control (water only)
MG - Miracle-Gro
Definitely some interesting observations thus far! Initially it was looking as though the TC-only plant was going to grow about as well as the control, but it has gone gangbusters recently and is starting to gain on some of the multi-treatments. Worm compost (WC) on the other hand has not proven itself at all - at least not when used alone. The WC plant has made only slightly more progress than the control thus far - unless we see a sudden surge of growth in the home stretch, it will definitely come in dead last as far as treatments go.
The WC/MG plant was the largest and healthiest looking of the bunch, but very recently the all-inclusive (WC/TC/MG) plant has experienced a serious growth spurt and is looking like it might put all the others to shame.
Another interesting note about plants grown with worm compost (including those in the “Jr” challenge) - most of them are a much lighter green colour than the rest of the plants. I’m not sure what to make of that.
Speaking of the TCC Jr challenge - nothing overly exciting to report there. Most of the plants are quite similar in appearance (aside from the light green colour of the WC plants).
Some other important things to mention. I’ve decided to take an even more laid back approach to my already laid back methodology. Now that the plants are getting much larger and we are encountering another serious hot-dry spell, I’m finding that they are needing a lot more water. As such, I’ve decided to opt for a thorough soaking approach vs an exact amount of water (it would take WAY too long if I had to measure out exact amounts of water every single day). I figure as long as I make sure they all have as much water as they need it shouldn’t be an issue.
When you think about it, exactly measured quantities make no sense at this stage anyway, since some plants are going to require a lot more water than others (because they are much larger and growing more quickly).
The only concern this raises is the potential for washing out the Terracycle doses. When it comes down it, I’m really not going to be able to compare the results of MG vs WC vs TC anyway, since a stick of MG will undoubtedly offer FAR more nutrients than periodic waterings with TC or a small quantity of WC. If I was using ONLY Terracycle (ie no water) for the TC treatments it might be a bit more of a realistic comparison, but unfortunately that would cost me a small fortune! (haha)
What I’m really interested to see is how the different combos compare to one another and to the control. So far it has certainly been fun to watch how each of the plants has grown!
Anyway, thats all for now! Stay tuned for more updates!
Technorati Tags: terracycle, worm poop, fertilizer, worm team, compost tea, worm compost, vermicompost, worm castings
Written by Bentley on August 1st, 2007 with
6 comments.
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Bentley
Alison
Eddie
#1. August 2nd, 2007, at 1:43 AM.
wow, this is looking good.
I didn’t realize that Miracle Grow is in the race as well. What I find interesting though is that MG and TC seem to compliment each other. Since both plants with just MG or TC are very similar in size, deos that mean, if you simply add double the amount of TC or MG the plant would be as large as the one that has MG and TC? Sounds kind of iffy to me.
What are some of your thoughts?
Cheers,
Hans (rethinkable.com)