A Crisis of Prosperity

The number of germinations from unstratified Jan 24 batch jumped to 42. I find myself in a bit of a bind to process all samples properly. Since I figured out what makes seeds to succeed, I can not let any seed left behind, pun intended. Need I say I am happy?

After Angus's comment I spent a few hours examining if I indeed expose seeds to undue stress related to constant drying up and watering. The results are pretty conclusive and I am considering an interesting modification of the experiment.

In summary, what does not kill you, make you stronger. Seeds exposed to alternating drought and flood, but not as much as killing show superb development of the root. The length of the root is directly proportional to the amount of water added, while the number of "near death" episodes defines branching of the root. It appears that as the soil is drying up, the root is looking for ways to get additional sources of water. It spawns additional branches. Once the water is delivered those tiny branches develop into full fledged roots. This weekend exposed a lot of superb looking roots.

I have a few excellent examples but #111 is  the best illustrator of the stated above:

#111 February 10, 2013. 3 week old.

#111 fell almost all the way to the ground a week ago, clearing the soil by just 3-5mm when I waited too long to water it:

#111 February 2, 2013. 2 week old.

As it can be seen on the picture from today, February 10, #111 has a very solid root with at least six branches off of the main tap root. Other samples in the vicinity of #111 all have at least three branches.

Here is what a sample grown in "near death" experience setup looks like once removed from the germination container:

#110 February 9, 2013. 2 week old.

The soil around center clump is completely dry and fluffy. It allows extraction of the clump with seedling very easily. Since I know that the seedlings grown in the described fashion are not fragile at all, the dirt can be simply shaken of gently from the seedling. I apply a few squirts of water on the seedling and then place it inside a permanent container. The container has an inch deep cavity made with applying pressure in the middle:

The soil around the main root was pushed inside, covering the root.

In other developments, the previous leader and perviously declared dead seedling, made an aggressive move to become #2, getting ahead of two strongest rivals:

#15 February 10, 2013. 3 months and 1 week.

#39 remained an undisputed leader. Since it started leaning on one side a guide stick was placed with a thread attached to try to keep it more vertical:

#39 February 10, 2013. 2 months and 2 weeks.

#38 had a similar device attached:

#38 February 10, 2013. 2 months and 2 weeks.

New seedlings from the brown patch keep getting into more permanent homes on the white patch:

Finally, a new experiment idea that I had is related to Angus' comment. Since I am very positive I will be able to fill all 30 vacant spots with sequoia seedlings with the recent influx of samples, I will attempt to push the "near death" experience of a few samples, let's say six, and see what happens. Worst case is that I will kill 6, best case is I will have a few interesting leaders. Who knew, watching trees grow can be such a heart pumping experience.