Earth and Water

There are a few issues that I thought might be interesting.

The tallest avocado plant is, for some reason, not doing too well I think. Its leaves look a little crumpled and flaccid. The pictures are to compare its leaves to those of another avocado plant which is doing much better. I'm thinking it may be because I don't water it enough, but I give it rather a lot (a cup every two days). I am worried that if I water it any more, the roots will suffocate and rot, and the plant will die (this is an extremely common cause of death). Plants are much better at coping with a shortage of water than an excess of it.

For example, there is a picture of the pepper plants. Last night they were almost all lying flat on the soil, and looked nearly dead. (I wasn't worried though, because this has happened before). Today they look as alive as they ever have. Usually, within an hour of watering a thirsty plant, it will start to move back into shape. Within about six hours it's pretty much back to where it was before.

There is a picture of the strawberry plants. I was worried that they might actually be weeds, but decided yesterday that this is highly unlikely. Aside from the fact that I boiled the soil before planting them, sterilizing it, the plants are all so similar. They all look the same, they sprung out of the soil at almost the exact same time, and grow the same way (a quick growth followed by a sudden stopping of growth after it reaches a half-centimeter). This makes me conclude that they're the same plant. Also, if they were weeds, I expect they would have grown much faster.

One thing I'm still worried about is the soil. I think if it gets too hard the plants will die. Yesterday I opened up a package of potting soil that my girlfriend got for me. It was so soft and fluffy (and also looked very rich and black). I wonder how they are able to make it so fluffy. I think it has to do with pieces of styrofoam flakes that they put into it or something. If I could find a way to do this to all my soil, that would be really useful.

There is a picture of an avocado pit that is just splitting. This is the first step in its growth. I will try to monitor this over time to show the transitions.

Sometimes things go wrong in the growth process, and in the past I have given up on the avocados and dispensed myself of them. The main things that happen are: roots turn black (which doesn't happen to me much anymore; I think it happened due to not changing the water often enough), roots break (which happens to me a lot; I drop the pits as I'm cleaning them out), and stems get moldy. But avocado pits are surprisingly resilient. After weeks of sitting in water, they usually spring out another root, and develop new stems. Sometimes they already have multiple roots growing side-by-side with the main large one. The growing of new stems is, for some reason, often preceded by the inside of the avocado turning green. I don't know if the green area contributes anything to the survivability of the avocado, or if it's just a consequence of sitting dormant for a long time. There is also a picture of an avocado that I accidentally broke in half after it split. The half that lay dormant for the past few weeks is now developing something which will precede the roots and stem. I will try to monitor this also, to show the process. One thing I have learned from the avocados pits is that they don't give up easily, and all they need is to sit in clean water for a long time. There is one avocado pit that I had for about six months (it was one of the first). Its roots have died many, many times, and its stems have all rotted. Now, there is another stem that is emerging, and there are also new roots (which I put in soil). This pit will hopefully grow up to be a real plant.

The seeds and pits that I took out of refrigeration last week are still sitting in water. They don't seem to be changing at all, but, given what I learned from the avocado pits, I will have patience for these seeds. Maybe in a few weeks they'll start to grow.