Pictures have been distributed to the posts where they belong, tidy tidy.

12/26/2012 update, clones have been started, if they respond the way the rest of the clones have been in this machine then we'll be planting them during the first half of January into their respective soil types.

I wanted to make sure to start fresh new clones for this side-by-side rather than using existing veg plants in the hope that this would increase the differentiation in results, and while it has increased the wait time for the start of the experiment, I feel the extra time will be worth the payout in higher quality data.

[FunkBomb]

I'm glad this experiment is about to happen. I've never used Black Gold but I've heard nothing but great things about it. Keep up the good work.


-Funk

Thanks for all the well wishes fellas, root nubs are starting to appear on our clones, so we're almost in business

[groer]

Cool can't wait, I've been happy with OF but the amazon is intriguing.

[RedEye_JeDi]

Amazon is good stuff. Ocean is currently my favorite, seems like it made more node sites than my other soils.

Well we'll have an unexpected staggering to the start of the experiment.

Currently I have 4 clones which are rooting much faster than the others, so we'll be starting 1 clone in each soil type using these vigorous individuals, with the remaining 2 clones for each soil type to be transplanted when they have finished rooting.

This will take place tomorrow, after Grofax exchanges some incorrect nursery pots, pics when finished.

The first four have been started, away to the races we go, these four are of the same approximate size and maturity, with the remaining 8 still in the clone machine, cold weather and a lack of an aquarium heater in my machine have slowed them but we shall persist!

The four plants on the bottom of the picture are our test subjects, the two above are unrelated to the trial, and are different strains.

On the addition of perlite:

In order to get the Amazon Bloom and the Black Gold to the aeration levels present in the Ocean Forest, we had to add perlite, since black gold is less than 15% perlite by volume, and Amazon has none at all. The Fafard mix is already at the same perlite % as Ocean Forest.

To the Amazon Bloom, we added 14 liters of perlite per 1.5 cuft bag.

To the Black Gold, we added 6 liters of perlite per 1.5 cuft bag.

The only inconsistency created by this is that brought on by the consistent grade of my bagged perlite, which doesn't match up with the mixed grade used to amend most retail soils, so my Black Gold has far fewer small perlite particles than the Fafard or Ocean Forest, and the Amazon Bloom almost none.

Drainage and absorption have been fairly consistent across all brands since the transplanting of the first four, so it seems like the proper perlite ratio has been achieved.

Week 1 update! First four are doing pretty well, shown in the image left to right, Ocean Forest, Amazon Bloom, Black Gold, and Fafard. The current largest are the Ocean Forest and Black Gold examples, with the Amazon Bloom example being smaller but just as healthy. The Fafard example is yellowing noticably, not sure of the cause, will perform soil tests to identify the issue. Could be fertilizer or ph based, or if it's just one of those things she'll grow out of it. If further example plants display the same yellowing, even if just initially, this soil type will be culled from the trial.