Giving your Neps a coffee treatment

[kain]

I once measured the pH of the rain I was getting at around 7. Interestingly, I measured the pH of that same rainstorm coming off my asphalt roof and it was too acidic for me to determine its pH by the simple bromothymol blue method. Something users of rain barrels might want to consider.

[mikuláš]

Kain -- how do you know it was too acidic? Doesn't BTB just indicate acid, neutral, base?

[kain]

Bromothymol blue allows a somewhat accurate determination of pH from 6.6 to 7.4 as the color varies from yellow through various shades of green to dark blue. The rain coming out of the sky measured about 6.9-7.1 - it was dark green. Coming off the asphalt roof, the same rain was stained pure yellow by the bromothymol blue, which indicates it was below 6.6 (and probably even lower, since you do get a little green in the stain down to around 6.0). Granted, it's not terribly accurate, but I thought the strong difference between the rain from the sky and the rain from my roof was interesting.

[vraev]

well...water by itself has very low buffering capacity and can rapidly shift pH. Even small amounts of particulate matter from the roof is enough to change the pH drastically.

[jgriffin]

So...if one were to get five plants of the same clone, what would you do to do some experimenting?
After potting up in the same meidum, something like..
1) Control. No forced insect feeding or fertilizing
2) Pitchers fed insects
3) Coffee?
4) Maxsea
5) Some other fertilizer

Is five enough?

Thanks,

Joe

[morbus]

maybe you should have more than five. maybe atleast two for each variable as a start. you wouldnt get scientifically significant results, but it would be a nice guide/pilot experiment. and, instead of merely not "force feeding" them, you could put cotton wool stoppers in the pitcher?

[Noa_F]

It would be interesting to see if there was any difference between a plant that only got fertilized and a plant that got superthrive in addition to fertilization.

[jgriffin]

Are you a superthrive person, Noa_F?
I was a little surprised that Michael was. I have heard many neutral reviews on that subject. Would you do superthrive w/o fertilization, also?
Morbus, I admit that is a valid point, but I also admit...I do not want to spend that much, lol. . Do you really think stopping the pitchers is necessary? They are in the basement of my house.
Though it might gain a little insight, all it would show is what effect these things have in MY conditions. I would have a lot of work flushing hte pots as much as Michael and Sam.

Thanks,

Joe

[Noa_F]

Joe, I personally use a combination of seaweed extract and superthrive once every week or two. I get a lot of rain that flushes the pots. I have never tried using fertilizer without super thrive so I am curious whether it really makes a difference.

Noa

[jgriffin]

Root fed, I take it, as opposed to in pitcher?

[walterg]

May 19, 2010 6:26:21 GMT -10 morbus said:

maybe you should have more than five.

For even a half-serious study, I'd want to see more like 50 plants in each group. I.E., 50 controls, 50 fed insects, 50 given Maxsea, etc, etc,. There's nothing wrong with doing your own little trials, and you may learn something practical and applicable, but don't do a test with 5 or 10 plants and then assume that your results are statistically significant.

[jgriffin]

So if 50 is half- serious, is 100 completely serious?
;D

I wouldn't dream of assuming anything with what I was proposing. Like I hinted, all it would do is maybe reveal something that is beneficial for my growing conditions. And it would only show maybe something for that species.
Wouldn't you want to try on large groups of different species at the same time?
Does Maxsea have more of a benefit with coco chips than cypress?
What amount of Maxsea is optimum?
Do fluctuations in growing conditions(humidity, temperature) make a difference with one trial group and not another one?
I do not know if anyone can cover this with satisfaction.
I know Rob Cantley did a experiment with a ton-o-plants with some different stuff. I am not sure where that info is.

Joe

[Noa_F]

Yes, root fed.

[morbus]

Walter is right that you would need big numbers to get a "significant" result. though, for gaining some insight to guide your decisions, a few plant should be fine. . . what you reckon Walter? like, I tried fertilizing on my plants (one or two of each type) and im satisfied that its a good idea. i couldnt publish those results, but they are good enough for me. the reason i suggested stoppers is to see results from two extents. i.e. completely no food vs fertilizing. if you know there are no bugs in your basement then i suppose its not necessary.

as to maxsea. . .the thread discussing it just died. . .though Sam and Micheal say full strength is good.

as to fluctuations, i think as long as they are all under the same conditions you will be fine.

My opinion though, based on the "argument thread on fertilizing"-whether or not to fertilze is clear. Neps Love it. . . .and i think i remember that the organic ferts like maxsea had the best results.

[dvg]

Coffee grounds have been used by gardeners as an amendment to their soil for years.

What is it in coffee that might be helping to give plants a boost?

A member on another forum was able to find this link.

www.sunset.com/garden/earth-friendly/starbucks-coffee-compost-test-00400000016986/

This could in part help to explain some of the beneficial plant growth exhibited when these plants are watered by coffee.

dvg