Indoor Pots Pictorial

[Smallaxe]

Congratulations on getting decent photos , BTW...

[44DCNF]

Axe, are you in a scoured or driftless region?

[Smallaxe]

We definately got rolled over by the glacier in this area, but we don't have to travel to far to see some of the rock formations that would indicate driftless...
I like to see a gravel pit or quarry in the 'driftless' areas to compare with profile we see in the pits around here... I imagine it would be the same layers as the walls along the Mississippi River, but I don't know...

[Smallaxe]

I have a few pix on the progress of my jar... it hasn't had any water added to it since it was planted and the length of the roots extend below the dirt clump... I brushed the dirt away from the bottom of the 'plug' to show their size and density, but it isn't the greatest visibility...

[Smallaxe]

I didn't have a small ruler handy so I just used the old butterknife for scale... it is also the one I used to cut out the plug... I was hoping to get some focus on the root ball, for a view of the structure, but not yet... it will take practice...
I'll be off on a roadtrip for a few weeks, so my jar will be left behind to be cared for along with the rest of the plants...

I think I'll just have it sit in the window and dry out until I get back...

[Smallaxe]

Another indoor sport with pots,is an experiment with Pulverized Charcoal, various types of OM and regular blow sand(mortar sand),,, all mixed together as a potting mix...

One purpose being to observe and note water retention with drainage...

Another observation will be health and vigor of the entire plant... at some point I'll be cutting this peat pot in half, to see the roots, crowns and grass from a X-section or profile view...

[Smallaxe]

****
The peat pot is sitting in the same mix for moisture to "wick in" from outside the peat as the interior dries...


*****

[RigglePLC]

Here is the soil view from the area where my soil sample was taken before shoveling it into the jar and shaking it with water. It was snowing. Stumps pushed up by bulldozer in preparation for building a new house. It was an old vacant lot, not mowed for years. Not as woodsy as it appears. There is a new house 100 feet to the left and a 15 yr old house 100 feet to the right. Very sandy and flat in my neighborhood, perhaps 75 percent sand as you estimated, Axe. Water table is high--shallow wells can sometimes be only 12 feet deep. We have clay hills to the north of us in the fruit growing region.

[Smallaxe]

It would be interesting to see what kind of OM is mixed in the top 4-6 inches of undisturbed dirt right around the base of those pines... looks like they've been there a while and unless the needle litter has been removed each year that could be an example of some dynamite soil...

[Smallaxe]

Here we have the grass,,, one month later...

Still no signs of thinning,,, it's mowed on a regular basis,,, no fertilizers,,, soaked with water, then allowed to dry thoroughly and kept in as much sun as possible here in the window...