Project 1: Sprouting and Compost Research

Introduction

With the objective of beginning somewhere, in a simple local fashion with what we could get our hands on and a whole bunch of theories and ideas about how we could best germinate seed, the bullet was bitten and hands got filthy and a large bunch of seeds were placed in various soil/compost/fertiliser mixes. Because research has to start somewhere, and we need a mark to begin with and see what is fortunately possible around us.

Seeds used were locally sourced from a good farm, the intention being to see what happens growing what we can source locally. All the Compost, manure and Fertilisers used were locally sourced and organic. A main objective of this first project was to evaluate the viability of growing seeds into small plants in a secure location and then transporting and transplanting those small plants out into the field on the farm.

 

Aims and Objectives

The aims of this project was to gather data on the effects the grow medium has on the seeds (after transplanted out of grow pots the plants were no longer exposed to differing grow mediums)

The below table shows the data collected from the sprouting medium test. The data consist of 10 combinations of growth mediums and two planting dates/ planting sessions.

• 7 combinations of the growth medium used in the first planting session – 1/3/2021
• 3 combinations of the growth medium used in the second planting session – 19/3/2021

 

 

 

 

Sprouting Medium Test: 1/3/2021

Test #	7 combinations of grow medium	No. of Pots	No. of Sprouts	No. Transplanted	Comments
1	Compost 2/3 Sand 1/3	7	6	6
2	Manure 2/3 sand 1/3	7	1	1
3	Manure 1/2 Compost 1/2	7	1	1
4	Compost	7	7	7
5	Manure	7	0	0
6	Sand 1/3 Fish mud 1/3 Manure 1/3	7	3	3
7	Compost 1/2 Manure 1/2	8	3	not	Transplanted to big buckets
8	Swazi gold seeds in Dom mix	2	none	not
	Total’s	52	21	18

 

Sprouting Medium Test: 19/3/2021

Planting session no 2
60 pots total
Mix masala NK”21 (Fresh seeds)

Test #	3 combinations of grow medium	No. of Pots	No. of Sprouts	No. Transplanted	Comments
1	20 pots Pure Compost (no holes in pot bottoms)	20	17
2	20 pots Compost, Manure, Fish mud	20	16
3	20 pots Dom’s Special aged Buhleni Compost	20	19
		60	52	transplanted 31 on	left 21 @ mix masala

 

Sprouting Medium Test: Egg Box Experiment

Planting session no 3
30 holes total
Mix masala NK”21 (Fresh seeds)

Test #	Grow Medium	No. of Seeds	No. of Sprouts	No. Transplanted	Comments
1 egg box	30 holes in egg carton, pure compost	30	20	4 transplanted to pots /mgadlela	Heatstroke/soil dried due to low soil amount??

Notes on Products Used

• Compost is the shop bought mix from local garden shops
• Manure is horse manure from local farm
• Fish mud dried sediment from aquaponics tank
• Sand used was procured from local river

 

Seed source
Seeds used in this grow operation were a “mix” of seeds collected between the researcher and the farmer.

 

Partnership Programme

This learning process and introduction of a new technique was initially received with some scepticism, however the benefits of using pots, germination small number of seeds and ‘doing research’ has been adopted on the farm and our new idea of using organic fertilisers and transplanting from pots into the ground is proving useful on the farm. The farmer to this day is using the techniques.

 

Conclusion

The Total transplanted over all three tests was 53 plants. What we have discovered from our growing medium research was that the best combinations of grow mediums were: Number 4 with 100% success rate of germination followed by  number 1 with 86% success rate of germination.

 

There is a case for the growing medium to be observed during growth. According to our findings: compost is an excellent starter and, can be used on its own, contrasted with manure which is too potent and bad for seeds at an early stage of germination. More data needs to be collected about the properties of available fertiliser.

 

The availability of a good potting soil for starting growth is a problem in this climate. The recipes are generally unknown and non specific to cannabis. Most farmers seem to have created a recipe which they can sustain and includes portions of manure (varied sources) and dark loose soil found ‘on the farm (in our case from underneath an indigenous tree/forest).

 

A main aim to be achieved using the pot method is to prevent death of babies. The small plants withstood the transporting and transplanting phase of the project well, no losses were recorded from the relocation phase of the grow, which was a success for the project.