[APWG] What caused surprise results in Poppy Project?

[craig at astreet.com]

Dear Robert and All,
Sorry you don't like pots?  How about a
one foot by two foot flat that is four inches deep, as an ex situ test
pot?  
You can see that same result in two flats at
http://www.ecoseeds.com/good.example.html.
Not damping off,  in
either case.  
Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650)
325-7333
 
 
 
> Hi Craig

>

> Putting soil in pots changes the entire ecology of the experiment. I
hate

> it when people do pot studies on plants that are growing in
natural

> settings and try to extrapolate that data into the real world. Your
plants

> most likely died from damping off, a common complex of fungal
pathogens

> that is most virulent in containers and much less so in the real
world.

>

> Bob

>

> ________________________________

>

From: APWG [apwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] on behalf of

> craig at astreet.com [craig at astreet.com]

> Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 1:41 PM

> To: apwg at lists.plantconservation.org; craig at ecoseeds.com

> Subject: [APWG] What caused surprise results in Poppy Project,
where

> seedlings all died?

>

>

> Dear All,

>

>

>

>From my Poppy Project in Palo Alto, California, (Google = Poppy

> Project+Arastradero) I took soil samples from under the poppies
where

> they had been shedding seeds this summer from locations 10 feet
apart, and

> put the soil into 4 inch plastic pots.

>

> I watered the pots and within a few weeks, had a lush growth of
poppy

> seedlings in both pots. Both pots were side-by-side evenly watered
and

> neither were fertilized.

>

> However, within a month, every single poppy seedling in one pot died,
and

> you can see a picture of both pots at

> http://www.ecoseeds.com/what-difference.jpg.

>

> These pot-tests of checking soil samples from the future
revegetation

> sites have become the standard for Caltrans for their projects, ever
since

> I taught them classes on the use of native plants 13 years ago, to

> discover and correct this problem.

>

> This is the second time I have encountered this very important issue
in

> such a dramatic way that is often overlooked, when trying to get
native

> plants established here in the West---so any guesses of what the

> difference was?

>

> Sincerely, Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333

>
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