Stress peas update

Left: biochar, right: control

It is very exciting for me to tell you that the pea experiment is showing more and more results. Note: there are still flaws in the setup and the experiment is for proof of concept only.

The picture is telling us two stories. First, the biochar peas are now suffering from what I think is some kind of infection or insect feeding. Small marks on the lower parts of the stem are clearly visible. The yellowing leaves could also be a sign of too much water (we had a few days of heavy raining and the pots have no hole for excess water to drain out). This only proves the water binding capacity of biochar. This hypothesis is also supported by higher moisture in the biochar pot. (note to self: get a moisture meter)

Biochar peas under attack!

Secondly, there are now peas growing on the biochar plants as a result of earlier flowering. I can only speculate on what effects earlier flowering and thus earlier formation of peas can have on agricultural uses of biochar, but I think it is a good sign.

Biochar and stress

Observation: Just to see the effects of biochar on plants in my own garden I planted peas in two pots. The pots doubled as weights for the barbeque cover. Accidentally the pots were covered with the cover and were thus deprived of light for a while. I can only assume that the pots were covered for the same amount of time since it happened by accident and I wasn’t there doing measurements. However, when I uncovered the already germinated peas this was the result:

Left: biochar amended soil (1/5), Right: control. Plant: Pisum sp.

 

Hypothesis: There could be a number of reasons for this phenomenon but I can narrow them down to the two most likely:

1.       Biochar has speeded the growth of the pea making it thicker and thus more resistance to cover (the cover was quite heavy ~thin raincoat) Also if you look closely at the pictures the one grown in biochar is thicker and has a little greener leaves.

2.       Biochar helps the pea recover more easily from stress. Senescent leaves are absent from the pea grown in biochar.

Future prospects: Whatever the exact reason I plan to make further experiments where I include more samples and have some plants covered by pressing down the stalks and some where I only deprive the plants of light for a period. Stay tuned for more.