this seems like the right place for DIY science....
So, a couple of weeks back I came across an article on the web. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cold-plasma-agriculture-sustainable-farms-fertilizer
and there was a particular part that I found interesting:
"Recently, Volkov set out to study how plasma would affect 20 seeds of dragon’s-tongue, a cultivar of the bush bean Phaseolus vulgaris. The experiment was low-tech. He and colleagues balanced the seeds on a plasma ball for one minute each, then incubated the seeds in water for seven hours. Two days later, the scientists found that in plasma-treated seeds, the radicle — the little protrusion of root that makes a seed a seedling — measured 2.7 centimeters, compared with 1.8 centimeters in untreated seeds, a gain of 50 percent. The team reported the results in Functional Plant Biology in February 2021"
Which in turn led me to flicking through a dozen or so real science papers on the subject. Most of which indicated that 3-6 minutes in a cold temp plasma was a good range.
Anyway... after a little digging in old toy boxes of my son I found a 20yr old plasma ball (12V, 830mA, 8VA), pulled out some 4yr old seeds, (home grown Royal Queen hybrids)
1 control, 1x3mins, 1x4mins, 1x6 mins, let we say that holding seeds on to a glass dome is boring as hell.
Old plasma lamp the seed center and attraction to finger full attraction finger and seed
the reason I held them in place was, sitting a seed on top did not appear to attract the attention of the plasma streams, however, lightly holding the seed in place brought all the plasma stream directly to the spot. finger on the seed not on the glass bowl.
I then dropped the treated seeds and a control seed in a germination dish with a couple of pads and 10ml distilled water.
24hours later
nothing happening
48 hours went by:
3mins 4mins 6mins
control
63hrs later:
3mins 4mins 6mins control
Nothing at all definitive about this rather childish experiment, but the 4min and 6min (4mins in particular) treatment does fall in line with some of the papers I glanced through.
I then, grabbed 4 paper party cups, threw in 70gms of potting soil in each, dropped in the control seed, 3min seed, 4min and 6min seedlings, added 10ml of distilled water, covered with a little saran wrap, and will see what happens. I dont have my tent and lights setup, so this experiment is going on the windowsill.
I have found that dropping a "O" ring on top of the bowl and placing the seeds inside the ring is effective for more seeds, and holding a metal object (with a clamp stand) a few mm above the seeds seems to maintain the attraction of the plasma. far better than holding them in place with a finger for 4-6 minutes.
This effect might be worth looking into for anyone with the time, seeds and willing to be all sciency about the stuff.
I do wish that I had the seeds, space, time and funds to run a larger experiment... but... such is life, living in a city in the EU lowlands doesnt allow for such possibilities..
I would expect that 10-20+ of each, control, 3-4-6 min, in a controlled environment, and running a full "solo cup" comparison grow with auto seeds from the same batch would offer up a more tangible results.
So, I have concluded that 4yr old, dried up "photo's" seeds are not the best way for this experiment...
So, a couple of weeks back I came across an article on the web. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cold-plasma-agriculture-sustainable-farms-fertilizer
and there was a particular part that I found interesting:
"Recently, Volkov set out to study how plasma would affect 20 seeds of dragon’s-tongue, a cultivar of the bush bean Phaseolus vulgaris. The experiment was low-tech. He and colleagues balanced the seeds on a plasma ball for one minute each, then incubated the seeds in water for seven hours. Two days later, the scientists found that in plasma-treated seeds, the radicle — the little protrusion of root that makes a seed a seedling — measured 2.7 centimeters, compared with 1.8 centimeters in untreated seeds, a gain of 50 percent. The team reported the results in Functional Plant Biology in February 2021"
Which in turn led me to flicking through a dozen or so real science papers on the subject. Most of which indicated that 3-6 minutes in a cold temp plasma was a good range.
Anyway... after a little digging in old toy boxes of my son I found a 20yr old plasma ball (12V, 830mA, 8VA), pulled out some 4yr old seeds, (home grown Royal Queen hybrids)
1 control, 1x3mins, 1x4mins, 1x6 mins, let we say that holding seeds on to a glass dome is boring as hell.
Old plasma lamp the seed center and attraction to finger full attraction finger and seed
the reason I held them in place was, sitting a seed on top did not appear to attract the attention of the plasma streams, however, lightly holding the seed in place brought all the plasma stream directly to the spot. finger on the seed not on the glass bowl.
I then dropped the treated seeds and a control seed in a germination dish with a couple of pads and 10ml distilled water.
24hours later
nothing happening
48 hours went by:
3mins 4mins 6mins
control
63hrs later:
3mins 4mins 6mins control
Nothing at all definitive about this rather childish experiment, but the 4min and 6min (4mins in particular) treatment does fall in line with some of the papers I glanced through.
I then, grabbed 4 paper party cups, threw in 70gms of potting soil in each, dropped in the control seed, 3min seed, 4min and 6min seedlings, added 10ml of distilled water, covered with a little saran wrap, and will see what happens. I dont have my tent and lights setup, so this experiment is going on the windowsill.
I have found that dropping a "O" ring on top of the bowl and placing the seeds inside the ring is effective for more seeds, and holding a metal object (with a clamp stand) a few mm above the seeds seems to maintain the attraction of the plasma. far better than holding them in place with a finger for 4-6 minutes.
This effect might be worth looking into for anyone with the time, seeds and willing to be all sciency about the stuff.
I do wish that I had the seeds, space, time and funds to run a larger experiment... but... such is life, living in a city in the EU lowlands doesnt allow for such possibilities..
I would expect that 10-20+ of each, control, 3-4-6 min, in a controlled environment, and running a full "solo cup" comparison grow with auto seeds from the same batch would offer up a more tangible results.
So, I have concluded that 4yr old, dried up "photo's" seeds are not the best way for this experiment...
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