Growing grass

B Opal L – posted 15 January 2007 21:26

Science Project

Growing grass. Put grass seeds in soil, sand and woodchips. After 9 days of watering the containers the grass started to grow.

Then the soil died 12 days later but the grass in the sand and in the woodchips continued to grow.

Does anyone know why this could happen?

[This message has been edited by B Opal L (edited 16 January 2007).]

cohiba – posted 16 January 2007 17:46

Could be any number of reasons. The soil could have been over saturated and hit by a disease such as pythium. I thought the turf in the woodchips would have died first because of the nitrogen from the break down of the woodchips is tied up. Leaving little nitrogen for the plants. The sand, in my opinion would have been the clear winner.

The soil problem may have been tied to lack of pore space in the soil. Was the soil saturated? The containers had no drainage, I suspect. Turf needs air as much as water to grow. If air is not present the exchange of gases is not present and gases can build up to toxic levels for the plant.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……….

B Opal L – posted 18 January 2007 20:27

All the containers had holes in the bottom and sat on a stack of rocks so the water could drain.

We put the same amount of water in each container. The containers were all inside the house but near sunlight.

cohiba – posted 23 January 2007 13:13

I’m stumped!

Sorry………………..

glfredrick – posted 05 November 2007 11:42

This is just a guess, but you may have fallen prey to the idea that any “dirt” is fertile. Some may not be, as it lacks the proper formulation to allow growth or in other words, is sterile.

I’d try again using potting soil that you can purchase comercially.

poaannuababy – posted 01 October 2008 19:06

the sand is the obvious winner in that one. The ph could be too high or to low in the soil or maybe not enough nutrients for the grass to grow.