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What Does Cress grow on? I recall growing it at school, but I haven't done it since. I sat there and pondered. What would I find in the house to grow cress on... |
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So I have a root around and find some stuff. Bread, Tangerine, potato, chocolate biscuit, cucumber, tea bag, pear and a cracker. I decided to eat the cracker cos I was hungry. Sorry. | |
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What you need: I found that a cling film box would be a suitable item to develop my agricultural skills. I made little compartments using parcel tape and placed the items inside. Note that the potato has been chopped in half and scoured (this will hold the seeds in place) -the same with the pear and with the orange. I used a slice of cucumber about 3cm tall and the bread was folded into four. |
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The Cress of Choice was 'Johnsons curled cress'. Having read the instructions, I was amazed that they could be grown all year round! Perfect, cos it was the 20th dec when I started this! They had to be kept moist, warm and grown on either soil, blotting paper or kitchen roll or something similar. Well forget that - what kind of experiment would that be? At a price of £1.67, I got approx 4000 seeds - I wasn't going to count them (see 'baked beans' research). The pack also included a little tag so I knew what I was growing! |
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The results.... It took approx 14 days for the cress to grow (although most of it had grown before this, and is still growing) |
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Hmmm, looks intersting - let's take a closer look... | |
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The potato: It was hard to keep this one moist. Although potatoes hold a lot of water, they don't actually absorb it very easily and tend to dry up quite quick. Just as the spud was going mouldy, some of the seeds started to germinate. What's germination? It's the point at which the seed explodes into a fury of growth! |
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The Pear: Cress doesn't like pear. Pear doesn't like cress. The pear went a bit mouldy and 'enveloped' the seeds before they had chance to germinate. The Bitch. |
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The Bread: If you've ever been a student, you will most probably recognize this. Mould mould mould. However, you can (if you are very hungary) grow your cress in your bread before you make a sandwich. Only a few seeds grew, but I did have trouble keeping them on when I watered it. This could be a new revolution in the 'egg and cress' sandwich industry...Grow the ingredients inside the sandwich. Not sure how to 'grow' eggs though... |
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The cucumber! Obviously the cress grower's choice for alternatives to blotting paper. The seeds in the cucumber rocketed out of nowhere! I think we have a winner! |
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The tangerine: Hmmm - me thinks the acid in this citrus fruit killed the seeds before they had any chance. I will be holding a one minute's silence on 1st February for the seeds that didn't make it. |
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The chocolate biscuit. Even though the picture emblazened on the front of the biscuit is of a crop, the seeds just didn't settle in here.
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The Tea Bag: I suspect my dad probably came around and used this without me noticing. It went mouldy and there was no growth. Anyone for a cuppa? |
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While I was doing this, I actually fancied making some edible cress for sandwiches or whatever. I could only grow it in true chad style though... |
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Obviously it's not finished growing yet - I'm still waiting on the c + d to finish! Basically, I printed out my name, cut it out and then placed it over some kitchen roll. I then wet it, covered it (this will make the seeds germinate) and then after a couple of days I placed it under a high watt lamp to speed up the process! Well, that's enough of the cress thing for now. If you have any more growing-related ideas, then post them in the 'forum' (no drug related ideas please). |
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Like this? There's more in the Experiments Dept <<<<< |
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