Aneesh R. 2024 | BASIS Independent Silicon Valley
- Project Title: Impact of Earthworm Castings On Apricot Tree Growth
- BASIS Independent Advisor: Karen Allendoerfer
- Internship Location: Los Altos Heritage Orchard
- Onsite Mentor: Dr. Jane Packard
I am doing a hands-on experiment at the Los Altos Heritage Orchard, where I am looking at the impact earthworm castings has on soil properties and on plant growth consequently. I am comparing the 12 tree earthworm castings applied group to the 12 tree non earthworm castings applied control group. I am measuring soil nutrient differences between the 2 groups in pH, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, and seeing how that is reflected by plant growth over time, seen in budding count, stem length, and chlorophyll content. This experiment should give me great insight into earthworm castings and how they may benefit apricot trees over traditional compost or other soil additives.
My Posts
Blog 9
May 12, 2024
I conducted statistical tests of significance to assess if the differences I was seeing between my 2 groups were potentially due to the earthworm castings and not chance alone. For each element for each of the 2 groups, I got the mean and standard deviation of n=3 values (Baseline, Cycle 1, and Cycle 2). I […]
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Blog 8
May 10, 2024
I took my baseline, Cycle 1, and Cycle 2 data and made a new graph showing percentage changes in each period for the 2 groups for all 12 elements, shown below. This table showed that there were great fluctuations for each nutrient between periods for both Control and Experimental group, highlighting the complex nature of […]
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Blog 7
May 10, 2024
5 weeks after Cycle 2, Cycle 3 began. The apricot trees were becoming much more defined and more fruit was starting to develop. As usual with each Cycle, I collected soil for each group to fill 2 1 gallon Ziplock bags using a soil probe. I have sent in the soil samples to A&L Laboratories […]
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Blog 6
April 16, 2024
I received the chemical analysis for the soil sent to A&L Labs. For the Control group, the readings looked similar to the original baseline, showing virtually no change in the elemental contents of the soil. However, for the Experimental group, there was an increase in levels of these nutrients such as N, K, Mg, and […]
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