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 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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Blog 5
April 10, 2024
5 weeks after Cycle 1, Cycle 2 began. The apricot trees started to grow leaves, and baby apricots were starting to develop. I counted 19 apricots in total among the Experimental Group and 23 apricots among the Control Group. This finding was not expected or aligned with my hypothesis that earthworm worm casting application would […]
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Blog 4
April 2, 2024
I received the results on my baseline and cycle 1 soil samples from A&L Labs. The Lab reported the levels of many elements, salinity levels, organic matter percentage, cation exchange capacity, and pH. I made and attached some graphs to break down the results, but I will go over some of the biggest takeaways: When […]
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Blog 3
March 20, 2024
I started with Cycle 1, 5 weeks after the earthworm castings were applied and the groups were set. I had 2 Ziploc bags: Experimental and Control. I went to each of the 14 trees for each group and collected soil at about 2 feet in depth using a soil probe and placed it into the […]
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