I'm doing SCIENCE!

 

The items needed for experiment

 

Distilled water in the background, test kit capsules (more on that later) jar with soil and distilled water for nutrient test, and green vial with reactant, soil and water already mixed, waiting to settle.

Now for this I used a typical 1qt (four cup) canning jar (wide mouth is better but I had none available) and used 1/3 cup for measuring. It needed 1 part soil and 5 parts water. More than enough water to use for nutrient tests. The capsules were in individual bags sealed in a mylar recloseable bag.  The reason being that the little capsules are not typical non biodegradable plastic. You can dssolve these in water. Bad choice considering as the items were processed there was just enough moisture that it sealed the capsule together. I had to use a fine pointed sharp knife to get the pH powder out.

Green is okay

What color say you?

So, as expected soil in San Diego is typically on the alkaline side, how much so is depending on amendments as I've mentioned before. So luckily tomatoes are very forgiving and can tolerate alkaline situations with no problems. As evidenced by my thriving and green tomato and pepper. 

This is also a good test for soil composition. It's obvious in the jar a good amount of separation already with organic matter floating at the top, water, then sediment, clay and sand/rocks.

Settle down now.

 The reason the pH test and nutrient test are different is the type of reactant and size of soil sample. pH in lab tests for old time science used 'litmus paper' that you dipped in the solution to determine how alkaline/acid something was. I never took chemistry in high school or college, too much math and scary chemicals.

The instructions said for vegetables to take a sample about 4" down. It is helpful to have a trowel used for digging bulbs around because it has measurement marks on the blade (yes that is what the digging part is called). I used a scoop that I found and just did my best guess, typically 4" is about the depth of your index finger. I took my samples close to the tomato on both sides and mixed the soil, so you can see the floaty bits at the top. That was done about a half hour ago and still waiting for it to settle a bit more. Instructions said that depending on soil composition it could take 30 min to 24 hours. I can wait (that's a small dish of baking soda in a little water as a paste for putting on a few mosquito bites I got on 4th of July).

So while we wait, going to talk about how a bad infestation of beetles or other burrowing insects can be on trees. These pictures were taken on my walk through Balboa Park.

This is a eucalyptus tree that was cut down likely due to sustaining the damage you can see on the trunk. Those are the tracks of beetle larvae that likely infested it over many years. Eucalyptus are not native to the U.S., they were imported as building wood for railroads and structures. It was discovered that the wood is highly volatile and has too high an oil content, shatters easily and is generally not good lumber. So now we have millions of trees that create a fire hazard, branch falling hazard and have their own problems from pests and diseases. 

Just yesterday I was pulling into my parking spot at home and a branch from the neighboring tree fell down on the fence. It wasn't very big and was out of the way but it could just as easily have been something larger.

Also they release a tannin much like pines, oak and mangroves that create a 'no grow zone' under them from the leaf litter breaking down. They also suck up a huge amount of water and were used in Australia for clearing swamps (or so I was told). 

When we had the huge firestorm about fifteen years ago the euc's that survived the fire best were ones in a yard or area that had accessible water. They were well hydrated and therefore the tree had less chance of going up like a torch with the high oil content of drier wood.  

Meanwhile back at the lab:

Not so clear water for nitrogen

I haven't put any of the powder in yet. I did though and shook it up, with less than expected results. Going to wait a bit longer but the instructions say results should be within minutes. 

Just about zero nitrogen.

 

Hmmm this is highly unlikely. The sediment is still settling but the color does not look promising. I will wait and do another test tomorrow after the water has settled more. Will do all three nutrient tests then as well.

Science! Sometimes you get results you didn't expect and have to try again. Not because you want a different answer but you need to get multiple samples to make sure that your testing is done correctly. Iiinteresting!

 "In scientific reasoning, a hypothesis is an assumption made before any research has been completed for the sake of testing"

 

So scientific hypothesis: My plant is growing like gangbusters, the leaves are wonderful green and healthy, flowers are now more prolific but still no fruit.  Supposition: Higher nitrogen in the soil.

Initial testing of the soil is inconclusive and indicates actual deficiency of nitrogen. In order to ensure accuracy of results, more tests are needed to compile more complete data.