The fourth seedling trial moved out of Accelerator trays and into greenhouse beds. Lettuce seedlings were transplanted into a bed out of trays in the second trial. The remainder of the bed was direct-seeded with smooth-leaf spinach for a winter crop.

A section of bed in the middle of the greenhouse was prepared by the addition of residual material from potting soil blends prepared for SeedlingTrial #3. These materials—enriched with assorted types of biochars & fertilizers at various rates—were randomly scattered on the bed, then cultivated into the heavy clay soil by hand with a spading fork. Nearly 300 seedlings from the 3 trays of Seedling Trial #2 were transplanted into 5 rows, with 10-inch spacing between plants and rows.

After transplanting, seedlings in the inner row (left) were side-dressed with traprock dust—a dense, crystalline meta-basalt from western MA. Seedlings in the outer row (right) were side-dressed with Planters II—a gypsum-based rockdust from central CO.

The rest of this bed was divided in 6 sections. Five sections were top-dressed with traprock dust. The other five were:

#6 Potting Mix Blend

foreground: direct-seeded smooth-leaf spinach, with traprock dust, biochar & Nutri-Carb
background: lettuce transplants from trays in Seedling Trial #2