Science Forums 2

[nutronjon]

Thanks everyone. It is the end of the day, and my energy is too low to think through everything, but I am feeling more hopeful about encourage life out of my seeds.

UncleAl is beer as good as vodka? I like putting the slugs to sleep in vodka, but my god, do slugs pickling in beer stink! I have a jar full of slugs soaking in beer. Question- will they make good fertilizer, or could eggs survive and infect my soil? I picked at least 8 slugs off one board today. The plots are divided by boards, and especially the big fat slugs are enjoying these wood homes. Back to the question, will a light spray of beer do the same as vodka to encourage plant growth, or were you kidding?

I am glad the woody stuff is okay, because the soil is a clay that really needs sand, so any roughage is helpful.

I have coffee gounds, but was told coffee grounds can take nitrogen out of the soil, and only be used in composting?

How about mulching with leaves, and then putting planting soil on top, and then planting? I physically can't rototile the ground, and need to suppress the grass that is growing in the clay soil, but don't want to ruin the soil with leaves, if that is the wrong thing to do.

I hope hydrogenbond shows up, because I am trying to understand his explanations of what hydrogen has to do with life. And really, why do plants want nitrogen? What is happening when a seed comes to life? What does it need to live?

Oh, heat was mentioned. Would it be a good idea to put my reluctant potted seeds under a heat lamp?