Aquaponics

One of my side projects at The Biosphere 2 is to aid the workers with their aquaponics research that they are doing. To do this, last week, Dr. Lane asked me to plant some Swiss Char and Amaranth seeds into a large planter. While doing this I learned a couple of things:

1) Amaranth seeds are teeny tiny and are very hard to keep track of.

2) Cockroaches are everywhere in The Biosphere, including in potting soil, which is unfortunate if you are deathly afraid of anything that crawls like I am. (Note to self: never go to The Biosphere at night because it is apparently impossible to walk 2 steps without stepping on cockroaches.)

3) Watering plants is extremely difficult and if the water is on too high then soil will get everywhere and will probably wash away all the seeds you just spent an hour planting.

4) If you plant about 130 seeds into 60 containers, something is bound to grow... probably.

On another note, there are 26 koi in the tank who get fed 2 grams 3 times a day now as they continue to grow. The strawberries plants are fruiting and, to my surprise, the dwarf lemon trees are budding. The other day Ali, one of the interns, sprayed some homemade pesticide onto them because something is eating all the leaves on the trees. I was super worried about the seeds I had planted for a couple of days seeing as how I had never planted anything before and was terrified I had drowned some seeds and dried out others but after a couple of days I began to see sprouts shooting up from the soil, although I think planting upwards of five seeds in a small container may not have been the best idea.