Category: science kits

08:39 – We’re doing science kit stuff today. We’re running low on both biology and forensics kits, so we need to build batches of both. The biology kits are just a matter of boxing up subassemblies we already have in stock, but we need to make up some chemicals and build chemical bags for forensics kits. So that’s what we’ll be doing over the next few days.

Last month was slow for science kit sales, and this month remains slow, averaging maybe one kit per day. Things will start to speed up considerably toward the end of this month and then through January, when we’ll be selling more kits some days than we’re selling now some weeks.

We’ll also be shipping seed kits toward the end of the month. Originally, I intended to ship the individual seed bags in a foil-laminate Mylar bag as an outer container. Talking to Barbara last night, I decided to ship the seed bags in just an outer plastic bag, and include the Mylar bags flat and empty. There’s no point to us sealing the seed bags inside the Mylar bags originally, because we’ll be encouraging kit buyers to plant at least a small initial crop (especially of herb seeds), which’d mean cutting open those bags and then resealing them. This way, people can do an initial small planting and then seal the individual seed bags inside the Mylar bags, simply by using an ordinary clothes iron or curling iron set on high.

08:40 – We did the first check yesterday on the germination tests we’re running on the seeds to be included in the kits. Four days had passed since we started the seeds that had undergone one freeze/thaw transition, and the results were pretty much as expected.

Many of the species showed good germination rates, including barley (94%), basil (90%), dry soldier bean (92%), green bean (100%), Lima bean (73%), beet (93%), broccoli (83%), sweet corn (93%), pea (83%), summer squash (100%), sunflower (93%), tomato (93%), and turnip (84%). Those are all fast-germinating species, and we can get started packaging them for the kits.

Several others showed moderate germination rates, including amaranth (50%), hulless oats (63%), and onion (50%). Those are all slower-germinating species, and we simply returned them to their baggies to allow them more time to germinate. We’ll check them again in a few days, by which time I expect the rates to be noticeably higher.

A few other species showed minor signs of germination, including carrot, dill, oregano, and parsley. Those were just getting started. We’ll check them again in a week or so.

Several species showed no signs of germination, including parsnip, pepper, rosemary, sage, winter squash, St. John’s wort, and thyme. After only four days, that was expected. All of those are very slow to germinate, in some cases taking three weeks or more. We’ll check them all again in a couple of weeks, but I expect all of them to be viable, if slow. Some of them, like parsnip, are very slow to germinate but will show good percentage germination. Others, like rosemary, are extremely slow to germinate, and will also show very low germination rates. The good news is that the ones with very low germination rates, like rosemary, are extremely robust once they’re established, and subsequently propagate like weeds. The herbs in particular are weed-like, to the extent that you’ll probably want to plant them in pots to prevent them from taking over your garden.