Does Microwaved Water Kill Plants? Part Five (week two and week three photos)

On March 24, I began an experiment to see if plant seeds started with unfiltered tap water, microwaved water, and stove-boiled water would show any difference in growth. Here's the link to that first post:

This is the fifth installment in my studies.

On Day 15, I transplanted the sunflower seeds from the bread pan into an outdoor pot, as they were continuing to grow at an accelerated rate.
I have close-ups of each of the groupings below.
As you have followed, Group A and B successfully began three plants, while Group C had a "dud" and only fruitfully gave me two plants.

Group A sunflower plants

Group B sunflower plants

Group C sunflower plants (one is the tallest and one is the shortest)

I also took the spinach plants in their pots and placed them outside at this point.
One week later, on Day 22, here are my results:

Spinach groups A, B, and C

 I have determined that the spinach plants did not enjoy being transferred. They have been in these pots and have slowly been withering since Day 9. Regardless of water type, all have been unhappy.
Beginning on Day 15, I ran out of water and began feeding all the plants my control water: unfiltered tap water.
Here are the sunflowers on Day 22:

Group A: microwaved water for two weeks, then unfiltered tap water for an additional week

Group B: stove-boiled water for two weeks, then unfiltered tap water for an additional week

The very tall and very short plants against the tag are the Group C control water plants.
In the foreground is a thriving Group A microwaved-water plant.

I will post follow-ups with sunflower plant photographs, but I have very little hope of survival for the spinach plants.
My advice? Don't try to do spinach seed starters. Sunflowers seem to be okay.

Does Microwaved Water Kill Plants? Part Four

I hope you have enjoyed following the progress of these plants. In the above photograph, I have circled in pink one "dud" in each group. Link to first post is here:
In Group A, I had a spinach dud.
In Group B, I had a spinach dud.
In Group C, I had a sunflower dud.

The roots of the sunflowers poked through the egg carton and onto the cookie sheet!

These photographs are all on the 9th day of the experiment. The sunflowers definitely needed to be transplanted.

Group C Spinach (the only group without spinach duds)

I transplanted each group into a separate container.

Group B spinach (one seed was a "dud")

Group A Spinach

Group A Spinach (one seed was a "dud")

The long white roots are visible on several of these sunflower plants!

Group A, B, and C Sunflower plants

So, I continued to water these spinach plants in their new containers with the original water.
The Sunflower plants I transplanted first into a bread pan, but far apart and used the dropper for watering. Groups A and B were all successful, but Group C had a "dud".


I feel by using the dropper, the water soaked directly into the plant and did not cross-contaminate.
There will always be those who disagree with me.
Tune in to my next post...part five!

Does Microwaved Water Kill Plants? Part Three

If you're reading this post, this photo is from Day 6

 This is part three of my experiment. Does microwaved water kill plants? I began with three jars of water, and only I know the identity of the jars. One contains water hot from the tap, one hot from the microwave (boiled), and one hot from the stove (tried to get to boiling)
Here is a link to part one and part two of my experiment.

After seven days of watering, I still have about half my water left

Day seven and almost all the seeds sprouted. There was one dud in each water group.

Day 8 Group A...I was beginning to feel sorry for these sunflowers (left side)

 

Day 8 Group B...these sunflowers seemed to do a little better getting through the soil

Day 8 Group C...again, the sunflowers struggling to break through, the spinach is having no trouble!

On Day 8, I "helped" the struggling sunflowers through their dirt clods in all three groups.
If you look closely, you can see a dud in
Group A spinach, Group B spinach, and Group C sunflower

So, after one week, the plants are thriving. I am not noticing a large difference in growth between any of the groups, so at this point, I am unsure there is a true difference.
My next step will be to put these plants in more soil, as they are growing too tall to be supported by the egg carton. Some of the roots have already burst through the carton, so I will simply cut apart the carton and plant them already contained.

Does Microwaved Water Kill Plants? Part Two

If you missed it, here's a link to Part One.

The first two days, I consistently added one dropper of water to each well in the morning and in the evening. On day three, I only watered them once. When the sun did break through, I would hastily place the tray in the sunlight indoors. On day four, I watered them in the morning and evening.

On day 5, (this project was during our Spring Break) my daughters wanted to help, so one daughter watered Group A, one daughter watered Group B, and I watered Group C. We had a very toasty fire in our woodstove that night.

Watering Group A

Watering Group B

 We went out of town on day six and I watered them before we left. At this point, all I was seeing was dirt.
To my great surprise and joy, our warm woodstove and the water we'd been giving them, they finally sprouted through the soil!

See that green plant in the upper right hand corner?!

This is Group A

This is Group B

This is Group C

 

These sunflowers actually were pushing the entire clod of dirt upward with their heads instead of bursting through!

This group of sunflowers was bursting more than the previous group

And this group of sunflowers was also moving the entire clod (plants on the left)

So, based on my progress so far, all the seed groups received enough life from the water to sprout...
this adventure is to be continued.
Here's a link to part three.