Re: John Vico: Plant zapper

At 08.10 23/01/98 -0600, you wrote:
>John,
>
>This has been a continued issue of discussion for quite some time.  It
>would be fantastic if you could do that sort of experiment.  I would like
>to hear what your plans are, and what materials and equipment you have to
>work with.  
>
>Rick
>
Rick and All,

My plans are still in the formative stage but here is the framework. 

1)Label some water with a small dose of iodine 131 which has a half life of
approx 8 days and  very low penetrating radiation power.

2)Spot water a Xmas tree pruned pumpkin plant(s) with about a gallon of
water at different spots on the vine and measure the presence or absence of
radioactivity at the stem of the fruit at about 6-12-24 hours.

This will be qualitative only. That is I will be able to say conclusively
that iodine(thus the water) traveled from point A to point B in a given
amount of time. I do not plan on trying to figure out how much or how. I
propose that this knowledge will allow us to conclude without a doubt that
yes water does move backward form a distal portion of a secondary vine to
the main vine and then distal again to the fruit as one possibility.
Depending on where I spot water we will be able to trace the potential
benefit if any to the fruit. On my first schematic I worked out nine
different spots that might be tried. Without a diagram this is a little
hard to explain but if you draw yourself a simple Xmas tree and place a
pumpkin 15-20 feet out on it's trunk and  let the trunk grow another 15 or
20 feet you begin to see the possibilities for experimentation. 

Things can rapidly get complicated though. For example if I water the main
trunk at it's base should I also check for radioactivity at the tip of one
of the bottom branches or even at the top of the tree beyond the fruit.
What about two or three fruited plants? How far should I let the main vine
grow beyond the pumpkin before burying the end? Same question for the
bottom branches (first secondarys)? Much of this will depend on my pruning
technique which is very inexperienced at this time. I managed 392lbs my
first year out so unless some more experienced grower gives me some more
strict guidelines, I'll just go with my instincts in trying to keep a
balanced plant. 

I really would appreciate some guidance as to the most potential useful
information that could be gained, control of variables, and general design
of the plan.



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