substrate moisture probe

We accidentally got too close to a moisture sensor when sampling for roots yesterday.  This was nice for showing how embedded the sensors have become, though.

Splashguards!

Some  people use vinyl blinds on their doors, but it is a little known fact that they also funnel water into rain gauges quite nicely.  One pack of 10 cost $10 ro so. Seriously, after visiting several JoAnns in search of thin sheets of plastic for this purpose, the blinds came in really handy.  I suspect vinyl flooring might also work.

The trick is that the loops velcro together in the back so that they can be removed easily for cleaning.  For example, like when we found a grasshopper living (and pooping) in one of thegauges (B4) today. I would have included a pic of this as well, but the camera conked out.

yellow leaves

The Sedum kamptschaticum has been showing some signs of stress.  First, we were wondering if the slow release fertilizer burst in these high temps we were having, but at least this was not confirmed from a spot test of runoff conductivity (the logic here is that the fertilizer would increase salinity which can be measured as conductivity) We measured a range of 0.23-0.7mS....within an acceptable range. It may be drought stress.  The second pic reveals that we might also be having some mockingbird stress.  Something seems to be cutting some stems...

more sabotage- wasps!

Nothing about research is certain.  Now we think we know why platform "b2" has been giving us some confusing data....

umcp solar house

There is a modular greenroof on this year's entry in the DOE solar decathlon competition.  I am trying to put together some good stats on this roof with respect to water storage....

sedum album just greening up now