Set Up - Establishing Initial Tests

Material Investigations – Set Up and Initial Experiments

From my observations of what Diana Scherer and Zena Holloway were doing in their practices, I understood that what types of seeds were best and a rough idea of how they grow them.

I needed seeds, and the best ones to use were oats or wheat, as their root systems do not compete and, therefore, can grow close together. They needed to grow so that the roots formed a dense mat, so they needed to be confined to a small depth so they spread rather than grow downward. The root systems seemingly needed to pass through two layers of a mesh system which would be the cutting point – slice between the two layers to release woven root systems. It seems that an allowance of 15-20 days is enough to grow a fairly substantial root system.  I am unsure if the conditions that Scherer and Holloway grow their root systems in are highly controlled (lights, temperature, etc). My process will just be in my studio, and I intend to experiment with different fertilisers, grow mats, and lights. I will also explore growing outside and see how that differs to growing inside and determine which might get me the results that I want.