Surprise Sprouts

The fifth graders were so excited to finally plant our red leaf lettuce seeds this week. We are using an innovative tray that contains pre-filled compartments of peat moss. We hypothesized that peat moss should retain moisture better than soil, since it feels like a sponge. We wondered if this means we will have to water the tray less often than with soil. The holes for the seeds are even pre-made, so all we had to do was push a few of the tiny seeds into each hole.

Some questions we had after planting the seeds:
Will the peat moss actually stay wet enough?
How long will it take for the sprouts to appear?
Will the stems be red or green?

The tray also comes with a grow light, but since we have learned that lettuce survives with little sunlight, we decided to place the tray by a window for a few hours each day. We expected to see sprouts in about a week, but to our surprise....

Our first little green sprouts made their appearance on Day 3. We have realized that the peat moss actually does need to be watered every day, because it feels dry to the touch each morning.

Now we wonder how we can continue to care for our sprouts until they are long enough to move to the Aquaponics system!