Whitejade,
As you conduct your experiments are you keeping an eye on and recording the phases of the moon in conjunction with noting results of your trials? Without going into a lot of detail and with over 50 years of plant experience my conclusion is that the phases of the moon are 'the life force' for all living things on earth.

I have also noted the very same thing Nandina...the moon cycles are really vital as markers...but I can sense a lot of cycles at work too. Some we may have labels for and some not.

I am excited to embark on a new experiment , probably this week if I can get it all together..I am ever interested in soil health and in learning the in's and out's of working with and fostering the microbial world within soil. Saw a great post on the Soil forum about soil in the Amazon called Terra Preta (look this up in any search engine to get the scoop).

So I am going to grow some micro greens on a sunny windoowsill. One tray will have regular soil less mix ...one will have soil-less mix and some crushed charcoal (based on the analysis of terra preta soil) and in the last I will have a combination of soil-less mix, charcoal and some volcanic stone and or clay pottery shards. Obviusly everything else will be the same, including the soil-less mix (I buy 2 cu foot bags at a time)

I wish I had enough room to have three more pots because I can think of a lot more combinations! I will just have to keep running experiments I think but am happy we will be able to eat the produce :) (from what I hear micro greens are the new rage in haute cuisine :)