Jan 14, 2009

Chia Pet Planting (2009 Edition)

Chia Pet box

For the holidays, my mother got me a Chia Garfield as a gift. In early January 2009, I “planted” it. Just like the last time I planted a Chia Pet, I’m going to document this one.

Planting Notes

Chia Pet planting location
Chia Pet planting location

Joseph Enterprises, the makers of the Chia Pet family of products, include enough seeds for several plantings of the Chia Pet. For the first planting, I decided that it should take place in my office, so my co-workers could enjoy it. There are certain limitations that the office environment introduces. For starters, I’m not there on the weekends to keep it watered, including the three-day weekend for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. Second, the heat is significantly reduced at night so the environment changes drastically within a 24 hour period. Even with these limitations, I’m going forward with the planting as is, just to see how it does.

The Chia Pet was planted on the windowsill of my office. Even though we recently got new windows installed, the windowsill can still be a little cold, especially in the dead of Winter. However, right below the windowsill is a radiator, which brings an acceptable amount of warmth. I’m sure that this climate will affect the growth of the Chia Pet since it’s less than ideal. To get an accounting of the temperatures involved with this Chia Pet, I used my temperature gun and took the following readings on a colder-than-average day:

Location Temp (F)
Chia Pet filled with water 60°
Metal part of window behind Chia Pet 53°
Window sill behind Chia Pet 69°
Window sill in front of Chia Pet 79°
Window sill directly to the right and left of Chia Pet 74°
Front of window sill 90°

Because of my office location and view, there is more sunlight on the right side of the Chia Pet, so it would make sense that this side would sprout first, and will probably grow better. I won’t be rotating the Chia Pet to achieve optimum growth because I just want to see how it does unmanaged.

Because of it’s shape, the Chia Garfield is hollow throughout the pottery, which gives it a wide base and a lot of surface area that the water inside keeps moist. This, combined with other environmental factors in my office, means that the Chia Garfield looses a lot more water compared to the Chia cow that was previously planted. The drip tray needed to be emptied at least once every other day, but should have be done once a day unless I wanted to spill water on the floor as I carried it to the sink.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The instructions advise to soak both the Chia Pet and the chia seeds for 24 hours, then apply the seeds to the Chia Pet. During the soaking, the seeds formed a gelatinous paste and this paste helped the seeds adhere to the pottery. Below, the chia seeds have been applied to the Chia Pet.

Front view of Chia Pet just plantedRear view of Chia Pet just planted

Friday, January 2, 2009

Front view of Chia Pet after 3 days Rear view of Chia Pet after 3 days

Monday, January 5, 2009

I was out sick (so no photos), but my office mates refilled the Chia Pet and noted that there wasn’t any obvious activity. They remarked that it was very dry and that the drip tray was filled with water.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Growth! One week in, and many of the seeds on the right side of the Chia Pet have started to sprout, as expected by the availability of sunlight mentioned above.

Front view of Chia Pet after 1 weekRear view of Chia Pet after 1 week

Left side view of Chia Pet after 1 weekRight side view of Chia Pet after 1 week

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Front view of Chia Pet after 8 daysRear view of Chia Pet after 8 days

Left side view of Chia Pet after 8 daysRight side view of Chia Pet after 8 days

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Front view of Chia Pet after 9 daysRear view of Chia Pet after 9 days

Left side view of Chia Pet after 9 daysRight side view of Chia Pet after 9 days

Friday, January 9, 2009

Front view of Chia Pet after 10 daysRear view of Chia Pet after 10 days

Left side view of Chia Pet after 10 daysRight side view of Chia Pet after 10 days

Monday, January 12, 2009

Front view of Chia Pet after 13 daysRear view of Chia Pet after 13 days

Left side view of Chia Pet after 13 daysRight side view of Chia Pet after 13 days

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Two weeks in, and most of the growth is on the right side, as expected. Interestingly, there is more growth on the left side then on the back. This may be due to the fact that the window hardware is fairly high, a little higher than the Chia Pet itself, which may prevent enough sunlight from hitting those seeds on the rear. A future office planting may place the Chia Pet higher.

Front view of Chia Pet after 2 weeksRear view of Chia Pet after 2 weeks

Left side view of Chia Pet after 2 weeksRight side view of Chia Pet after 2 weeks

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Front view of Chia Pet after 15 daysRear view of Chia Pet after 15 days

Left side view of Chia Pet after 15 daysRight side view of Chia Pet after 15 days

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Front view of Chia Pet after 16 daysRear view of Chia Pet after 16 days

Left side view of Chia Pet after 16 daysRight side view of Chia Pet after 16 days

Friday, January 16, 2009

Front view of Chia Pet after 17 daysRear view of Chia Pet after 17 days

Left side view of Chia Pet after 17 daysRight side view of Chia Pet after 17 days

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Due to Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, our office was closed on Monday, which meant that the Chia Pet went three days without water. When I arrived to work on Tuesday, it was bone dry. Most of the chia sprouts had wilted. I immediately watered the Chia Pet.

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Later in the afternoon, the Chia Pet was moist and many of the chia sprouts had perked up.

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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Most of the chia sprouts have recovered from the lack of water from the weekend.

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Thursday, January 22, 2009

I was out sick today, so no photos. Co-workers watered the Chia Pet.

Friday, January 23, 2009

I was out sick today, so no photos. Co-workers watered the Chia Pet.

Monday, January 26, 2009

I forgot my camera at home, so no photos. The Chia Pet doesn’t look much different from the last photos on January 21. Most of the chia sprouts that had wilted from the long weekend had perked up.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

I forgot my camera at home, so no photos. The Chia Pet doesn’t look much different from yesterday’s photos.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

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Friday, January 30, 2009

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Monday, February 2, 2009

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Tuesday, February 3, 2009

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Wednesday, February 4, 2009

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Thursday, February 5, 2009

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Friday, February 6, 2009

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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Sorry about the pictures. I didn’t notice that the flash was turned off, so these are a little on the blurry side due to camera shake.

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Friday, February 13, 2009

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Monday, February 16, 2009

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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

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Thursday, February 19, 2009

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Friday, February 20, 2009

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Saturday, February 21, 2009

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Monday, February 23, 2009

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Chia Garfield Video

Since Victor suggested a Chia webcam in the comments below, I decided to take a 60 second video of the Chia Pet in action. I think the most exciting thing about this video is seeing how steady I can hold the camera for 60 seconds. Even though I used a Canon SD800 IS (IS = Image Stabalization), the IS doesn’t function in movie mode.