A Festive Germination Test

Recently I entered the nursery at the ECHO Asia seed Bank for a quick look. I was surprised by the burst of color in one of the plant beds in which seeds recently acquired from communities in northern Thailand and Cambodia were being tested for germination and vigor. Vinny, the intern in charge of the test, explained that the multi-colored plastic spoons used to mark each seed were not only cheap and reusable but "way more cool" than boring white spoons. The seed bank staff also said that the previous array of white spoon markers looked a bit too much like headstones in a tiny cemetery, which they seemed to think was kind of depressing. So for a more cheerful looking seed vigor trial, multi-colored plastic spoons are definitely the way to go. Also note the phototropic effect going on with the bean seedlings.