Rubus 1 is finished

The Rubus 1 group was crippled on Christmas Eve by slime moulds which drained the nutrients from the soil, withering the leaves and leaving them with blackened stems.  There's nothing I can do within the parameters of the experiment to revive them, but nor do I want to let them die.  For the purposes of the experiment, the Rubus 1 cohort is "dead".  If I keep them in the experiment then they'll die anyway, so it all comes to the same as far as the experiments are concerned.  I'll give them some intensive care, maybe I'll try using a UV lamp to nuke the fungus, but anything I do to correct this will mean they cannot be admitted to the study from this point on.

No other plants moved up a rounding bound over Christmas.

Rosie and Jim go outside, and Rubus 1 developments.

Not the snappiest title, but apt.

  Rosie and Jim have gone out back, onto a structure in my garden known as The Strawbrary.

Rosie in the red pot on the left, Jim in the purple pot on the right.  

The Rubus 1 group meanwhile have gone through a busy few days.  Milo and Fizz are budding in earnest, whilst Jake appears to be dying.  

Rubus 1 cohort

Milo

Fizz

Jake

I'll update the day's measurements after lunch.  

Ohnoes! Aphids!

This is a quandary.

If I let the aphids proceed then the experiment goes.

If I kill the aphids then I'm intervening in a way that I hadn't planned for.

Should I just get in a ton of ladybirds and let nature take its course?

Answers on a postcard, folks.