Duh. Moved and forgot to document it... Q - KR4.

Didn't mean to accuse you of a dumbed-down experiment--you mentioned a bed grower and I thought you might be collaborating with somebody. Sometimes it's amusing to play things looser, in terms of experimental controls--just change a parameter and try to observe its effects--as opposed to the more formal process of formulating a hypothesis, and watching for results in a more narrow range that directly relate to your ponderings.

And not to imply that bed-growing implies a lack of anything...I've seen it used in commercial horticulture with beds so huge that the tables would support power tillers to break up the resulting root mass. It seemed to me like the plants ignored each other's roots in this environment, and that they acted as they would when grown outside (which was certainly the intent with that setup). I was just a flunky on these things, though. Jes' a trabajador, not da hefe. Many years ago. Wouldn't have known what to look for.

But my thought last night (right before I started drooling on myself) was that there might be some 'recognition' of "electrical" activity in nearby roots related to ionic exchanges. I guess this is just semantics; chemical changes are "electrical" at some level. Though maybe you're looking for a combination of effects that ultimately produces an identifiable "chemical signature."

From a Darwinian perspective, one might expect more mutual inhibition between closely related strains than between specimens that might provide an advantageous genetic diversity. But that's just of the toppa my head; you may have debunked this already.

Then there's the question of: "Is a male plant more welcome next to a female than, say, another female plant?" Maybe they got some underwater pheromone perfume or suppin? Jus' throwing some thoughts out there...:hippy: