Growing on clay

The other thing I wanted to explore in response to my device was whether or not the clay could sustain plant life directly. I bought some cress seeds and planted them on my clay samples. Some directly into the clay and some on a tissue paper mulch on top.

The results turned out much better than expected. On the left you can see the seeds planted directly onto the clay, in comparison to the tissue mulch in the center photo. The clay seeds clearly aren't quite as healthy, however it still proves the possibility of growing onto clay.

The only issue is that anything grown on the clay wouldn't be edible because of the toxins absorbed from the kaolin in the earth.