Stalagmite experiment: FAIL

We found a kid experiment to try from my latest obsession - growing stalagmites and stalactites in your own kitchen.  Looked easy enough and we set it up.  The hope was for a beautiful column of crystals dipping down and upwards to touch.

We ended up with this:

The crystals were pretty, though:

It was a good lesson that experiments rarely work perfectly the first time.