Growing Pumpkin and Tomato Plants
AP Bio Summer Project
By: Lindsay Lesha, Rachel Mourad, Steven Levick, Mackenzie Simon, and Trent LaCroix
HYPOTHESIS
MiracleGrow will allow the plants to grow at a faster rate than the plants with Grass Seed and without any type of fertilizer or substance added (control plant). The plants that are apart of the control group will grow at the slowest rate.
PROBLEM A:
Larger seeds germinate faster than smaller/medium sized seeds because they have bigger root development so they push out of the seed quicker.
PROBLEM B:
DOES FERTILIZER (TYPE, AMOUNT, FREQUENCY) AFFECT GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY?
Organic fertilizers contain specific nutrients that are essential to the improvement of a soils health and productivity, it also encourages plant growth. Organic nutrients allow a greater number of soil organisms to live in the soil. These organisms can aid plants in absorbing nutrients. Organic fertilizers are naturally made by natural processes; whereas inorganic fertilizers are made through chemical processes, using natural ingredients but chemically altering them. Overall, organic fertilizers are much better aids to the growth of plants.
GETTING STARTED W/ GERMINATION
THE
PROCESS OF
GERMINATION
Placing the Germinated Seeds in the Pots
READY
TO
POT
Moving to Bigger Pots
MIRACLEGROW KILLS THE PLANTS :(
TRANSFERRING TO EVEN LARGER POTS
PROGRESS IN GROWTH
Quantitative and Qualitative Data
Quantitative:
Qualitative:
week 2- stems begin to grow and roots become a lot longer
week 3- stems peak out of soil in starter pot
week 4-stems grow taller and tiny leaves begin to form
week 5- stems and leaves continue to grow
week 6- the plant developed prickles and a texture to the stem and leaves
week 7- yellow/orange flowers begin to form on pumpkin plant
week 8- pumpkin plant starts turning into a vine instead of growing upwards; tomato plant remains upright
week 9- pumpkin vine continues to spread and grow and needs to be planted in the ground with lots of space for the vines to continue to grow; the tomato also gets planted in the ground and it is a very tall,lean plant, it is kept in place unlike the pumpkin
CONCLUSION:
Through this experiment we learned a lot about growing plants. None of us knew how to grow plants prior to this experiment, but now we know all the details and steps on how to. We learned how to germinate, what materials were needed to grow plants, and the necessary amount of attention and careful observation to make sure the plants do not die. Our group agreed that this summer project was a lot of fun and a great life learning experience!