Different+Plant+Types

__**The Problem:**__ I**f you were a farmer what plant would you want to grow to get the most product?(according to the healthiest and fastest growing)** __**The task**__ **: The rate of plant growth is affected by how the plants needs are being met. Plants need the following in order to grow: air, nutrients, water, light, and space. How will plant growth change if you alter the conditions it grows in?** **1.** **Choose a variable to investigate.** **2.** **Determine your manipulated, responding, and controlled variables for your experiment.** **3.** **Plant 4-5 of the same kind of seed in different containers. Use a couple of the trials as your ‘control’ group (under normal conditions) and a couple of trials as your ‘manipulated’ group.** **4.** **Observe the plants over a period of weeks. Record your observations every 2nd day.** __**Hypothesis:**__ =Maddy: I think that the cucumber will grow the fastest and the tomatoes will grow the healthiest because usually, cucumbers grow faster than tomatoes or spinach and tomatoes are very healthy plants if you take care of them. I don't think that the spinach is either because the spinach could rot before its ready to be harvested and also, spinach always grows about a week after all of the other plants if you plant all of your plants at the same time.= = = =Matt: I think that the spinach would grow the fastest because it is small and I don't think i will tale that long. I also think that the cucumber will grow the last because it looks like it will take a long time. The tomato will grow second because i have seen them grow and they are kinda fast but I think that the spinach will grow faster. But at the same time i think that the tomato's will sprout the fastest because they grow on a vine so it has to be tall.= __**Materials: 2 spinach seeds, 2 cucumber seeds, 2 tomato seeds, tap water, 6 pots, soil, fertilizer, ruler/measuring tape, timer**__ __**Variables:**__ **b.** **Responding: amount of growth** **c.** **Controlled: same types of pots, same amount of soil, same depth in the soil, same amount of sunlight, same amount of water**
 * a.** **Manipulated: different types of plants,**

__**Procedure:**__ =1. We have to get 6 of the same pots. 2. We have to get the plant seeds and we are using tomatoes, spinach and cucumbers we need two of each. 3. We measure out the soil ¾ of the way full. 4. We plant the seeds and we measure the depth of the soil. 5. Water and look at the plants every day (amount of water varies). 6. Record results every 2 days.=

__**Observations/Logbook:**__ __**Day 1: Date: Oct. 5**__ =On Thursday of last week, we planted our 3 different plants. We planted 2 of each to make sure that the experiment went well. This morning, I checked the plants and they were dying. The soil was dry and the plants still hadn't sprouted. Today is OCT. 5TH, 2009.=

**Day 3: Date: Oct. 7 One Wednesday of next week, we found one of our tomato plants have sprouted. That was this morning but today, we were gone all day and we came back at the end of the day and we saw that the plant had grown about 2 cm while we were gone. They were green and had 2 little leafs on them.**

__**Day 5: Date: Oct. 9**__ __**The spinach has germinated but is still partly in the soil. The tomato plants are still slowly growing and the cucumber plants are growing good being about 4 cm tall each.**__

**Day 7: Date: Oct 11** **The spinach has finally sprouted and is now both of the spinach plants are about 3 cm. The tomato plant is slowly growing and both of them have only grown about 1 cm and are now only about 3 cm tall each. Both the cucumber plants are doing very well for they are both the tallest plants of the group. They are both 6 cm tall.**

__**Day 9: Date: Oct.13**__ __**The plants are doing well. The cucumber plant is healthy and is growing but is still about the same height. The other plants are the same. There are no signs of change in height yet.**__

**Day 11: Date: Oct.16 The plants are growing well. The cucumber plants are now 6 cm and is now growing a small sprout. The tomato plants are slowly growing not growing a cm taller every day like they used to. The spinach plants are growing very well now because they are both about 4 cm tall and are both growing small sprouts at the top like the cucumber plant.**

__**Day 13: Date: Oct. 19**__ =The plants are doing great today and the cucumber has sprouted another leaf which is bigger than the tip of my index finger. The cucumber plant looks to be growing fuzzy. The tomato plant now has a sprout growing on the top but the plant itself looks bent. The spinach now has 4 sprouts growing at the top and they are slowly growing. Yesterday, i only saw 2 sprouts growing on the top of the spinach plant but now i see 4 which tells me how healthy and how good the plant is.=

Pictures: (These are not our plants but these pictures represent what they would look like after sprouted.) Cucumber Tomato Spinach

**Day 15: Date: Oct 21 We decided to start over because we forgot to water the plants over the weekend and so we threw them out. If they were in better condition then we probably might have kept them but since they were all shriveled up and now brown, we couldn't keep them. After did that, we planted the same plants like we did before. 2 tomatoes, 2 spinach, and 2 cucumber plants.

Day 17:Date: Nov 1 The plants are naturally still in the soil and they have not sprouted. By what how our first test went, I am guessing that the plants will take about maybe 3-4 days to sprout but that would just be the tomato plant. I know that the tomato plant is by far the fastest to grow at the beginning because it sprouts first but later in the experiment, the tomato plant seems like its hardly growing. The cucumber plant on the other hand always sprouts second but it grows faster than the tomato plant. For example, on the first trial, the tomato plant was about 4 inches, the cucumber plant was about 6 inches and growing. The spinach may be the last to sprout but it grows quite well. It hasn't sprouted yet but when it does, it will sprout quickly but not as quickly as the tomato plant.

Day 19 Date: Nov 8 We missed a few days but now, the plants are growing well except for 1 tomato plant and the other 2 spinach plants which have not sprouted yet. The cucumber plants are now both about 8 cm tall which is the same height as the other cucumber plant from the first trail which I kept. For some reason, one of the tomato plant has died and the other one is still extremely healthy. I don't see any reason for it to die or for it to wilt because I gave the exact same amount of water that the other tomato plant got and the same amount of light. The reason for it dying might be the seed... or it could be that there was an accident and it got into our plant or it may be because we messed up that one plant..... Anyways, I know that when the cucumber plants grow, they will have leaves with ridges on it because the first leaves that are round are started leaves and I know that it will also happen to the tomato leaves because I have seen tomato plants and they look a lot bigger than the leaves that they have right now so that could only mean 2 things. Either the leaves will get bigger which I doubt, or they will grow another set of leaves that will look different. For the spinach, I am not exactly sure though because I haven't really seen a spinach plant before. I have only seen spinach kinda. From what I remember, the leaves do look different so that must mean that these plants all have one thing in common. They all have one starter set of leaves and they all sprout their actual leaves that people usually see later on. The tomato plant that isn't dying is doing well because it has a nice dark green colour to it which must mean that it is healthy and not dying and the stem is not drooping like the other plant. The tomato plant must be at least maybe 4 cm tall and so is the other one although it is on the ground. Like I said before, the cucumber plant is at least 8 cm by now and that is both of them and they are also healthy because they are not drooping and they do not have a brownish colour to their leaves. Their leaves are only dark green which is a sign that they are healthy.** The plants are still growing and one of the spinach has not sprouted yet. One of the tomato plants looks like it died. It is really frail and brittle and is not growing anymore. It is also losing its color on the leaves. The other tomato plant is growing fine, the leaves are still green and it is about 9 cm in hight. The cucumber plants are the fastest and look like the healthiest. They are about 10 cm in hight and the leaves are greener then ever. The spinach that has sprouted looks heathy but is growing very slow. It is about 1 or 2 cm in hight. We are thinking that the cucumber plants are going to be the answer to our conclusion and also we think that it would be better if our question is changed to " If you were a farmer what type of plant would you want to grow?" and comparing which one grows the fastest.**
 * Day 21 Date: Nov 12

Still one of spinach as not germinated and one of the tomato has not grown at all so we are pretty sure that it has died. We don't know why or how it died but it just stopped growing. Luckily we grew 2 of each plant in case on died. We also don't know why the other spinach has not germinated yet. So far it looks like the cucumber plants are doing to best and might be the answer to our conclusion. They are very green and one is 11 cm and one is 16 cm in height. The living tomato is 4 cm and the germinated spinach is 2 cm. The living tomato is green only on the leaves and same with the spinach.**
 * Day 23 Date: Nov 14

The dead tomato plant has shrunken until you can't even see it anymore. The other tomato plant is still growing but the leaves look like they are getting "less green" then they should be. The plant has 2 leafs that are facing away from each other.It is also 5 cm in height. The germinated spinach plant has grown very little and is 1-2 cm in height. On the tip of the leaf it has lost it's color and looks like it might die. The other spinach plant has still not germinated. The cucumber plants have grown the fastest and look the healthiest. Cucumber A is 17 cm and cucumber B is 12 cm. The stem on both is moderately green and both plants have very green leaves. In cucumber B there are 3 leaves, 2 that are ovally in shape and the other small leaf is like a maple leaf in shape. So with cucumber A but only the maple leaf shaped on is smaller.**
 * Day 25 Date: Nov 14

 0cm
 * First Trial || Cucumber A || Cucumber B || Tomato A || Tomato B || Spinach A || Spinach B ||
 * Day 1 || 0cm || 0cm || 0cm || 0cm || 0cm || 0cm ||
 * Day 3 || 2cm || 2cm || 2cm || 2cm || 0cm || 0cm ||
 * Day 5 || 4cm || 4cm || 2cm || 2cm || 1cm || 1cm ||
 * Day 7 || 6cm || 6cm || 3cm || 3cm || 3cm || 3cm ||
 * Day 9 || 6cm || 6cm || 3cm || 3cm || 3cm || 3cm ||
 * Day 11 || 6cm || 6cm || 3cm || 3cm || 4cm || 4cm ||
 * Day 13 || 6.2cm || 6.2cm || 3cm || 3cm || 4cm || 4cm ||
 * New Trial ||  ||   ||   ||   || _ || _ ||
 * Day 15 || 0cm || 0cm || 0cm || 0cm || 0cm || 0cm ||
 * Day 17 || 0cm || 0cm || 0cm || 0cm || 0cm ||  ||
 * Day 19 || 8cm || 8cm || 4cm || died || 1cm || 0cm ||
 * Day 21 || 10cm || 9cm || 4cm || died || 2cm || 0cm ||
 * Day 23 || 16cm || 11cm || 4cm || died || 2cm || 0cm ||
 * Day 25 || 17cm || 12cm || 4cm || died || 2cm || 0cm ||

__**Conclusion:**__